# Hiring freelance website designers



## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

I have the following two Qs:


When you are selecting a freelancer to design your site, what do you look for as far as their skills go? I've selected about 10 portfolios from ifreelance.com based simply on some of their sample work. I don't know much about site designing and want to make sure I'm not just choosing someone based on a pretty home page layout. THose who have used freelance designers - could you please share some tips on what I should look for when contracing (years of experience, specific code writing skills)?
I read in the forum that in order to save some money you can design the layout of the site in program like Corel and than hire someone to put it into a code. So I could sort of doodle in Corel the frame of the pages (like background color, and the navigation bar location, and where the pics would go etc) and the designer would take this and write it with a code? Did I understand this right?
Thanks a lot everyone


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## DBT (Feb 20, 2007)

really depends on what you want your site to do..... if you want it to be a full fledged online store that you can update regularly and that has a fully integrated shopping cart with stock monitoring etc, look for someone who has some good similar sites in their portfolio. 

if you have limited coding skills and want to update the site regularly get someone to build it so that YOU can - you don't want to have to pay someone every time you want to change something

if you are going to have a smaller store you could try an online site builder such as mrsite.com. these are very limited with what you can do design wise, but are really easy to modify, personalise and update. and you can put a paypal store in there really quickly.

but yeah i guess if you do go for a freelancer, see what else they have done and make sure you are happy with that.


as for corel draw... most website designers dont use it... if you have a really good site design you could mock it up as an image in photoshop or whatever and let a web designer use that as a reference. otherwise its probably just better to leave it to a professional


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## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

Thanks James. I just bought the Dreamweaver but I'll never be able to master it to the point where I can desing my site the way I want it, certainly not in a short time. For now I'll try to learn it so that I can maintain my own site as much as possible without outside help. But the initial design is going to need a professional. I meant Corel to be sort of a step up from pen and paper.


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## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

Just wanted to share the results of my searches w/ you guys. I did not contact anyone yet from ifreelance portfolios. I accidentaly came across a directory called designfirms.org and found three profiles that I absolutely loved (based on their previous work, the amount of ecommerce experience) and few more that were ok. Well one of the firms' starting price is $5K and the other one ranges between $12-$15K. Pretty steep huh?!  Waiting to hear back from the 3rd company.
In the meantime, wanted to share my convo w/ another great company a few weeks ago. 
This is not done to promote these guys, I'm just a genuine fan of their work AND they construct sites for NIKE (which is my absolute obsession ). Anyways, the design co. is called odopod.com and they have a killer portfolio that is just a pleasure to view. Well guess how much big dogs like odopod charge minimum to even consider taking on a job?! $250K. Oh well, maybe in a couple of years....


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> When you are selecting a freelancer to design your site, what do you look for as far as their skills go? I've selected about 10 portfolios from ifreelance.com based simply on some of their sample work. I don't know much about site designing and want to make sure I'm not just choosing someone based on a pretty home page layout. THose who have used freelance designers - could you please share some tips on what I should look for when contracing (years of experience, specific code writing skills)?


First I figure out what I need/want, then I try to find a freelancer to fit that specific need.

So if I just need a clean ecommerce site design, then I'll find a freelancer that is experienced in designing ecommerce sites and has a strong focus on usability. I'll read feedback about the design and see their previous work.

The previous work just gives you an overview, but each website is different and built to what the CLIENT wants. So if you don't see something you like in their portfolio, it doesn't necessarily can't build the site YOU want. 

I'll look for someone who can deliver an HTML or XHTML site design. I don't usually like for any specific coding experience like php or javascript.

If you need someone to do everything for you, then you may need someone with those capabilities. I usually just need the "design" aspect done and the rest of the site install can be done myself.



> I read in the forum that in order to save some money you can design the layout of the site in program like Corel and than hire someone to put it into a code. So I could sort of doodle in Corel the frame of the pages (like background color, and the navigation bar location, and where the pics would go etc) and the designer would take this and write it with a code? Did I understand this right?


That would give the designer a rough idea of what you want, but I think the savings really come in if you can fully design the layout of your site exactly the way you want to look (usually photoshop is used, but you can also use CorelDraw). Then you can have a company turn that graphic image into HTML code that you can use for a website.



> Well one of the firms' starting price is $5K and the other one ranges between $12-$15K. Pretty steep huh?!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hiring a "firm" is usually more costly than hiring a freelancer like you would find at rentacoder/elance/ifreelance/designoutpost.

Some people need and prefer to work with a "firm". Some people can do just fine by hiring a freelancer to do the same job.

Generally I would think a firm would have several employees that they have to pay, an office that you could visit, etc. This overhead would need to be paid for by higher costs.

A freelancer would be someone that is likely in business for themselves, has no employees, probably works from a home office, and can save money by doing more of the work themselves or working with sub-contractors that they have dealt with.

