When do I need to hire a web designer?

Being a web designer myself, I’ll try and explain the pros and cons of working with a web designer as objectively as I can. Ultimately I’m wanting to educate you on the available options so you can make the best informed decision for your business. Below is a list of what we’ll cover in this blog post.

1. What options are there to build a website in 2022?
2. Who needs to hire a web designer for their new website build?
3. What are the cons of hiring a web designer?
4. Which are the best web design platforms to build my own websites on?
5. Summary

What options are there to build a website in 2022?

First of all I’ll just briefly run over the 2 main options available for building websites in 2022.

SaS website providers

If you’ve looked into building a website, I’m sure you’ve heard of Wix and Squarespace. These are all in one DIY website builder solutions designed for people with no knowledge or skills in the field fo web design. They provide, the domain, hosting and email in one easy to use platform and also provide starter templates and drag and drop website builder interfaces. SaS tools are the easiest way to build a professional looking website particularly if you don’t have any design or technical skills. They’re a great option for creating a website if you have zero experience and no budget to hire a professional.

Self hosted

Self hosted website include any websites where you use either a hosting company or your own servers to host your website. Your website could be built using code, or an open source CMS such as wordpress.org. Self hosted solutions are typically used by web designers and developer to create websites and apps that have custom design and functionality specific to your business requirements. This solution is what most professional web designers would provide you with.

Who needs to hire a web designer for their new website build?

As with most things there is no one size fits all solution and it depends on your circumstances to dictate the best course of actions for your business. If you fit any of the below criteria yu mighty consider enlistig the help of a web designer for desiging and building your buinesses website.

You already run a successful business turning profit

In this situation you will have the resources to hire a professional web designer and it’s really a no brainer. The growth of a business is based on one’s ability to employ processes in and outsource tasks so that you allocate your valuable time into activities best suited to your skillset. I.e. you need to free up your time so you can focus. In this situation I’d say it’s best to hire someone knowledge, experienced and proven in creating effective websites .

You want a quick website presence but have no time

If you need a landing page or small 5 page brochure website, live as soon as possible. An experience web designer should be able to provide you with a quick template based option within 1 – 2 weeks with very little effort on your part.

Your unable to grow your traffic on your existing website

If your struggling to get any users to your existing website, hiring a web designer to implement some SEO fundamentals could help you to start seeing more traffic to your website.

Your unable to convert your existing website traffic to leads

If you are getting the traffic to your existing website but no leads, you’ve got a conversion problem, which means you have a design or sales copy problem. In this situation it might be worth hiring a professional to assist you with improving your websites design

You have no design or technical skills

If you have no technical, design or marketing skills and are not willing to learn these skills, then it would be more beneficial to hire a web designer to help build your website.

You require help with defining a strategy for your website

A good web designer should be well versed in creating an effective strategy which will not only help you plan your website but can act as a refresher for your overall business plan.

Your website requires specific functionality (for example a CRM integration )

If your wanting a website with extra functionality, beyond images, text and contact forms it might be worth hiring a web designer to help you implement this extended functionality.

What are the cons of hiring a web designer?

Now let’s look at the possible cons and pitfalls of hiring a web designer

You hire a bad web designer

Hiring an experienced professional web designer should provide you with a better website than you would be able to build on your own and save you time and money in the long term, however if you hire the wrong web designer it can cost you a lot of wasted money and time.

The lesson here is to thoroughly research your web designer before you hire them, you’ll want to review there past work and find out their approach to web design. I’ll go into more detail on how to ensure that you choose the right web designer for your project in a future post.

Your testing a new business idea

If you are not fully committed to your business venture and you are just testing a business idea, then it might be worth just using a website builder to quickly knock up a template website as a pose to investing money in a web designer.

You don’t have the money. but you have plenty of time

If your just getting started in your business and you don’t have a lot of money it’s probably worth trying to build your website using a website builder, sop you can use your budget to help improve your product or service instead.

You are already a good designer and internet marketer

If you have a great eye for design, and you have a good base knowledge of digital marketing, it might be worth saving some money and creating your own website using a website builder software.

Your business has in house team members that are great designers and marketers

As with the point above, if you have talented team members at your disposal, why not set them to work on building your new website.

Which are the best platforms to build a DIY website on?

If you feel confident and capable enough to try and design and build your own website I can recommend a few options to get started with.

Your first port of call would probably be Wix or Squarespace. Both have great website starter templates and provide the best options for you to get started on learning how to build your own website.

If your wanting to go the self hosted website route, then I recommend Divi theme on WordPress which has plenty of great looking starter templates that you can use to get going.

Summary

There’s valid arguments for and against hiring a professional web designer. There’s not a one size fits all approach and ultimately you have to be honest with your self and asses what businesses specific needs are.

Hiring a proven and experienced web designer should add value to your website no matter what the circumstances, but it’s up to you to make that judgment call and decide on the best option for your requirements.

I’m hoping that some of the points in the blog post will have given you food for though and guide you in the right direction when making your decision.