Designing a website is tough, especially if you don't have much experience in this field. If you're designing a website for a new business, or if you're thinking about redesigning your existing website, you might consider hiring a web design consultant for guidance and assistance.
But should you really use web design consulting services? And if so, how should you approach this decision?
What Is Web Design Consulting?
Website design consulting is the process of providing advice and guidance for how to design a website. Your website design consultants might help you with any or all of the following:
· Aesthetics. How do you make your website look better? How can you make sure it's distinguished from your competition? How do you make it appear more beautiful, more professional, or edgier? A consultant will be able to help you determine not only how your current website looks, but exactly which changes can help you improve.
· Branding and image. Does this website adequately capture the essence of your brand? Are you communicating all your brand values and personality traits with the people visiting it? If your website isn't aligned with your brand, you may struggle to grow.
· Functionality. Does your website work the way you want it to? Obviously, website functionality is a byproduct of both design and back end development, but website design consultants can help you identify any core issues relating to the design and layout of your website.
· Influence on user behavior. Finally, web design consultants can help you understand how your design influences user behavior. If you're trying to achieve specific goals, like attracting more traffic, or earning more conversions, it's important to get the right advice.
Advantages of Web Design Consulting
These are some of the best advantages of seeking web design consulting:
· Expertise. Working with a consultant means you'll have access to true expertise. Rather than trusting your own intuitions, or relying on decisions from entry-level designers, you'll have insights and direction from a team of people with decades of combined experience. Accordingly, you'll usually be in a much better position to make the right decisions for your web design.
· An outside perspective. In the context of your business operations, groupthink can seriously hold you back. If you, your partners, and all your employees feel a certain way, you might feel very confident in your web design decisions – but those may not be the best decisions for your company. Hiring a consultant means you'll get some outside perspective that can be truly illuminating.
· Actionable direction. Web design consultants aren't just going to tell you your design is bad. They're going to tell you exactly why it's bad (if it is, indeed, bad) and how to fix it. This actionable direction means you're always going to be left with meaningful steps you can take to improve your business and its web presence.
· Accountability. Most web design consultants genuinely want to see your business succeed. They're not interested in just providing you with advice and walking away; they're going to be there to provide additional advice and guidance as you begin to incorporate their advice and act according to their direction.
· A long-term partnership (potentially). If things go well, this could turn into a longer-term partnership. You can seek the advice of this consultant every time you want to update your website – and reliably get the insights you need to make your website perform better.
Disadvantages of Web Design Consulting
However, there are some disadvantages associated with web design consulting:
· Cost. Consulting fees can be steep, depending on who you’re working with and how long you work with them. If you're trying to run your business on a lean budget, you may not have the extra resources to spend on this. That said, expert web design consulting typically pays for itself.
· Timing. Web design consulting timing can also be problematic. If you're in a rush to launch your new website, you may not be able to find a trustworthy design consultant who can provide you with a quick review.
· Dependency on consultant quality. The results of your web design consulting are going to vary heavily depending on who your consultant is. If your consultant isn't experienced or knowledgeable, they're not going to be able to help you much. Be careful who you work with.
Web design consultants aren't a perfect fit for every business, but they do come with some impressive advantages. If you have the budget for them, or if you don't have much internal expertise to guide you, they can be an especially powerful investment. Just make sure you hire a web design consultant with ample experience and resources to help you achieve your long-term web design and development goals.