Does Your Web Designer Have These 7 Important Skills?

How do you know if your web designer is talented enough or skilled enough to create a website you can be proud of?  By making sure they have the following seven skills, you’ll be able to choose the best web designer at the most affordable price without worrying about inexperience or unforeseen delays!

1. An Eye for Design - This is critical to your website’s success, as unfortunately, an unprofessional-looking website will also make your visitors think that your product or service is unprofessional as well.  Anyone can own a great graphic design program, but very few individuals know how to use it well enough to create something beautiful and functional the way a professional website designer can.

Above all, don’t rely on a programmer to design your site, and don’t think that you’re saving money by hiring a programmer instead of a designer.  It’s like asking an art student to solve a quadratic equation.  It’s just not likely to come out good.

2.  Usability Experience - The prettiest, flashiest navigation menu in the world won’t make a bit of difference if your website visitors or the search engines can’t find their way around and simply give up. 

Go with a designer who has more practical usability experience over one with a flashy portfolio.  You’ll see the results in your bottom line - both in money saved, and in money made from a site that actually works.  Plus, hiring a designer who has experience in designing user-friendly sites will also help as your website (and business) grows and expands.  Don’t settle for an inflexible design that requires a redesign beyond the first 10 pages!

3. HTML Coding - HTML is the core language that websites are built with.  With today’s design software, it isn’t necessary to know how to “hand code” with HTML any longer, however, having a designer who knows how to read this code is a benefit over someone who doesn’t - just in case something isn’t lined up quite right or your headline looks “off” and the designer’s favorite program seems to think that nothing is wrong. 

4. Content Management - Having the ability to make your own changes (including adding text, pictures, video, and audio) shouldn’t require a degree in Computer Science.

 Make sure your web designer has experience in setting up and helping you learn how to use a content management system as this will allow you to make changes whenever you want, and not be locked into hiring the designer every time you want to make an update.

5.  Familiarity with Forms - Forms are just one of the ways your site visitors can communicate with you.  Whether it’s a question, comment or suggestion, your web designer should know how to create forms that let your visitors get in touch with you - quickly, easily and hassle-free. 

You can also request that this information be mailed to you, be stored in a database for follow-up, be added to a mailing list or a combination of things. Just be sure that your visitors know how their contact information will be used!

6.  Shopping Cart Know-How - If you want to sell products on the web, it’s crucial that your designer know how to set up and customize a shopping cart that fits your needs.  At iElectrify, we recommend Turn Key Web Tools cart simply for its ease-of-use, customization features and flexibility to grow as your inventory grows.  It includes shipping modules, inventory tracking, coupon management and much more.  For more details, click here.

7.  Search Engine Optimization Skills - There are entire companies built to serve the search engine marketing sector, but your web designer should have at least some basic knowledge of how to optimize your site to get indexed and ranked in the search engines.

Much of today’s best optimization and marketing practices begin at the website layout and design level anyway - so who better to perform them than your web designer?

Want a designer who has all these skills? Look no further than iElectrify - click here to get a free website design quote!

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