Designer

Going With the Pros: The Top Benefits of Hiring a Professional Graphic Designer

If your pipes fail, you bring in a plumber. If you break your leg, you call up a doctor. If you decide it’s high time your company updated its logo, are you sure you want to try to take on that task on your own?

There are specific tasks that we’re better off leaving to the pros. And, graphic design is one of those jobs.

A lot of business owners see graphic design as a luxury expense. After all, how hard can it be to draw up a compelling ad for your latest marketing campaign?

The truth is, there’s a lot more to graphic design than doodling logos. And, whether you’re looking to create a new website or engaging packaging for your store, a graphic designer can help you get the job done.

Still not convinced?

Here are a few of the top reasons why you should hire a professional graphic designer.

Time Is Money

As a business owner, your day to day life is probably already busy enough as is.

By hiring a professional graphic designer, you won’t have to worry about dedicating a lot of time trying to design your new website yourself.

And, on top of that, by bringing in a professional, you can make sure that the job gets done right and on time, saving you and your company plenty of time.

A Fresh Perspective

A professional graphic designer has years of experience in figuring out what works and what doesn’t. And, on top of all their design expertise, they can bring to the table one thing you’ll never be able to get from your in house team: an outsider’s opinion.

A designer will work with you to figure out what you’re looking for while introducing fresh ideas that could help take your brand to the next level.

Boost Your Brand

Every successful business owner knows that branding is everything.

Bringing on a professional graphic designer can help you take control of your company’s branding.

A designer won’t just create the perfect logo to represent your business. They’ll also be able to create everything from color palates to design schemes that can make your company look more professional.

Get It Done Right the First Time

Finally, as we said before if you want a job done right, you need to hire someone with the right tools and expertise.

A professional graphic designer doesn’t just come with experience. They also will already have all the design tools needed to get the job done.

Graphic design companies will be able to work with you to ensure that you get the best people for your specific task and that the job gets done on schedule.

Why You Should Hire a Professional Graphic Designer

Now that you know why you should bring in a professional graphic designer, it’s time to get to work.

Are you looking for more ways to boost your business? We can help!

Check out our other articles for more information on everything from how to master social media marketing to how to design the perfect logo.

5 Reasons You Need to Hire a Professional Website Designer for Your Blog

Having a basic Squarespace site for your blog is a good start, but it isn’t enough to help you fund your dreams.

Take Ariana Huffington’s word for it. The Huffington Post started out as a simple blog but is now worth around $1 billion.

If you’re ready to step up your blog game, you’ll need a bit of professional assistance. Here are five reasons why you should hire a website designer for your blog.

1. Hiring a Website Designer Gives You More Time to Blog

There aren’t enough hours in the day as it is. Between writing, editing, publishing, and mingling with your audience, there’s hardly a free moment.

Fortunately, pro web designers can alleviate some of the burdens.

By allowing them to work their magic, you’ll have more time to do what you do best — blog.

While they won’t be able to help you develop a website from scratch — website designers and website developers are two very different positions, which you can compare here — you’ll still save time.

Instead of spending hours learning CSS and hoping your newfound skills serve you well, use that time to come up with more content. In the long run, you may even save money this way.

2. A Professional-Looking Blog Brings in Revenue

According to Statista, there are over 4 million blogs on Tumblr alone!

Since that number doesn’t factor in blogs from professional and personal websites, you can rest assured that the actual number of blogs online at this moment is far higher.

Because of the competition, it’s vital for bloggers to gain their readers’ trust. Not only will this trust result in more readers, but it may help you make more money.
A quality blog with a proven readership is far more likely to attract advertisers.

3. Your Blog Will Load Faster

Few things are as frustrating as waiting for a website to load. Even a few seconds can seem like an eternity to most web users.

Web designers can help you optimize your images and tailor your URLs so that your readers can access your great content in a flash.

4. No Need to Worry About Sitewide SEO Compliance

Not only will the help of web designers speed your site up, but a redesign may result in better search rankings.

Website designers can help you improve your on-site SEO in a variety of ways, including adding markup structures that are web crawler friendly and creating sitemaps.

