If you have employed a professional web designer or web design agency to create your website, then you have made a positive step towards having a website that is going to contribute to the success of your business. Using professional web designers will reassure you that the people designing and creating your website have the experience, skills, and resources to produce a website you can be proud of.
However, whilst your web design team have a huge role to play in the creation of your website, your contribution is not minimal. There are several parts of the process that you will be involved in, before, during and after your website has been designed. One of those is communicating with your web designers and its role in the success of the project should not be underestimated.
Effective communications are essential for any project to be successful where there are two parties involved, and this is particularly true when it comes to web design. So, here are 10 excellent tips to make sure that the communication between yourself and your web designers is effective.
Tip #1: Ensure You Both Know What The Final Objectives Are – Both you and your web design team must be in unison when it comes to knowing what the objectives of your website are so that when you communicate with them, the goals you discuss are aligned.
Tip #2: Be Open And Honest At All Times – Never be afraid to voice your opinion to your web designer if something is not right. As long as it is done respectfully, you should raise a concern openly than avoid it and hope it will go away…it won’t.
Tip #3: Do Not Try To Rush The Project – Professional web designers will be upfront and realistic about the timescale for completion, so trust them on it. Do not be tempted to rush the project and especially do not ask them to cut corners to save time.
Tip #4: Break The Project Down Into Smaller Milestones – Rather than constantly contacting your web designers at arbitrary times to check on progress, the entire web design should be broken down into milestones that the design team can confirm as complete as they proceed.
Tip #5: Do Not Try To Micromanage – Similar to the previous tip, this one is about not trying to manage every finite detail and thus micromanaging your designers. Let them be, and allow them to worry about the details as that is what they are being paid for.
Tip #6: Agree On A Single Point Of Contact On Both Sides – Most professional web design agencies do this anyway, but just in case, arrange for both sides to have single contact rather than several, to make communication easier and efficient.
Tip #7: Be Clear About Changes Or Edits – If you wish to deviate from or tweak the original design you must be unambiguous when communicating this to your web designers.
Tip #8: Handle Problems Immediately – If any problems occur and it requires action from you to resolve them, then it is imperative that you fix them immediately rather than have your web designer constantly having to chase you for them.
Tip #9: Trust The Advice Of Your Web Design Team – Whilst it is perfectly fine for you to ask questions of your web designers, you must trust their experience and expertise when they advise you throughout the project.
Tip #10: Ensure Everything Is Agreed In Writing – To avoid disputes and disappointment always get the details of the project, and the web design specifically, in writing, which in truth, a professional web design agency will insist upon anyway.