How to Hire a Web Designer

This is from my friends at Green Bird Media.  I share it with you here because websites are as important to nonprofits today as mimeographed newsletters were fifty years ago.

We often see customers after they have had one or two failed and expensive design launches. As a rule, we can usually see the problems were built into the hiring or communication process right from the start. We thought we would share some great strategies and tips on how to hire a web design team that will suit your site's needs.

1. Hire a web designer you can fire and hold accountable.
We hope to see the end of the relative, friend, neighbor, board member web design soon. Websites are often the single most important investment in a non-brick-and-mortar business and the most valuable marketing tool for those with physical locations. Trusting and investing into a situation where you cannot maintain any leverage or control is not an optimal situation. Particularly deadly is either a family member or a board member/largest donor combination. Ask yourself before being swayed by a personal relationship, what the consequences will be if it ends badly.

2. Too good to be true? It is.
A complex website may take 100 hours from first interview to post-launch. With small business taxes at 50%, is it reasonable to pay minimum wage rates? Corners are being cut somewhere, decide if you can tell where, why and if it still works for you. There's a range of pricing for web design services and it's all over the map. This range varies on experience and region. Let's understand that a novice charging you $25/hr will take four times as long to execute a project as $100/hr pro. So if you are spending $100 to get something fixed, do you want a novice or a pro?

3. Good web designers have good references.
A surprising number of companies never check references and did not check the references prior to hiring their former design team. At the very least, read some testimonials and reviews. Even just asking for references even if you don't actually call is a good practice.

4. Look at their web design portfolio.
Examine their portfolio carefully. The examples might be pretty but do the websites work well? Does the navigation, layout and design really create a positive user experience? Look at 5-10 of the websites, check the footer and make sure the company actually did the work and they aren't taking undue credit. Check the functionality, the user interface, the information hierarchy and see if it holds up to close scrutiny.

5. Good communication is essential for a web design project.
Does the design team understand your vision, mission or other sales objectives? Are they clear on what you need and why? Sometimes our clients have no idea what they need and so we are able to guide them. Know what your website goals are, what your unique selling proposition is as a company and what market segment you want to address on the site and you will get much better results. A good web designer listens, asks questions and gives feedback.

6. Too busy to talk with you?
Hiring a designer is a like any relationship, the best-foot-forward behavior declines from the first date. If a designer is too busy to speak to you in the beginning, it won't get any better. Not to say that we don't all have our days where everything is in motion but get a feel for their schedule, workflow and organizational skills.

7. Cautiously consider a one-person web design shop.
Think through this concept carefully and evaluate your long-term needs with your hiring choice. If your website purchase is transactional, then a one-person company can be just fine. If however, your site is complex, may need ongoing development, handles large volume of sales or traffic, an independent shop may not work. Web designers are busy and in demand. They also take time off and go on vacation. You may need more support than a single person will really be able to manage over the long haul. There's also illness, life changes and moving. All which is less likely to effect you if you hire a larger firm. Conversely, many design firms aren't interested in long-term maintenance relationships either. Post-launch maintenance, tracking and modification as well as online marketing are also considerations in your hiring decision. There are many dedicated solo-practitioners and it doesn't mean you shouldn't hire them, just evaluate your needs before making a decision.

8. Own the website, do not rent the website.
Recently, a company called because their hosting company/web development team wouldn't return their calls or fix the site. Sad but common in this industry. But of course the caller could have been a deadbeat and problem client too. But regardless, it turned out that the contract they signed actually gave the web developer the rights to the domain name, the hosting environment and the website infrastructure. In essence, the caller only owned the content. Be sure any contract gives you full custody of all assets once the design firm has been paid in full. Be very mindful of the small print.

9. Custom development vs. open-source PHP
Many people are not sure whether they should do custom development or go with one of the large content management systems available like Drupal or Joomla. Here's our pro-Drupal or other open-source points:
1. The next Drupal upgrade is always in production with thousands of developers improving the product
2. Large database of information, help and resources
3. Not tied to one company's proprietary code
4. Drupal is flexible, scalable and upgradable
5. Proven track record of implementation
6. Not tied to one company to work with
With custom development you may get the website built to specs in a timely manner within budget but you are frozen in time. There are no free upgrades and improvements provided, you may not be able to move the site, change companies to work with or be able to easily program improvements. It's can be a one-time use website.

10. Look for an established business that has been operating 3 to 5 years.
Speaking of pros, website design has moved light years beyond having a copy of Dreamweaver. A professional web designer takes into account search engine optimization, social media integration, branding, user interface, information hierarchy and many other elements. If your site is important to your business, make sure they have hit their 10,000 hours. Read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers for the concept.

11. The pitfalls of hiring a part-time web designer
Two issues can arise when hiring a part-time web designer. If they have a full-time web design job, it's challenging to come home at the end of the day and return to the same grind. The second is a time issue. Let's say a web design takes 100 hours, if a person works on the website for 7 hours every weekend, it will still take about 15 weeks to get the site done. If any changes or delays happen, it can take longer. Some of our sites, with steady daily work still take several months to finish. Some small and simple sites may work with a part-timer. Be sure that you can default to the "hold accountable" rule though and set firm milestones.

12. Match your needs to their web design skills.
Make sure that you know what your needs are. We notice that clients now take for granted that their wish list is easy and inexpensive. "We want it to work like Facebook" which will cost you about $100k, by the way. But assuming you have some reasonable expectations, look to see if their skill set matches your needs list.

13. 3-4 payments rather than 50/50
One way to help yourself manage a project well is to not have too much cash on the table. We recommend spreading out the payments into monthly installments based upon the complexity and cost. A small site is fine at 50/50. But once the cost reaches the $3k range, three monthly payments might serve a client better.

14. Pay on time.
We always like and support our clients that don't starve our company. Just like every business, we need our cash flow. Net 10 is a nice rule of thumb for web design companies.

15. Be a good client.
Be patient, be clear, be flexible, be organized and bring some cookies around once in a while. Web designers like everyone else in the service industry often don't receive the support and acknowledgement that they deserve. Don't be in a hurry. Remember your crisis is not their problem.

We hope these guidelines help you have a better relationship with your new design firm! If we can help you, contact us at www.greenbirdmedia.com