Web Designer

I leave you some tips so that, regardless of whether you work with me or with any other web designer, you know how to identify a professional from someone who is not, you know what you have to demand from a web designer and what to expect to find.

A good website must fulfill the following aspects:

– First of all, as a client, you must be the OWNER of your website, autonomous and independent of it. This is something fundamental to demand from the designer. You must have all the access credentials to WordPress, as well as to any associated external service (hosting and domain provider, Google Analytics, Google Search Console…) and the accounts on these platforms must be linked to your email and never to the designer’s, so that you can own them. Firstly because the website is yours. Secondly, so that you don’t need to pay for maintenance if you don’t want to and you can work on your own and update the content you need autonomously. And, thirdly, so that nothing “ties” you to one designer or another. If in the future you want to change something and hire a different designer, the web and the design is yours and, of course, you can do it, without having to ask permissions or give explanations if you don’t want to. This is the most important philosophy of my work and why I differentiate my service from the rest of the market. In all my web design quotes I include a final training meeting with the client, where I explain how to update the contents of your website autonomously, so you do not depend on me if you do not want to and so you do not need to pay for web maintenance, which will increase the initial cost of the web disproportionately, if you do not need it.

– Be responsive. This means to adapt optimally to the size and peculiarities of all the different devices where a website is displayed (desktops, laptops, mobiles, tablets …). This has a very high importance, since today the highest percentage of users use the mobile, instead of the computer for everything, even to buy. In cases of online stores, imagine the importance and impact on sales that the entire process and purchase funnel is optimized for mobile, or not.

– Be usable by all audiences (adapted) and intuitive. It must be easy to navigate the web and make it easy for any user, especially the target audience of the business, so that they can fulfill the purpose of the web (sales, contacts…).

– To be a marketing element. A website is an advertising element and must be designed with knowledge for that purpose. The identity, texts, functionalities, must be built with criteria to represent the philosophy and values of the brand, favor the growth of the business, and be oriented to each specific commercial objective: sales, capturing “leads” (potential customers) for a certain service, monetization of content marketing through Google Ads, affiliate marketing (content affiliation through platforms such as Amazon), etc. They must be oriented to the “target” or target audience that each business has. And they must fulfill their function and favor the natural growth of the brand. For this, it is not only necessary that the web design is designed for such purposes, but the client will need advice on how to develop texts and how to update web content with strategy to increase conversions (sales) and monetize their investment.

– Be built with SEO (organic search engine optimization) architecture. Even if you do not hire an SEO to implement advanced strategies (which are generally expensive, since it is an investment that returns directly in sales and is also complex and laborious), all businesses need the web design itself to be built with a structure, internal linking, etc., designed to enhance natural growth in search engines. That is to say, that the website is positioned as high as possible in search engines like Google so that potential customers can find you. This, by the way, does not mean that they find you when they put your brand name, for example “Tania Izquierdo Design” in Google, since that has a very low volume of searches. It means that they find you through the keywords you are interested in working with, for example “Graphic Designer Madrid”, “Illustrator Madrid”, “Logo Designer Madrid”, “Web Designer Madrid”, which have a high volume and are the type of clients that are looking for your service. For this, it is super important that the menu, the pages and the linking between those pages are thought to target your keywords. This is probably the most important thing I would demand when hiring a web designer, as it is the difference between your website growing naturally and exponentially over time, or not. Whether you get 3 quotes a month or 30. Whether you sell 3 products, or 30 a month. It is also the difference between you needing a redesign in the future or not. If your business grows and, later on, you are interested in investing in SEO to grow in search engines, hiring a professional to manage this service on a monthly basis and implement advanced strategies, the difference between how your website is designed from the beginning means that you can implement them or you need to redo your entire website because there is nowhere to take it. Therefore, it is necessary that the professional who makes the web design is trained in SEO, not only to build the web with SEO architecture, but also to advise you so that you can grow autonomously.

– Be fast. It is very important, nowadays, that a website is fast (takes little time to load) so that the objective (conversions) of the same can be fulfilled and does not cause “bounce” in the user (you enter and leave because it does not load). Speed is also important since it is one of the key SEO factors that Google takes into account to position well or not in its search engine.