5. Website Designers Can Help Reinforce Your Brand

You may think of yourself as a blogger or content creator, but you’re also a brand. Everything you put on your blog reinforces or detracts from that brand.

Web designers can help your blog better represent the ideals and beliefs you’d like to portray through the use of color, fonts, and more.

Revamp Your Blog With Professional Assistance

Partnering with a website designer is a fantastic idea for bloggers of any scale.

Whether you’re a small blogger hoping to grow or an established blogger hoping to make it even bigger, a web designer can help you get where you want to be.

Now all that’s left is to create great content! Check out our article on writing SEO-friendly posts to learn more.

5 Things You Need to Do Before You Hire a Website Designer

There are over 1.5 billion websites on the internet today – but have you ever thought about how many of those are actually active, well-made sites?

The answer: not even 200 million websites on the internet are active right now. Of those, it’s hard to imagine they’re all on-trend and making good impressions on users.

It’s not enough to be just another domain among the many, many websites out there. If you’re creating a website for your business or trying to start a high-performing online business, you need to hire a web designer.

Web design determines how well you reach, engage, and convert your audience. It’s critical to making money and growing your presence online.

But, you can’t hire just any web designer to create something for you.

Here are 5 things you need to do to find the right person!

1. Identify Your Needs

Are you building a website from scratch or are you in need of a redesign? Do you want to transfer data from one domain/hosting site to another or would you rather have someone build the backend for you?

These are just a few questions to ask yourself before hiring a web designer. They help you focus your search once you start looking for people to hire. Identifying your needs also keeps you on track as you get into discussions about contracts and services.

2. Set a Budget

It’s one thing to establish everything you need from a web designer and another to know how you’re going to pay for it. This is why you need to set a budget before you start reaching out to different designers.

You don’t want to be ready to hire someone just to realize their services are completely out of your price range. Go into your search with a number in mind so that you don’t have any surprises as you narrow down your options.

3. Do Your Research

Speaking of narrowing down your options, keep in mind that there’s no limit to the designers you work with. You can choose to hire a local web designer that you can meet with in person or to hire one from overseas who specializes in building websites within your industry.

It’s worth taking your time to explore all your options. See what kind of web designers are in your area, then expand your search to be sure that you really are hiring the best one.

4. Look at a Designer’s Portfolio

A web designer can tell you all they want about their quality of work, but the proof is in their portfolio. You should always ask to see a designer’s portfolio before you even start talking specifics about what you need from them. This will give you a clear idea as to whether or not they fit the bill or if you should keep looking.

If they can offer additional services like Hook Agency can, even better. Investing in things like site security or SEO campaigns can do a lot more for you than aesthetics alone can.

5. Ask Questions

Just when you think you’ve found the right web designer, take the time to ask them a few more questions. You want to be sure you smoothe out all the details of a contract with them before you end up in a situation that doesn’t satisfy you.

Some smart questions to ask are:

• Can I see a list of references?
• How long have you been designing websites?
• Are you familiar with working with businesses like mine?
• Do you have a timeline for this project in mind?
• Does the cost include future edits?
• Will I be the owner of the website once it’s done?

Don’t hire a designer without bringing up these things. The last thing you want is to decide to redesign later down the line just to realize you don’t own the domain of your site or that you’re tied into working with the same designer!

These questions will help you be sure that the person you’re thinking of working with is reputable, qualified, and ready to get to work.

Not Sure If You Should Hire a Website Designer?

Maybe you’ve been thinking about hiring a web designer, but you’re not sure if it’s time for a redesign yet. Maybe you’d rather try to design a website on your own before you look to hire someone to do the work.

The truth is, the best thing you can do is hire a website designer. The sooner you invest in this service, the faster you can start to take advantage of everything a well-built website can offer.

Skip the guess and check and get caught up to the design trends of today.

For more web design insights and words of advice, click here.

9 Reasons Why You Need a Professional Web Designer

In this day and age, a business who doesn’t have a website is almost unheard of. Having a presence on the web is important to helping a business grow and maintaining visibility to potential customers. But if you’re just starting out or have never set up a website before, you may be wondering if it’s worth hiring a professional web designer.

