Business owners understand the difficulties of wearing many hats, which is why they often outsource specific tasks to professionals that have the skills they lack. Still, you do have to provide these vendors with some direction if you want them to deliver the best possible outcomes for your company.
Case in point: web design. Small, mid-size, and even large corporations may elect to outsource web design to experienced and reliable third-party experts, but you can’t expect even seasoned professionals to psychically know what you want. You have to tell them. The problem is, you might not know exactly what you want or need.
While good web designers can help you out by asking questions, learning about your brand, and making suggestions based on current design trends and industry norms, you can improve outcomes by providing helpful feedback. Here are a few tips to get you on track for successful outcomes when you work with a web designer.
Create Goals
You probably want your website to do several things. On a basic level, it needs to act as a virtual representation of your brand, and probably an e-commerce storefront. However, you also want it to engage customers, drive conversions, and so on. Having an endpoint in mind when you’re starting out can inform every decision you make, from content, to layout, to every design detail.
Quantify Branding
The best place to start when it comes to relating what you want for your web design is to set the parameters for your brand, including providing essentials like logos, slogans, and colors or fonts associated with current (or planned) branding. You’ll also want to relate what your brand stands for, your core values, your target demographics, and the type of lifestyle image you want to associate with your brand.
Providing tangible information about the look and feel of your brand can help web designers create a modern and attractive website that supports your brand image and speaks to your customers. Remember, the internet is a visual medium, so providing detailed information about the look you’re going for with branding is essential.
Cite Samples
It’s normal to struggle with how to relate what you want from your web designer, especially when you’re not totally sure what options are available to you. One of the best ways to provide useful feedback is to look at competitor and other websites and create lists of likes and dislikes.
You may like the tone and vibe of one site, the layout of another, and the content on a third. You might hate certain types of navigation, or find some types of language off-putting. All of these details can give your web designer clues as to how to piece together a harmonious website that represents your unique brand and vision.
Be Clear, Specific, and Resolute
While you naturally want your website to be perfect, you need to keep in mind that changes cost money. In order to save time and manage your bottom line, you really need to lock in design details before work is completed, during planning phases. Often, you’ll be provided with mock-ups that you can tweak to your satisfaction, so take the opportunity to nail down details so you don’t face costly changes down the line.
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