Today, most businesses realize it’s not enough to look good online.  You have to look great.  You must outshine the competition.

That’s why more businesses are finding they need to work with professional designers.  Bland templates and overused stock photos just aren’t getting it done.

As a company of website designers and marketers, Marketing 360® knows a thing or two about designing websites, banners, logos, and other collateral for clients.

Of the many lessons we’ve learned working on projects with clients, one we know for sure.  Telepathy doesn’t work.  Coming to the designer with a “feeling” for how you want your design to look – then expecting it to turn out exactly as you expected – is an amateurish approach.  Telling the designer I’ll know it when I see it is a sure fire way to double the length of the project and quadruple its cost.

Instead, provide the designer with as much information as possible so they have a clear idea of what you’re looking for.  In addition, make sure you understand what you want the website to communicate as well as who it’s communicating with.  A marketing, lead-generation website is ultimately a persuasive communication tool.  The design serves that goal.

There are three main ways you can approach working with a designer depending on your sense of what you want and what material you can provide.  Let’s break these down so you have an idea of where you’re starting from.

1.  You Know What You Want

In this case, you have a very specific vision for what you want.  You know the images, fonts, navigation style, forms, and overall layout.  You’re aware of any technical challenges, and have an idea of how to tackle them.

Come prepared.  Have all the materials you want to use and be ready to wire-frame your concept.  If you do this, you’re more likely to get what you want.

Also note that if you have really specific requirements, it’s likely to cost you.  You’ll probably have to do a custom design instead of working off a template.  The project will take more time.

So make sure you do in fact know what you want and be prepared to communicate that to your design and development team.  You’ll be the one guiding the project and adapting to anything that turned out to not be possible (not everything is).

2.  You Don’t Know Exactly What You Want, But You’ve Seen What You Like

Here, you come prepared with a scrapbook.

You have website examples from a variety of industries that give a strong idea of what you’re looking for.  There are certain things about Apple’s website you really like.  You like how Fidelity Investments sets up their call to action.  You know an interior designer with a site that has a perfect color palette.  A local dentist has a really cool set-up for their blog.

An important difference from #1 is that here, you don’t tell the designer what to do.  You just give them plenty of examples so they know what you want your design to remind people of.   You trust the designer to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to get to where you want to be.

3.  You Know What You Want Your Website to Do, But You Don’t Know How to Design It

In this case, you’re not a designer and realize it.  You don’t really know how your website should look or what will make it most effective.

However, you do know the action you want people to take, as well as what you want the website to say.  You have a value proposition to communicate and a conversion goal you want to set up.

You can tell the designer you want to evoke a sense of trust.  Or that you want to create a sense of urgency.

You know who the site is for, but you trust your designer to develop a site that gets the right reaction from visitors.

In this case, trust the professionals.  Give them the freedom to develop something effective.

And Consider…

If you don’t know what you want your website to say or who the work is for, then you’re not ready to design a website.  You need to back up and work on your marketing strategy and on developing a crisp value proposition.

Again, it’s important to note that the design serves the content.  You have to know what state of mind you’re trying to get visitors in, and you need at least an outline of what you want the content to say.

Professional copywriters can help you polish your message.  But don’t expect a website design project to create the value you’re offering.  That must be intrinsic to your product or service.

The majority of clients we work with at Marketing 360® fall somewhere between type two and three.  People hire a professional designer because they don’t know how to design a website themselves.

However, it’s not uncommon for the business owner’s control instinct to jump in.  Suddenly, the client starts micromanaging the project even though they don’t have a clear idea of what they’re doing.

Resist this instinct in a design project.  Trust your designer to understand your vision, then let them work their magic to turn it into reality.

Also remember that their goal is effectiveness, not just originality.  Many a “cool” website has been published, only to find later that the emphasis on cleverness over clarity didn’t serve the conversion goals of the business.

At Marketing 360®, you can get a conversion-focused website design built on the UXI® platform in just a matter of weeks.  After you’ve looked through our templates and we do some mockups, you’ll have a good sense of what to expect from your final design.

It will look beautiful.  That we can guarantee.  It will be designed to convert, right out of the box.

And you’ll get what you expect – if you understand your own expectations.  You may want to manage every step, or you may prefer to give the designer a free hand.  Either way, know where you’re starting from and you’re more likely to finish where you want.