Creating a website is a big deal – it’s putting a piece of yourself or your business online, in the hope of growing your audience. We all want to be sure that our sites create the best first impression possible, and most of that first impression depends on design – 94% of it, in fact.
It’s natural to assume that the only way to end up with a gorgeous site is to break the bank hiring a professional web designer. And in some cases, this is definitely the right thing to do – just not always.
To help you figure out what’s best for your site, we’ve conducted our own research, and we’ve interviewed:
- People who’ve hired a designer for their site
- People who’ve used a website builder by themselves
- Professional web designers themselves
Now, let’s guide you through what they told us!
Do I Need to Hire a Web Designer?
You should consider hiring a web designer if:
- You have a sizable budget to spend on your site
- You’re willing to wait at least a few weeks for the final product
- You don’t want to deal with any design or technical aspects yourself
We spoke to a lot of web designers in the making of this article, and they pretty much all gave us the same criteria.
You don’t need to hire a web designer if:
- You’d rather a more affordable option
- You want to be directly involved in the design process
- You want to get online quickly
…In which case you’ll want a cost-effective alternative like a website builder – we’ll discuss these in more detail towards the end of this article.
Knowing When to Hire a Web Designer
A professionally designed website is a huge asset to any brand, whether its a personal portfolio or an up-and-coming business. However, a well-designed website is not step number one. You’ll want to have two things in order first: your budget and your brand.
When You Have the Money
The right time to focus on your website design is after you achieve net positive cash flow above and beyond $1,000 per month. Of course, you can set your goal a bit higher at $2,000 or more, but we’ll suggest $1,000 as a starting point.
Hitting the $1,000 net positive cash flow per month mark will give you more confidence (and momentum) that you have a real business at hand. Reaching this milestone proves that you are focused on understanding what your target customers want, and delivering a solid service to meet their needs. It’s at this point that you can really afford to let a designer handle the technical side for you.
At this point, we know that the power of social media is not to be overlooked.
But there are also a ton of internationally available marketplaces where regular people can contact web designers for projects. Most of these marketplaces function like job portals, connecting freelance designers with website owners like yourself, and enable you to make arrangements and payments through the marketplace itself.
In most cases, you’ll type in the requirements of your project (like “landing page” or “5 page website”), and the search results will show you a ton of different designers, their portfolios, and their prices.
Hiring a Web Designer: Final Thoughts
Hiring a web designer isn’t for everyone, but it is a great way to create a professional website without having to do any of the work yourself.
You should hire a web designer if…
- You have a big enough budget
- You want all of the technical stuff taken care of for you
- You’re willing to work with someone else on your site’s branding
You should use a website builder if…
- You want to save money
- You don’t mind using drag-and-drop design tools
- You want to be directly involved in your website’s creation
Have you made up your mind? Or do you have a few more questions?
