When it comes to getting your website designed, there’s a lot of options available to you. You can choose a freelance designer, you can choose a website development company or you could even give it a try yourself. The hardest part is choosing the right option…
…Let me put it this way, have you ever been to a food court before where there’s 10 or even 20 options to choose from? It can be overwhelming and often you go with the “easiest” choice rather then the one you really wanted or the one you actually needed.
The same can be said about website design, with so many options it’s too easy to choose the cheapest or the quickest, rather than choosing the option that’s right for you.
How Do You Choose The Right Website Designer?
Unfortunately there’s no “one way” to ensure you choose the right website designer, but there is a single step you can take right now to ensure your decision is more likely to be the right one…
…Get Prepared
We know, it sounds corny but ultimately this is the biggest mistake clients make when they first see us. They have an idea of what they want but they haven’t expressed that idea in writing or in a sketch. You see, by not expressing their idea previously they haven’t really invested the time and energy they need into planning. What generally happens is as the first design for the website is created you start to think more about what you want, and one design turns into 2, and then into 10 as your idea on what your site should do evolves…
The best way to ensure that you have the “right website designer” is to ensure that you have the “right idea” before you even see one website designer. Don’t decide half way through you want a flash video, because quite possibly your designer’s not going to be able to do this for you.
Which means you then have to search for another designer, who can integrate with your current site, this takes time and resources. Now there are tools that make it easy for you to “get your ideas on paper”, tools which help you to visually plan your website and your ideas.
Obviously these ideas don’t need to be your “final ideas” but by mapping it out you will stimulate thought and planning which will result in you getting clearer on your end website product.
What Tools Can I Use To “Get My Ideas On Paper?
As we mentioned earlier there are tools that help you to “mock up” how you want your website to look. The one that we recommend (and is free) is called Mockingbird. You can create a simple “picture” of what you want your website to look like and then use this with your designer.
Very simply, using a drag and drop interface you can drag in menus, images, videos, buttons, text areas and search boxes to create a mock design of how you want your website to look. Your designer can use this as a guide to build a site, which suits your requirements.
The old saying of “A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words” is true when it comes to website design, and this one website “mock up” you create could eliminate hundreds of headaches down the track.
The best part, once you’ve got your one mock up, you can show it to multiple designers and get quotes almost instantly!
Now it’s important to note that Mockingbird isn’t the only tool which you can use, if you’re not confident on a computer then feel free to just get out a piece of paper and a pencil…You’ll be amazed how quickly your website starts to take shape in front of you…You’ll also be amazed by how much time and money you save on your website design because your more organized!
If you’ve had experience with other website Mock Up tools leave a comment below, so others can also learn from your experience!
Today’s Image Is From www.andertoons.com
