What is a web designer?
Definition
A web designer is a professional who plans how a website looks and works: the layout of each page, the colors and type, the photos, and the path a visitor takes to call, book or buy. Many also build the site, write or edit the words, and set it up to be found on Google.
What does a web designer do?
A typical project starts with questions about your business and your customers, then a sitemap of the pages you need, then design drafts for you to review, then the build, a round of changes and the launch. A web developer handles deeper technical work, like custom features and connections to other software; on small business sites, one person or agency often does both.
You can hire one in two main ways. An agency brings a team, often a designer, a developer, a writer and someone for SEO, plus a set process; agency sites run $3,000 to $30,000+ in one published price guide. A freelancer is one person, often more flexible, at $500 to $10,000+ in the same guide. Either way, ask what happens after launch: hosting, changes and updates are often billed separately.
Other routes skip the hire. A website builder lets you build it yourself from a template, for a monthly fee, with your own time as the main cost. And some newer services draw up the site for you from a few lines about your business, then hand you the controls: somewhere between hiring and doing it yourself.
What to look for depends on your trade. For contractors, ask to see sites that show off project photos and bring in estimate requests. For law firms, look for experience with practice area pages and consultation requests; whoever builds it, the firm answers for every claim on the site. For dental practices, look for clear new-patient pages and booking that patients actually use.
Questions to ask before you hire a web designer
- Can I see sites you built for businesses like mine, and talk to those owners?
- What's included in the price, and what costs extra?
- Who writes the words and supplies the photos?
- Who hosts the site, and what does that cost each year?
- How do I make changes after launch, and what do they cost?
- Will I own the domain, the design and the content if we part ways?
- How long will it take, from the first call to launch?
How Future handles it
Future is a website builder that does the designer's first job for you. Give it a business name, a trade and a town, and within minutes you're looking at three homepages, each with its own logo, at no charge. Choose a favorite and Future turns it into a complete website that you keep editing yourself.
Hosting, security, upkeep and design changes come with every plan, from $19 a month billed yearly. 15 days money back, minus a claimed domain's cost. If you'd rather work through every detail with a person over several meetings, a designer or an agency is still the right call.