As a small business owner, you’ve wisely chosen to invest in outsourcing your website creation. Great decision! You know websites provide your digital marketing foundation, and you don’t want your brand to look DIY.

What you should look for in a website developer, before you spend the money?

Ask other business owners for recommendations and how the experience went. Then interview several to compare packages and pricing. Look at reviews and other websites they’ve created. But hire someone who works with similar businesses to yours.

Choose a specialist. Some artists and graphic designers also create websites. However, a website designer knows coding, programming languages, and understands leveraging SEO to your benefit. Graphic designers and artists focus on visual attractiveness to them and you. They will not delve into making your website searchable or attracting your clients. They are also not experts in crafting written content. Hire an expert.

Have a contract. Yes, you need and want this before you make a deposit. Have a business attorney review the terms so they benefit you, then negotiate.

• Payment. Expect an up-front deposit, with the final payment due on completion.
• Involvement. Your website designer should include you in all aspects of creating your website from visual elements to written copy. You want your clients attracted to and interacting with the site, knowing your services make their lives easier. Without these details, it will simply be a pretty website.
• Storage. Make sure your web designer gives you all your website files in a zip file at project completion.
• Login. Make sure you have login credentials and instructions before final payment.
• Platform. Your designer should tell you what platform they will build your website on and why.
• Domain. You want to own this yourself. Check out this blog post on why.
• Search ranking. This goes beyond being “SEO-friendly” and automatic indexing. A good website designer/developer strategizes to rank you high in Google. A premium-level website designer saves you time and money from hiring an external marketing firm to do this work after the fact.
• Training. Your website designer should show you how to add blog posts and make minor changes yourself, not charge you for each time you contact them with a basic edit.

Ultimately, it boils down to a trust factor: this business is your baby, and your website designer is your babysitter.