Should You Hire a Squarespace Designer?
The question on a lot of people’s minds when they anxiously venture into the world of website creation: Do I really need a website? Well, YES.. YES YOU DO! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, more questions arise. Can I do this myself or hire someone? Where should I go? What’s the best platform? What do I call my website? Eeek!! First, take a deep breath, and don’t panic!
Okay, so yeah… we are all on a budget and think we can DIY our way through life to save money and become an uber professional in all things. Or, can we?! Here’s the thing- your website is the online home for your brand or business that will drive a huge majority of your results, so before you order “Web Design for Dummies,” consider these 4 questions to make the best decision for your business or brand and don’t forget to consider your sanity!
Do you have extra time on your hands?
Building a website is not an easy or quick feat and while the Squarespace platform is user-friendly, it does take quite a learning curve to get the hang of its tools. If you have never used Squarespace before, or never taken a stab at throwing a website together, this task can seem completely daunting. Is it impossible? No. Do you want to spend your valuable time and energy on things that require your talent and skills and leave your website to a pro to build an even more beautiful and results optimized site than you could? Sounds like a better plan!
2. Are you familiar with UX design, color and typography theory, brand identity and audience targeting and profiling?
Believe it or not, these things are crucial in the execution of a successful, results driven website and are considered intricately to piece together the best website for your business or brand. UX design uses the best practices to create a pleasant experience for your users.
Those trained in UX design know how to layout your site look and feel, content, call to actions, main goals, etc to leave your visitors feeling like they got what they came for, which results in more business for YOU!
Having a designer that is familiar with the best use of color and typography for your website is extremely important to staying true to your brand persona, evoking the right emotional response from your visitors, and creating a delicate balance to your look and feel.
All of these, including knowing your target audience, tie into the brand identity- the message you want your business or brand to convey to the world. All very crucial to have a website that delivers!
3. Do you know how to code?
So, it is possible to create a website with zero code… I said possible, not ideal or even “good”! There are many web designers boasting that they don’t need to know code to design. In my experience, I have NEVER designed a Squarespace website that didn’t need at least some code to optimize. NOT ONE! And believe me, I have seen a lot of “professional” websites out there that are lacking attention to detail (ie- a webpage header on mobile with the last letter of a word being dropped to a second line- gasp!) My attention to detail can’t handle this, and your website doesn’t need to fall victim to this lack of intentional tweaking.
If you want a website that is highly optimized, including complete mobile responsiveness and customization, there will be some (or a lot) of code involved. So, do yourself a favor and stick with a designer that knows how to code! For my clients, I offer one-on-one Squarespace training, so once I hand over your website, you will be able to make changes or updates that you need easily, without code- it’s already done for you!
4. Do you value your sanity?
Let me tell you a little story- I began building websites when my husband put me up to the challenge of throwing something together for some marketing endeavors he wanted to showcase.
Me: “Oh, this should be super easy and fun because I am smart and talented.”
Also me: “WRONG!”
Not about the smart and talented part ;), but about the super easy part. Enter some of the most stressful days of my life (but also some of the most pivotal days that led to my career!)
Through this process, I soon figured that dragging and dropping wasn’t going to get me the gorgeous site I wanted and that’s when I started self-teaching myself how to code. I soon discovered how exhilarating web design was to me and put myself through more professional training in visual design, brand and identity design, and front end development. If I had not discovered this process as my calling, I would have bailed, because it was HARD being a beginner and building a website. I do not wish this for you! Let me do that hard work for you so that you don’t have to go through the process that I did. An affordable investment to let a pro handle your brand’s home on the web is SO worth your sanity! Peace of mind for the win, ya’ll!
So, there you have it! If you are ready to take a stab at creating your own website, more power to ya! If you want to leave it to a pro to create the gorgeous website you’ve been dreaming about, let’s go for it! Discounted Squarespace hosting and $200 off web packages are waiting for you.
Angela
