Ask These Questions Before Working With Your Potential Website Designer
How do you know if the potential website designer you’ve had your eye on is the right fit for you and your business?
You’ve been following this one particular designer to help you with your website for a few months now. You love their style, it's hands down the style of website you want for your one-of-a-kind website.
You eagerly watch out for updates on their Instagram feed or for their weekly emails — you have been saving up to work with them because investing in your website is important to you and you want to do it right (the first time).
or maybe it's the second time.
You have had past experiences with a web company and you hate to have to go back to them — the overall experience is not what you expected and you want your website to do more for you and your business, afterall, you put your heart into your business.
That’s how you found this new designer, avoiding the designer you previously worked with — sometimes you just have to trust your instincts.
What you love about this new designer is that they take the time to understand your client. They tune into what first impressions your website makes on them and what information they are looking for. They want to create a simplified experience, that goes above and beyond what they expected when they first clicked the link to your website.
They seem to know all the answers —
What questions does your client have before working with you?
What services/products/support are they looking for?
What language are they using to describe their problems and what solutions they are looking for?
Support During Your Design Time: Collecting All The Pieces That Make Up Your Website
Have you ever attempted designing your own website? I mean how hard can it really be, all you have to do is pick a template and add ina few photos — at least that’s how it starts. That leads you down the rabbit hole of searching up adding your logo or resizing your photos.
Having someone there to support you in collecting all the pieces of your website is allows you to cut through doing endless hours of research to find out what photos you can legally use on your website and if you need a Privacy Policy before making your website live. Your website designer can help you in collecting all the different pieces of information that need to come together to create your cohesive website.
Take a peek at my Ultimate Content Planner & Checklist to see what you need to know before starting your website (download below)
You’ll get some important tips on how to get your website to reflect your brand and how to create a professional-looking website you’re proud to send clients to.
Two essential pieces of your website are 1) the photos you use and, 2) the words on your website (also known as copy).
I can help find the photos that will connect with your ideal customer — whether that be through sourcing free stock photos, taking your own photos or connecting with a brand photographer.
I’m also all about concise and easy-to-read copy for your website. With my Simply Website package, I provide the planning resources to write out the copy for your website — the same ones I used in writing out the copy for my website. If you rather hire a professional copywriter to help write your brand’s story, I can help!
You’ve probably seen firsthand when checking out competitor websites, that having the right photos and words, speaks directly to your ideal customer. It lets them know, “Hey, you are in the right place, let’s work together!”
Think of the last time you visited a website and you found exactly what you were looking for and it was easy to make a purchase! That’s the experience we want to recreate on your website.
I just recently designed and printed business cards for my business. I ended up going with a company that made it super simple for me to design, and order my cards in under 30 minutes and I didn’t have to submit any forms or wait to hear back from anyone to get them done.
On the first website, I had to search around to find if they printed business cards and then dig a little deeper to find out the process of ordering business cards. It left me feeling a little confused and unsure of what I needed to submit.
On the second website I visited, I could easily search “business cards” in the search bar, have over 20+ templates to choose from with detailed descriptions concerning the finish of the business cards and if I could write on them — that small detail helped me immensely when I was making my final decision.
The best part was that it was a step-by-step process and every step was interactive and visual.
Let’s go back to the designer you’ve been wanting to work with. Take a look at their website or social media channels.
Do they have an easy way for you to connect with them? It’s common practice to book a free discovery call or consultation before booking a website with a website designer. This is the chance for you to ask questions about their process, and find out if they are going to design the kind of website you’re looking for.
The cool thing is that there are many different types of designers — some designers focus solely on the website build, some include copywriting and branding, and some are industry-specific.
It’s also common practice for designers to include a questionnaire or form with a few questions to get to know you better, this can be at the same time as when you book your free call or when you’re on your call.
Take a peek at the questions I ask when a new client is interested in working with me:
Next step, Deciding If A Website Designers Design Style Is Right For Your Website
I’m a big fan of popping onto a website and instantly being told a story of how this product or service will benefit me. Like the website was made for me. It’s a pretty cool feeling.
Let’s talk about this for a minute. Say you’ve narrowed your list down to 2 or 3 designers you would like to work with, you take a look at their websites and mosey over to their portfolio page and there’s one designer in particular that wows you.
The colours used on their projects are similar to what you want for your website, and the designs are a perfect match to the design aesthetic you’ve been pinning to your dream website board.
