When you want to get a website designed for your local business, there are many web design services that you can hire. For the most part, though, it stands to reason that you will want to use a local web design company. Not only do they tend to have their ear to the ground regarding local wants and needs, but they tend to be easier to communicate with. What, though, matters when hiring a local web designer?
If you find it hard to go ahead and hire a web designer locally, here are some considerations to take into account.
Local web design considerations before hiring a designer
Do They Cover Your Area?
First off, could you make sure you find someone who covers where you live? For example, let us say you live in Darlington. You might look for someone using the term ‘web design Darlington’ and get some good local designers. You might also broaden the search and look for ‘web design North East’ and see what comes up. This gives you more options and ensures you hire a designer who covers your area.
While most web designers are happy to take jobs outside of their geographical catchment area, it can benefit both parties to stay (relatively) local.
How Local Are They?
Following on from the above, which is quite important, find out just how local this supposedly nearby website designer is. For example, the locality can be quite diverse if you are looking for web design in North East towns like Halifax and Darlington. You might find that your designer hails from a city like Newcastle or even somewhere in the Midlands.
If you intend to be visiting your web designer in person to thrash out a deal, how local are they? Often, this is as simple as checking out their website. Their address should be listed on the contact details, the About Us page, and the footer. And if they do not have a website? What kind of local web design firm does not have a website? That would be an instant red flag!
How Much Can You Afford To Spend?
The most important element of your website design plan is your budget. To hire a designer, you need to know what you can realistically afford to spend. If you go to hire a local web design firm that is out of your reach financially, you could be wasting your time – and theirs. So, try and avoid going down the route of walking blind. Set out a plan for what you can afford. If nothing else, this makes it easier to rule out local web design firms because they are out of your price range.
Setting your budget clearly at the start creates an understanding of what can and cannot be done. An honest designer will clarify what features can and cannot be produced for the amount you can spend.
What do you need?
Another factor to take into account is what your website will do. If you want a simple one-page website to promote your new local business, that should be easy enough. If you desire a more complex eCommerce platform, that adds to the difficulty, time, and cost involved. Please work out what this website will be used for; you can find it easier to explain what you need to a local web designer.
Once you explain what you want, they should be able to give you a detailed response on how they can make that a reality. Having a brief planned out beforehand stops any uncertainty and means your website designer is more likely to achieve what you had set out to do in the first place.
Setting your budget clearly at the start creates an understanding of what can and cannot be done. An honest designer will clarify what features can and cannot be produced for the amount you can spend.
do they outsource or work in-house
Most web design services today will work with another third party, which is not an issue. They might often need to outsource things like graphical designs, logo designs, and even some of the content writing. This should only become a red flag when you find they seem to outsource the entire project. Find out how much they do in-house; do not discredit a web design firm if they use a third party, but it should be something you think about if everything seems to be outsourced.
are they experienced?
Any web designer in the North East, or anywhere else, worth their salt will have some content in their portfolio. You should look elsewhere if you cannot find testimonies, portfolio content, or even companies talking them up on social media.
Hiring inexperienced designers who lack a portfolio is a risk. You have no real reference as to how good/bad the work will be, and you cannot compare their work to anything else. Ensure they have at least a few finished projects – and, preferably, some reviews – before hiring.
are they reputable?
Again, following the above, what is the general verdict on their work?
You can often find a good quality local website designer just by looking at their website. What you should do, though, is search for their name on social media, on directories, and even just on search engines. See what comes up when you look for them: if they have done a job, good or bad, someone in the world will be talking about it.
If they have a good reputation, it is worth continuing. Do not let a solitary bad review put you off; every company has bad clients, so if the consensus is positive, there is nothing to say it will not be the same for you.
are they transparent?
This is usually only something you can work on during conversation together. Transparency is vital, though. A web designer who says yes to every request must be avoided. A good designer is honest enough to tell you when your ambition might exceed your capacity. Local web designers open about the pros and cons of any feature are to be trusted; avoid web designers who apply anything you ask for simply because you asked.
You are hiring a professional: they know more about designing a website than you. While you should know what you want, as we discussed earlier, a web designer who is honest about the usefulness/validity of a certain feature is far more useful to you than someone who does what you ask and then bills you for it.
would you be interested in web design services local to you?
Then you can find all the help you need through Canny Commerce. We provide local web design services across the North East, including in Halifax and Darlington. Whether you are a new-start company, a small business looking for an edge, or a larger company looking to modernize, we can assist.
Canny Commerce has been selected among the Top Web Design Companies in the United Kingdom by DesignRush
