WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for building websites; both for personal use and for businesses. It has many advantages over other CMS systems for building websites.
While Shopify is used by most online stores, WordPress is the best option for brick and mortar businesses that need to communicate information to customers, in hopes that more of them will visit your store or hire you for your services.
It’s the best platform for blogging and content marketing and works really well when capturing leads. And the best part is that you can hire WordPress website designers to create a unique, customized website. Or you can have them create a simple website, duplicated from a template, saving you lots of money.
Either way, you own the website, and you are in full control, unlike when it comes to other website-building platforms.
So how do you choose a WordPress designed to make your website dreams come true? Keep reading to find out now.
1. Find WordPress Website Designers Within Your Budget
In the past, having a website built was an extremely expensive ordeal. Because building a website was much more complicated, and often took place from scratch each time, you could easily have expected to drop tens of thousands of dollars.
For larger companies needing complex websites, that may still be the case. But for most small businesses today, your web design budget can range from as little as a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars or more.
Many web designers that offer cheaper websites will typically duplicate a pre-designed template. They will then populate it with your content, making any design changes and customizations that you request.
This saves them a lot of time, as most of the programming has already been completed. Designing WordPress sites this way still requires a skilled front-end designer to handle the process, but it can be much more affordable if you only need simple, informative websites that look good and function well.
Otherwise, you can find a more expensive designer that may utilize a template for the foundation, but build the rest of it on their own, which will cost more but provide a more unique website.
2. Browse Their Portfolio
When selecting between different web designers and agencies, always browse their portfolios. Their website should have many examples of real websites that they have built and launched in the past.
You can then visit these completed websites, browse around on the different pages, test the functionality and web design experience, and take note of what you like and don’t like.
Find a designer that has sites that you like, with flair and personality. Using their own examples, you can tell them what you’d like your website to be like.
3. Ask If They Know How to Code
Thanks to templates and modern website building platforms that are easy to use, it doesn’t take a professional programmer to build a functional website these days. Known as front-end developers, these types of designers just utilize prebuilt tools to create a website, which can be done without having to write any code at all.
However, it can be really helpful to hire a designer who actually has coding experience. If you request any degree of custom functionality or want to see a design feature implemented that isn’t naturally supported by the template, custom code will need to be written.
For those with coding experience, it will be no problem at all to make simple alterations to the website theme or template.
4. What Features Can They Add?
Think about the features you’d like your website to have, and always ask potential designers if they can implement them. That can include things like newsletter signup forms, popups, image galleries, contact forms, live chat, social media integrations, and many other things.
An agency like design-hero.com will consider your entire marketing strategy, from your website to your social media and advertising channels, and will make sure your website is designed to work in the context of your overall marketing efforts.
5. Will They Host the Website for You?
One of the benefits of WordPress websites is that for the most part, they are self-hosted. That means you don’t have to rely on a third party, such as the website platform, to keep your website up and running. Hosting your website gives you control and ownership over your website.
And while it’s easy to host the website yourself, it requires a bit of time and effort to set up and maintain the hosting account. And if anything goes wrong, you’ll have to figure out how to fix it.
A better option is having the web designer or agency host the website for you. There’s typically a small monthly fee that goes along with this, but they can ensure security updates and regular backups are taking place on your behalf.
6. Are They Available for Ongoing Support and Updates?
Some designers are one-and-done types of people. Once the website is complete, they’ll be gone, leaving you to your own devices. Others will be there for you long into the future.
If you don’t want to have to log in to the backend of your website and make changes, updates, or corrections on your own, you’ll want to choose a website designer that provides ongoing support. Then, all you have to do is send them an email with the change or correction you want to be made to your website, and it will magically get done for you.
7. Read Online Reviews
When it comes to designing business websites, there are lots and lots of great designers and agencies, and a few that are unpleasant to work with. You should always be reading online reviews of any company you are considering working with.
And not just the perfect reviews that they have posted on their own website. Visit third-party review sites like the BBB, Google Reviews, or their profiles on websites like LinkedIn for more realistic reviews.
Use Your Hiring Skills to Make the Right Decision
Hiring WordPress website designers isn’t as hard as you might think. As a business owner, you probably have experience hiring people to work for your company.
It’s really no different here. You want to choose a company or individual who is excited to work for you and has the necessary skills and attitude to make it happen. You’ll want to check their references and ensure they fit within your budget.
Don’t forget to hop on the phone and interview them in much the same way you would an employee. Only then can you feel confident in the person you are hiring.
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