When it comes to this step trust your instincts. Based on what you see so far this designer is going to be able to deliver the website you’ve been dreaming about since starting your business. When it comes to design we are naturally attracted to the things that we like, and bonus points, it’s going to be easier to explain to them what you want because they’re already doing it for clients just like you, and this is what we want.
Once you’ve decided that you’d potentially like to work with this website designer(s), go ahead and hit their services and FAQ pages, this is where you’ll find out what it’s like to work with them and find out the investment amount.
It’s important to not just go with the first designer you find but to make sure you’re compatible. If you’re not at the point of where you can pay the amount in full, ask if they offer payment plans or wait just a little longer while you save up for it, I promise it’ll be worth it. It can feel like a lot of money you’re handing over. Money and trust. You’re not sure what to expect from the process and it’s a giant step forward in your business.
Book your Consult call, and Prepare Your List Of Questions To Ask Your Potential Website Designer
Go ahead and book your consult call (it’s kinda exciting, am I right?). Now we’re going to tackle the questions you should be asking to make sure your website designer is the designer for your project.
Here’s the quick list:
How does your design process work?
How long does it take to build my website?
Do you write my website for me?
What’s included in your website package?
Can you help me with branding?
Do I need a Squarespace account before we start?
How do I prepare for my website?
What’s the cost of a 5-page website?
Can you connect my 3rd party integrations?
Are there additional costs outside of designing my website?
Can you help me choose which Squarespace hosting package I should use?
How does your design process work?
By asking your designer how their design process works you’ll be able to get an idea of what content you need to provide and if there is prep work involved on your end. You’ll also get a glimpse at what support your designer will provide you with throughout the build and what you can expect with your finished website.
With my design process, I work with one client at a time in two-week increments. Each project is booked in advance and my clients are tasked with a welcome guide that walks them through all the different pieces of information that will need to be provided before the build begins. My process is collaborative. This means that at any time during the prep stage, I am available to answer questions, provide guidance and give recommendations for brand photographers and website copywriters.
How long does it take to build my website?
What we’re looking to find out is how long will it take for your website to be a fully finished product from the time you sign the contract to when your website is signed over to you.
Depending on the scope of the project it can take anywhere from 2-5 months.
With my design process, the actual time of your website build is only 2 weeks. What this means is that during your design time, I am building your website and sending you drafts for edits.
Prior to the two weeks, we arrange for all the different pieces of your website to be collected and completed. For example, contacting a brand photographer to take photos for your website.
What’s great about building your website this way is that we have a clear timeline and deadlines for every step of the project and you have a dedicated launch date, meaning you can advertise your website’s big reveal ahead of time!
Do you write the copy for my website?
You want to ask this question because not all website designers include the website copy with their packages, the copy is the client's responsibility to provide. Alternatively, you can hire a copywriter to help you.
With the Simply Website, I provide a Welcome Package complete with the same resources and framework that I used in writing the copy for my website. I can also refer you to Canadian Copywriters who can help write your website copy.
Grab your copy of The Ultimate Content Planning Guide & Checklist (download below) for a sneak peek into what content should be on your website.
What’s included in your website package?
This is your chance to find out everything that will be included with your website. Make sure to note
how many pages are included and if you can add on more pages
whether you can link your Instagram feed/ConvertKit account/scheduler (any outside accounts that will make your life easier).
note how many revisions are included.
what sort of SEO do they include
If your website will be optimized for both desktop and mobile
For example, my website package starts at 5 pages and includes all your third-party connections and unlimited revisions — you can take a peek at the timeline below.
I also design your website to be optimized for both desktop and mobile.
Check out more details here.
Can you help me with my branding?
Just like the above question about website copywriting, some website designers can help you with the branding of your website. This service can range from creating a simple logo and brand board to a more in-depth branding experience that covers all marketing aspects of your business.
I’m passionate about creating, and I offer simple logo and branding board creation that can be added to the Simply website package.
Do I need a Squarespace account before we start?
With Squarespace, you get a two-week trial period to test out the platform and build your website before paying for a hosting plan. In most cases your designer will build your website on their Squarespace account and then transfer ownership to you once the project is completed and paid for, this is standard practice in the industry.
How do I prepare for my website?
You want to find out what prep work you will need to do before you start working with your designer. This is where you find out if your designer provides you with a checklist of all the content they will need to create your dreamy website.
For example, once you sign up for a website with Simply by Katie, you will receive a Welcome Package that walks you through how to collect all the different pieces of content — what photos to use, how to write the words for your website and where to purchase Terms and Conditions and a Privacy Policy for your website (required before your website goes live) and we kick off our two-weeks together with a call where we go over all the information you provided.