You'd probably get more detailed attention with a firm. Many phone, in person and email consults. Less "hand holding" to get the work done.

With a freelancer you'd probably get most of the support by email, maybe some phone consults. You might have to email every now and then to see how the work is going or to remind them of a deadline.

There are good firms and bad firms and good freelancers and bad freelancers, so you may get great or poor service from either. Taking a look at their past clients, maybe asking them if they have referrals that can talk about their past work, see if there's any feedback on their work ethic on the freelance site(s). That should help you narrow down your prospects.

Hope this helps


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## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

Thanks a lot for all the details Rodney. I'm just a bit nervous and don't want to make the wrong choice and waste money, at the same time I'm growing impatient and want to get the site done, up and running as soon as I could. I'm writing my site outlines now, when I finish that I hope I'll be able to put something together in either Corel Draw or COrel's version of photoshop. I'm gonna follow your advice and not let the portfolio alone be the decision maker. You are right, I thought about that too, that portfolio works are results of the client's vision and not necessarily designers capabilities. Thanks again, very helpful.


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## getxposed (Sep 8, 2007)

Annushka said:


> Thanks a lot for all the details Rodney. I'm just a bit nervous and don't want to make the wrong choice and waste money, at the same time I'm growing impatient and want to get the site done, up and running as soon as I could. I'm writing my site outlines now, when I finish that I hope I'll be able to put something together in either Corel Draw or COrel's version of photoshop. I'm gonna follow your advice and not let the portfolio alone be the decision maker. You are right, I thought about that too, that portfolio works are results of the client's vision and not necessarily designers capabilities. Thanks again, very helpful.


 
Did you ever get your site made up?


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## paulo (Dec 13, 2006)

In addition to the creation of the site, you may also want to consider a site that is easy to maintain or update, otherwise you will be on the hook with the designer/developer for a long long time. This is where learning html/php/or whatever is beneficial.


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## rejoice (Jun 7, 2007)

I look for clean designs without too much going on and a positive attitude that is proactive in making sure you would achieve what you are looking for. I've been talking to many firms and freelance designers and believe I have found one that accomplish what I am looking for.

Why?

Have responded to all my correspondence and worked with my requests letting me know of time frames... different pricing structures for the complexity of work... keen to get things going but not pushing the sale and just flowing with my needs... answering my questions no matter how ridiculous they may seem to them as designers... and from what I see they are tight, small team but from what I have gathered they can achieve what I want and within my budget.

daddydesign.com is the group I am 99% sure I will be using for an e-commerce site (shop) and myspace page (info and networking). Just my two cents and my journey so far in acquiring an online presence and hope this helps in yours.


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## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

Nice to be back 

I ended up hiring a freelancer who is a designer only. So far very happy with the work, we are estimating another month or so before the design completion. 
Last week I found a company to do the programming of the site.
Both contractors are overseas, with very strong portfolios, great communication skills and well within my budget. 

I wanted to do the way Rodney described, but i realized i'm not going to be able to learn this stuff fast enough so it was better to hire someone. 
Thanks to everyone for advice and guidance!


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## getxposed (Sep 8, 2007)

The team at MTGDesignGroup.com will even have your site optimized for search engines. Unlike many of the so called designers out there the actually have what it takes to get rankes. 

Go ahead and ask your designer if they do that first. If they don't, then start looking elsewhere. Having a pretty site is useless, having one that's functional and optimized will get you way better results.

PS I think they have the best prices around! They've built 4 of my sites already and I will not go anywhere else.

Getxposed


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## Wombat (Sep 5, 2007)

hi guys...I belong to a fitness board and their is a guy on the board that has done many websites for some professional bodybuilders and others...He has gotten nothing but positive feedback...He is young and is continuing to learn(and teaches website design i believe)...I myself don't have a website yet but will use this guy when i am ready to get up and running...His websites are extremely reasonable...And actually offers a package that is all inclusive for a year(as many changes as you need)

It may be worth checking out for some people out there

flashrob.com/index2.htm


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

*Thread note:* please note that this thread is not for recommending specific designers, it is about _"how to find"_ good designers and the selection process.

Since there are many designers on this forum and lots of people have "friends" who are designers, we tend to stay away from designer recommendation threads that might encourage self promotion or unintentional spam ​


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## badappleapparel (Sep 2, 2007)

Do it yourself, plenty of Co's out there that will allow you to construct professional looking sites and do the submissions for you. They have all the bells & whistles. Plus great tech support. Very easy & great looking as well. Totally functional. Seems like a lot of people are under the impression that they need some web guru to do this. Do some SEO research and go for it. I am on my second site, built myself. Can't tell it from the "PRO" constructed site. Don't get me wrong, there are some great site builders out there. Cost has always been an issue. I found the saved cash was better spent on equipment and promotions. If you want more details send email.
Ric.


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