6 Tips to Having an Amazing Experience with Your Website Designer
As a Squarespace website designer for coaches and creatives, it’s important that my clients have a seamless experience. Or at least I work to ensure that’s the outcome.
When it comes to setting expectations around hiring and working with a website designer, I hope you’ll find this blog post helpful.
Having designed 30+ Squarespace websites, I’m excited to break down a list of items that have benefited me and my clients the most during our time together.
Especially since I have a 2 week website design process, the project moves very quickly.
1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Don’t understand a term or concept?
Not sure if a certain website functionality works with Squarespace?
Don’t see availability on my calendar that fits your schedule?
Have to move back the website launch date by a day or two?
Don’t hesitate to speak up and ask for clarification. No question is “dumb.”
In fact, I love when clients ask questions! It gives me clarity on where my onboarding could be better, my Asana walkthrough video could be clearer or where I can adjust task descriptions.
Asking questions ensures that you feel confident going into the website design process.
2. Have open and clear feedback communication
This one is superrr important.
When it comes to feedback about the work created by your website designer, it’s important to be clear and provide specific changes.
Designers are not mind readers (sorry, I wish we were).
For example, instead of “I’m not crazy about this section,” a better response would be “I’m not crazy about this stock photo. Can we swap it out with a photo of me and change the button color to pink?”
Providing more specific feedback gives the designer a tangible change to implement on the design. I’m happy to make recommendations where needed, but it definitely helps to have a more solid direction.
Even more so, if you don’t like something or you feel that the vision isn’t fully met, don’t be afraid to say it.
Of course, I always believe there’s a nice way of saying things. But it’s really about collaborating with your designer to bring your vision to life.
It’s important to me that my clients are head over heels in love with their design, and if I didn’t hit the nail on the head with the first iteration, I want to know!
On the other side of things, I’m honest with my clients as well. If there’s a design change that I think will completely throw off the professionalism or aesthetic of the whole site, then I will be honest.
For example, I’ve had to explain to clients why certain elements, like a pattern or color, will come across as youthful (which is the opposite aesthetic they want).
Of course, if a client really wants a design element, I’m not going to say no. But I’m a professional that my clients have invested thousands of dollars to, and they are paying for my website design expertise.
So just as I want clients to be open and clear with me, I hold myself accountable to that as well when the tables are turned.
3. Only send messages from one person of a team
If you’re part of a team, collect your feedback and send it in one message.
Nothing is more confusing than having multiple people from a team all sending their own feedback and thoughts.
Thankfully in my experience as a website designer, this has rarely happened. But it’s worth noting because having one point of contact makes the experience much smoother.
4. Be concise with your feedback and messages
In other words, try not to bombard your designer with a million messages.
Whether you’re asking questions or providing feedback, it’s much better to send one long message. Collect your thoughts before hitting send because going back and forth dozens of times in one thread can be very time consuming.
This is also helpful since website designers typically only want to go into client communication 1-3 times a day because they have other business related items they’re tending to.
5. Use the preferred communication method
If your website designer sets you up in Asana or Dubsado, try not to send emails or DMs. It can really complicate the project when there are multiple communication channels.
The point of having one method of communication is to streamline the project.
That’s why I personally set up my clients up in Asana. Instead of messages being hidden in emails, they’re inside specific tasks in Asana.
If you need further clarification on how to use a software, speak up and let your designer know.
I’ve had clients who struggle with Google Drive, and if creating a simple Loom tutorial makes them feel more at ease about how to use the software, I am more than happy to do so!
6. Stick to the deadlines and timelines
For my 2 week website design process, the project moves very quickly. Because of the quick turnaround, I only accept 1 client at a time. It keeps me focused and organized on one project, and I love it.
When deadlines are assigned to you from your website designer, it’s best to stick to them. Of course, it goes both ways. I’m held to that standard as much as my clients.
Whether it’s delivering your copy or providing feedback, try to stay on track as best you can.
The other side of it is that typically website designers have clients booked out in certain time slots as to not overbook themselves.
We have other clients that we might be working with and we set these dates specifically to make it easier to handle projects. It’s not just for us, but also for YOU so that we show up with our full energy and present for your project.
Worst case scenario, just communicate with your designer if you can’t deliver an item on time. We understand that life happens and extenuating circumstances may come up :)
Those are my top tips for having an amazing relationship with your website designer so you both can have an amazing experience working together!
Have questions? Drop them below!
Are you a coach or creative entrepreneur looking for help launching (or relaunching) their website? As a Showit and Squarespace website designer, nothing brings me greater joy than seeing my clients’ dream website come to life!
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