Like many business owners, you want a powerful, effective, and customized website that will help grow and scale your business. But after you sign your contract with your web designer, you can’t simply leave all the work to the web design team, no matter how skilled or experienced your provider is.


You see, clear and constant communication has a big role in achieving the exact website design you want. Your web designer needs to have a clear idea on what you want your website to look like, its purpose, the features that you want, and more. The team also needs to balance your website idea with your budget, the availability of resources, the capabilities of the team or web design systems, and inherent technological limitations.


Here are a few effective ways to communicate with your web design team for an affordable website creation or redo.

1. Provide references.


Your web design team needs to have a few references so they will have an idea of your envisioned design. Thus, send them links to websites that inspire you. This is an important step so both of you will have a mutual understanding of what you have in mind.


But this is just half of the picture. For even more clarity, select specific aspects of these reference sites, and explain to your designer why you want those certain aspects to be reflected in your own website.


For example, you may want a cool fading slider feature on your website just like one photography site that struck your interest. Why? The fading effect looks gentler and more appropriate for your landscape photos.


Perhaps another website’s neutral background colors look really cool, professional, and right on the dot on yours. Your company specializes in making customized business suits for men, and the neutral colors are perfect in conveying the right atmosphere of manliness and sophistication.


Be clear and specific when pointing out these aspects such as color schemes, layout, font, mood, and calls to action. More specific you are, the better your web designer can visualize your web design.

2. Present a rough mock-up.

Huh? But that’s supposed to be the designer’s job, isn’t it?


Well, a mock-up further clarifies how you want your website to look like. You might be surprised that many unsatisfactory web designs are the results of failure to actually imagine or understand the client’s idea. Couple it with unclear instructions, and there’s a sure recipe for disaster.


The mock-up doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you can simply draw the design you want on paper, color it with crayons, and discuss it with your provider. Simple charts, graphs, images, and a short draft of your text content will help your designer immensely. The team can use your sketches and drafts to layout and design your website.


Remember that humans are visual creatures. We naturally tend to understand complex concepts better and more thoroughly if we have cues that we can actually see.

3. Educate yourself on the basic terms of web design.


It is very difficult to give clear and specific instructions to your web designer if you don’t understand web design terminology, even at its most basic. Take some time to read, study, and know a bit of web design. In fact, why not try out some web designing on your own? You can try out Foliowebsites with their free 30-day trial account so you’ll have some actual experience on basic web design.


Being familiar with the jargon of the industry is among the most effective ways to communicate with your team. This allows you to communicate better, clearer, and faster with your web design team. This results in faster turnaround time and more accurate results.

4. Don’t be vague.


In connection to the tip above, it is important to be specific with what you want the design team do. Vague statements like “I don’t like this” or “I want you to improve on this” can cause confusion.

Rather, explain in detail what you want your web designer to do such as, “Add the slider right after the header menu” or “Use sky blue as the background color as it makes my images pop out beautifully.” Being specific gives your designer a better picture of what you actually want.

5. Know the capabilities and limitations of your web designer.


Web designers have their own unique technologies, processes, terms, conditions, capabilities, styles, and limits. There may be things that they can do amazingly well, given their resources, technologies, and skills. Some may be specialized in a few kinds of websites or niches. Others may not be able to design websites that require e-commerce functionalities.


As such, you should talk to your web designer and set the right expectations. Recognition and mutual understanding allow both of you to achieve a middle ground where you can gain mutual benefits.

6. Provide prompt answers to their queries as well as feedback.

 


The entire process of web design process is a collaborative effort between the service provider and the client. Most likely, your designer will be asking you a lot of questions and clarifications. They will be frequently sending you updates. The team may ask you to check out the app they installed, take a look at preliminary layouts, or test functionalities at your end.


Make sure you reply promptly to their inquiries and updates. Your design team needs your input and approval so they could effectively proceed with their work on your website. Through an active back-and-forth collaboration, they will be able to make the ideal website for you. Active communication also helps improve the turnaround time; you get your finished website on schedule or even sooner.

6. Try to be patient.


A great web design cannot be done with a snap of your finger. The creative and technical process is long, complicated, and sometimes confusing. Effective ways to communicate must be observed. Most importantly, you have to remember that you are dealing with human beings, not robots. They can get tired, frustrated, exasperated----and inspired as well!


Recognize and acknowledge the humanness of your designers. Help them the best you can by being clear on your instructions, providing feedback, replying to their inquiries, and encouraging them through words of praise. Try not to castigate, discourage, or fight with them. Always remember that ultimately, they want to make you happy and satisfied. After all, your website’s success is their success as well.

 

 

Your website is important for getting that all-important first impression. A professional web design team of designers, graphic artists, and SEO specialists will make sure that you’ll have a mobile-friendly, powerful, and effective website that helps you achieve your goals.