How to Hire Freelance Web Designers?
You don’t have to be a digital marketing pro to know how important a website is to modern business. As both a digital interface for delivering products and services and a vehicle for generating leads, your website needs to look good. If you want to deliver a smooth customer experience and look good while doing it, a web designer can help. The global market is becoming more and more competitive every day and it is estimated that there will be almost a billion global digital buyers by the end of 2020. What this means is that if you own a business and don’t have a website, you should probably consider getting one. If you don’t have the knowledge to do it, don’t worry, because there are millions of web developers out there waiting to work with you. But how do you go about hiring a web developer? Today, we are bringing you the easiest ways of hiring the right web developer, so let’s get started.
Before identifying a freelancer to work with, you should first know what you’re asking for. This should always be step number one. Are you looking to update some images on a web page? Do you need an entirely new site? Is it a mobile app? Is something wrong with your analytics? Do you need a new tool created? The answer to any of these questions will set the tone for how you start your search, and who you ultimately hire. If you already have a website and need some changes done, make a list of them. Similarly, if you want to add some new things to your website, make a list of them, as well. If you don’t know exactly what you want them to look like, remember, the web designer can always give you suggestions.
Check out websites like Upwork, Fiverr, or Freelancer.com for freelance help. You can search developers by reviews, location, and by skill set. Remember that little scoping exercise you did earlier? Well now you know if you’re looking for someone with CSS chops or if they need to know JavaScript. OR over social media - if you go to Facebook and search ‘web developer’, you will get a variety of groups, people, and links that will take you to websites where you can hire web developers. If you click on the groups, you will see web developers posting about themselves, their skills and rates.
If Upwork or Fiverr e.g. platforms: Here, the freelancers post about what kind of jobs they want to do, and you can look at these jobs and contact them in case they match with what you need to be done. You won’t have to worry about paying them for nothing. They also have a milestone manager, where the freelancer will get paid after they complete certain tasks, depending on the agreement you have. These platforms also have tests, so the web developers can take them and get their HTML, JavaScript and CSS skills evaluated. Their scores can help you decide if you want to hire them. Depending on whether you need HTML or CSS coding, you can search for people who have scored high on these tests.
Another places (their websites, social media or forums): You’ve found your developer. You know what they’re building. Now it’s time to get it down on paper. Handshakes are cool, as are verbal agreements, but make sure you get it in writing. This isn’t to say that you’re going to get swindled. The reason you want a contract is so that you have your scope, your deliverables, and your timelines outlined. A contract will also give you the opportunity to build in check-ins, testing time, and a payment schedule (we’ll get back to this). Now here comes the tricky part, right? The money! Freelancers traditionally work in two ways, hourly or per project. The definitions are just how they sound. Hourly freelancers get paid for the time they work so you negotiate an hourly rate (Rate x Hours Worked = Pay). Per project freelancers work on a -- you guessed it -- per project basis, meaning you pay them an agreed upon fee for the project in total.
You’ve found your developer. You know what they’re building. Now it’s time to get it down on paper. Handshakes are cool, as are verbal agreements, but make sure you get it in writing. This isn’t to say that you’re going to get swindled. The reason you want a contract is so that you have your scope, your deliverables, and your timelines outlined. A contract will also give you the opportunity to build in check-ins, testing time, and a payment schedule (we’ll get back to this). Now here comes the tricky part, right? The money! Freelancers traditionally work in two ways, hourly or per project. The definitions are just how they sound. Hourly freelancers get paid for the time they work so you negotiate an hourly rate (Rate x Hours Worked = Pay). Per project freelancers work on a -- you guessed it -- per project basis, meaning you pay them an agreed upon fee for the project in total.
No matter what payment structure you agree to, put together a payment schedule. This will keep things on track. Freelancers will have different expectations. For some it will be a 50/50 split between the start and finish of a project. For others they’ll split it up into three (33%) or four (25%) installments. No matter what you agree to, do not pay for your project in full before the work is completed and delivered. Once you’ve made a deal, it’s time to get to work. You’ve hired your freelancer. They understand the ask. The final delivery date is agreed upon. It’s time to send emails and texts every five minutes, right? Wrong. Development, design, video editing, writing, and others, are all highly technical skills that require time and concentration. Let your freelancer do the job you hired them for. It’s okay to reach out every once in a while if you haven’t heard anything, but this is probably a good time to refer to the check-in schedule you added to your contract. With that said, it’s still important that you make yourself available in case they have any questions. And remember, this isn’t the time for scope creep or assumptions. This is the part where the work gets across the finish line.
Final: The work has been delivered. It looks and functions great. Now what? Make sure you pay your freelancer. Whether this is where you part ways or before you start the conversation about your next project, please pay your freelancer.