Would a web designer be worth the money? Or would it be easier to simply create your website on your own?

Chances are there’s more benefits to hiring a professional than you may think. So before you spend too much time trying to set your site up on your own, let’s discuss 9 reasons why you need the help of a professional web designer.

1. Professional Experience and Resources

When you work with a professional web designer, you know that you’re getting someone with training and years of experience in the field. Not only that, they also have access to the latest resources which includes software, programs, and other web professionals.

It may be tempting to try to do it yourself or hire a grad student to design your page, but you could be wasting time and money by not getting a site that is optimized to its full potential.

A professional can create a powerful web design that can draw your audience in from the very first visit.

2. Custom Design

Your business is unique. Just like you, it has its own personality, its own purpose, and its own look, so it’s important that each of those come across clearly to your audience.

A web designer will sit down with you and learn about your brand, your products and services, and what you want people to be able to do on your site. Then they will design a page that is completely customized to your brand and your needs.

No cookie cutter websites allowed. This will ensure that your site stands out amongst your competition.

3. Saves You Valuable Time

Running a business takes a lot of time and work, time you likely don’t have available for designing your own website. Especially when you don’t know much about designing a site in the first place.

A professional web designer will already know the in’s and out’s of complete web design, which will save you an incredible amount of time trying to figure it out on your own. And when it’s done right the first time, you don’t have to worry about fixing any amateur mistakes later on, which also saves time.

Your attention and focus can stay on doing what you love, running and growing your business.

4. Webmaster Services

Just because your website is done doesn’t mean it’s complete. Just like many other aspects of your business, your website needs regular maintenance to run smoothly.

Technology is constantly changing. Things can malfunction. So using professional web design services gives you someone in your corner to help out when your site needs it. This can save you a lot of time and unneeded headaches.

5. Increases Web Traffic

The whole point of being on the web is to draw traffic to your site and to your business. That’s where SEO comes into play. A professional web designer will know how to get that job done right.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) enables your website to be ranked on search engines, such as Google and Bing. The more optimized your site is, the higher it will rank, which means people will be able to find your site easily. That will equal up to more traffic and more business for you!

A web designer who is knowledgeable in SEO techniques can optimize your website for search engine success.

6. Updated Technology

Web technology is changing and improving all the time. Having the resources and the know-how to keep up with it can be a daunting task.

Professional web designers will be able to create a site using the newest technology, the latest trends, and know when to update when newer technology is developed. This will give your site an advantage over your competitors while also giving your audience the best experience possible, ensuring return visits.

7. Improves Your Credibility and Reputation

Let’s face it, looks are everything when it comes to web design. A site that looks homemade is not going to get the same credibility and trust as a site that is professionally done.

You only get one chance to make a great first impression, so make sure visitors who come to your site feel that they are dealing with somebody who knows what they are talking about. That translates when your site is clean, easy to read, runs great, and looks polished.

And even if your company is a small one, a professionally designed site can make it look bigger than it actually is, putting you right up there with the big guys.

8. Ensures Your Site Is Mobile Friendly

Smartphones have made it easy for people to now have the internet available at their fingertips. So more and more people are browsing the web on their phones instead of a computer. Making your website mobile friendly is more important than ever.

A web designer will know how to ensure each and every aspect of your site is easily readable and user-friendly from a mobile device. That means keeping the format intact, making it easy to navigate from a smaller screen

9. It Will Increase Your Sales

When your site looks good and runs well, it will give your audience the confidence to buy your products and services.

Web designers know how to layout a products page or set up a services menu that will be easy for your customers to navigate and read. Product images and descriptions are properly displayed. Services are easily explained.

Plus, your site will be set up to correctly receive payments, which gives both you and your customers peace of mind.

Hiring a Professional Web Designer Is Good for Your Business

Your business’s website shouldn’t look like something that was an afterthought. By using the services of a professional web designer, you can properly show off your business to customers in a manner that will help your business grow.

Click here to find more tips about web design and development!