Those great ideas keep rolling around in your head but you can’t make sense out of them; you know exactly how you want your site to look and feel but you don’t know how to put those thoughts into action – that’s when you know you need to hire a web design company to do the honors. But to make sure you get what you want without being taken for a ride, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of things and be a hands-on customer. Here’s how you can prevent your web design company from pulling the wool over your eyes:

• What’s good for the goose is good for the gander:

Ask around before you commit to hiring a designer. If you can’t find anyone you know to give the design firm you’re contemplating a good reference, it’s best to go with another that does come with glowing testimonials from people you trust. Believe me, when you’re shelling out good money, you need to know for sure that the end result will be satisfactory.

• The devil is in the details:

Don’t give your designer too much of a free hand in the way your site turns out, not because you don’t trust them to do a good job, but because you need to have an idea of how you expect your site to look. Provide your designer a detailed list of your expectations and desires, and have them work along those guidelines. Some ideas may be workable, others may not, so it’s likely you’ll trash a few initial designs and come up with a host of new ones along the way, finally reaching a mutually satisfactory compromise.

• There’s no such thing as a free lunch:

Your website designer is in it for the profit, and so are you. So there’s no need to feel queasy about doing the money talk. Discuss the costs upfront, especially those that cover the number of revisions, the extra tasks that may come up from time to time, and the number of days the project is expected to take for completion.

• A watched pot does boil here:

If you expect to be taken seriously, you need to play an important role as the design unfolds and not be a mere spectator who strolls in at the end of the game. Stay on top of things and see how your website is coming along. If there are any changes, make sure you point them out before too much work has been done and time wasted. This will save you both in terms of time and money.

• Know your onions:

If you’re totally ignorant about web design and its aspects, it’s going to be an uphill climb translating your ideas into reality. You don’t have to be an expert (if you are, then you save yourself a pile of money), but it helps to know the rudimentary details of what goes into making a good web page. Only then can you provide insightful feedback and help your designer do things the way you want them to be done, using methods that are possible.

By-line:

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of web design degrees. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.