What’s the cost of a 5-page website?
The cost of a starter 5-page website varies greatly depending on your location and skill of your designer. As of 2023, the average cost of a 5-page website build is between $2,500-$5,000. It is common practice for the payments to be spread out into three 30% payments — the first due when booking your website, the second 30% payment due at the start of the project and the final 30% payment due at the end of the project when your website is then transferred over to you.
Can you connect my Instagram feed/scheduler?
It’s pretty awesome that we can connect all our apps and programs (and we all have a lot of them) so they all work in sync. This is no exception when it comes to your website. I’m a little bit of a nerd when it comes to workflows and creating less work so heck yes, all your apps will be connected (that’s if you choose me as your designer of course)!
Are there additional costs outside of designing my website?
This is a great question to ask so you can find out the total cost for your website. This is where you can find out if there are any additional costs that would apply to building your dream website.
You can expect add-ons like branding, copywriting, additional pages, a larger website package (10+ pages), landing pages etc… to be additional costs.
Outside of the package costs, there are also costs associated with maintaining your website, these include renewing your domain name(s), Squarespace hosting and if you outsource website updates, new page creations and/or an ongoing blog.
Can you help me choose which Squarespace hosting package I should use?
When you build your website on Squarespace before it goes live, you need to choose a hosting package for your website. Most of my client's websites can be hosted with Squarespace’s Business Plan, for websites requiring a more advanced e-commerce solution, there are two Commerse plans.
Check out Squarespace hosting plans.
On our consult call, I will be able to tell you the appropriate hosting plan for your website so you can plan for the ongoing costs of hosting your website. I will also confirm this again when it’s time to take your website live for you to show off proudly!
Red Flags To Look Out For Before Hiring A Website Designer
Quick List: What to look out for when interviewing a potential website designer
Poor response time and they show up late to calls
Gives vague answers
Talks poorly of previous clients
Don’t ask questions about your business, customers or website goals
Doesn’t propose a plan for your website/provide feedback - e.g. SEO Keywords etc…
When you’re preparing for your call you may have initial interactions with your potential website designer. This is your chance to take note of their communication style and how they work. I like to make things as straightforward as possible, listing starting prices and an easy-to-complete booking form & a way to book your free consult call with me. My goal is to learn as much as I can prior to our call so that I come to our call prepared with an idea of the scope of the project and can provide you with advice for moving forward.
If the designer you’re trying to reach out to doesn’t respond to inquiries after a week or you find it’s too hard to find out more information about their services, this is a sign that you should move on to the next designer.
What happens if the designer speaks poorly about previous clients or gives vague answers to your questions?
This is a huge red flag and please make sure you run on out of there ASAP. You don’t want to work with a website designer who talks poorly about previous clients. You want a designer who when they talk about previous clients describes how they solved problems that arose during the project and you want your designer to be able to answer your questions, a good designer will admit when they don’t know something and how they plan on helping you achieve the website you're looking for.
If the skillset is outside of their abilities, they should be able to recommend professionals you can hire or give you advice on how you can start your own search.
What Can You Expect From The Website Designer During the Consult Call?
You’ve come prepared with a notebook page full of questions you want to ask your potential designer, excited to finally be one step closer to your website! They’ve answered your questions, you’re feeling good about their work that you’ve been saving to your inspiration board.
What else should you be looking out for?
A good indicator, of whether the designer is a good fit for you, is if they reciprocate your curiosity — they ask questions about your business, the goals you have for your website, what types of websites inspire the design of your website and they delve deeper to find out more information about your clients.
We want a designer that invites you behind the scenes to share ideas and strategies to reach your goals — maybe this looks like sharing an example hero photo to catch your visitor’s attention when they first land on your homepage, or a freebie idea that allows you to add their email to your waitlist.
Listen to how they plan to use the list of keywords you’ve been working on little by little to make sure your website is showing up on search engines.
Do they paint the picture of how to plan the layout of your website so that you turn curious visitors to invested clients?
Tune into your gut feeling, what are your initial thoughts and reactions after the call? Are the cells in your body buzzing, excited for the opportunity to work with your designer or are you feeling unsure? There’s a reason for this, and I’m here to tell you, that you can trust yourself to make this decision.
Simply by Katie is a Canadian Squarespace Website Design Studio based in Victoria, BC and serves Small Business Owners from across Canada. Simply by Katie designs strategy-rich websites in a quick turnaround of just two weeks.