– Be secure. It is very important that the web is protected against hacks and has implemented the SSL security protocol (which indicates that it is used with https and that the site does not appear indicating “not secure”, which also causes bounces and rejection in the user, in addition to unprotection towards the web).

– Comply with the European legality. Of course, the designer must leave the website functional and in compliance with all regulations (privacy policy, data policy, cookies policy) mandatory for European websites.

– Be connected to Google Analytics, so you can carry an analysis of the data of your website in Google, and measure how it works.

– Have a good hosting provider (web hosting). This I tell you in detail below, but it is important because it affects everything: performance, speed, positioning, security, having quality services associated or not, customer service quality or not, etc..

– The web design must be practical, but also aesthetic, modern and fresh. But, above all, it must be unique for each client. In other words, a tailor-made design, taking into account all of the above, for each brand. This seems obvious, but many designers work with templates that allow little adaptation or control over the design or, simply to shorten times, do not bother to create a unique design for each brand. This makes all websites look the same and, therefore, you don’t stand out from the competition.

I recommend you to take all this into account when assessing what each designer offers you and choose because, as they say, cheap is expensive. This does not mean that my service is expensive, so do not be afraid to ask. The estimate is without obligation, so you don’t lose anything for asking. 😉

• Design of websites of any type and for any market.
• Design of online stores and ecommerce.
• Redesign and modernization of existing websites.
• Organic search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.
• Web audits and SEO audits.
• Content writing / Copy Writing for websites, blogs and social networks related to related topics (design, illustration, creativity…).
• Consulting services.
• Design of logos and brand identities associated with the web. Consult this service here.
• Graphic design of web elements (banners, headers…). Consult this service here.
• Illustrations for web. Consult this service here.
• Presentations design. Consult this service here.
• Others: ask for more information.

The answer, as always, is, it depends.

And what does the cost mainly depend on?

• The number of pages your website needs.
• The complexity of the web: it is not the same a simple, informational web, of the type: home, about us, service and contact, than an online store with product sales, than a restaurant web with integrated reservation management, etc.
• The integrations you need. For example, integrating a newsletter to subscribe to a newsletter, a payment gateway, etc. And, this depends on whether your type of website needs a paid plugin for premium features, or not.
• The number of languages your website needs: a single language website is not the same as a multilingual website.
• If you need any additional service, besides the web design: do you also need a content writer or copywriter, or you would be in charge of creating the texts? Do you need a translator, or you yourself would be in charge of doing the professional translations for the languages you want to show on your website?
• Whether or not you want to hire an SEO service (organic positioning in search engines such as Google), in addition to the web design itself.
• The urgency of your project: normally and depending on my schedule (I would tell you in advance) I can produce a website in about two weeks – 1 month. However, if you need the website to be ready urgently, the budget could be a bit more expensive, depending on my schedule.

To this cost of my web design service, you will always have to add the following external costs that have the development of a website:

• Cost of the domain and hosting service: the one I generally recommend, which you can find below, is around 79€/1 year.
• Cost of a premium WordPress template: the one I generally recommend, which you can find below, has a cost of $50/one-time payment.

These external costs will be contracted by the client himself, with advice from me at all times to hire recommended providers, according to the needs of your project, and to ensure a fast and optimized website.

Based on my experience as a professional web designer, I leave you the following recommendations of external providers:

To hire the domain and hosting for your website, I recommend WebEmpresa. You can see the costs of this service here. Why do I recommend it?
– Because they specialize in WordPress.
– For its excellent customer service through a fast, easy, comfortable and quality ticket service.
– For its performance and loading speed.
– For its security and protection against hacks. It includes the SSL security certificate.
– For its services included in the hosting, such as automatic backups. They are made every day at 00:00 h and can be restored very easily. This means that you do not have to generate copies manually and that these copies do not consume space. So, in case you want to tinker with your website in the future, you can do it without worries, knowing that you can always restore yesterday’s backup, the day before yesterday, etc, and go back to what you had if you touch something you “shouldn’t”. This allows customers to be more autonomous, even if they do not have technical knowledge.
– Because of its automatic image optimization plugin included. This allows the customer to be more autonomous, being able to upload new images without worrying about the weight of them and slowing down the web.
For the premium WordPress template I recommend Bridge, for being a professional and multi-purpose template, ideal for working in multiple sectors and that allows you great control over the design.
You can see the cost of this template here.