Whether you are starting from scratch or rebranding an existing business with a new website, the process can be confusing and, if not managed properly, overwhelming.
One of our philosophies is that business owners can succeed with less effort when they assemble a team to handle tasks that are outside of their zone of genius.
Of course, throughout the process of designing and developing a new website, there are some things you will want to do yourself and others you would prefer to hire a professional for. Over time, you will add to your team of trusted advisors who help your business succeed as it grows.
Here are a few points during the process of creating a new website that you should consider hiring someone with a particular expertise.
Strategy
It is absolutely essential that you get very clear on your business goals and how you plan to meet them before you start investing in other professionals to build your website and business.
While it is possible to get clear on your business strategy by yourself, it can also be incredibly valuable to hire a strategist or business coach to guide you through the future steps you will take in your business – from who your dream customer is to what pages you will need on your website.
When hiring a strategist or business coach, make sure their expertise aligns with your needs and ask questions to understand how their process works before booking.
Copy
If you are rebranding an existing website and plan to re-use your copy, start thinking about how you will reformat it to fit your new brand before work on your website begins.
If you don’t feel comfortable writing a copy for your new website, you may want to consider hiring a copywriter to help you create a copy that helps tell your story and speaks to your ideal customer. When hiring a copywriter, plan to take 4 to 6 weeks with him or her before your website design and development is scheduled to begin.
Photography
We suggest hiring a professional photographer before creating a new website, regardless of what stage of business you are in. It’s important to invest in a photoshoot when having a custom website developed because beautiful photos give your business credibility and help you truly stand apart from competitors by showcasing your unique style.
You can always mix in some high quality on-brand stock photography to help add variety to the professional photos on your website and social media. When hiring a photographer, it can take a month from the date of your photoshoot to receive the final images, so plan ahead!
Design
When creating a new brand or re-branding an old website, we highly recommend hiring a professional web and/or graphic designer. Some web designers also create logos and collateral, but others don’t, so it’s a good idea to have some plan for what you will need from a designer before hiring one. Hiring a “custom” web designer is a requirement for our custom web development projects, because it allows us to completely tailor your website to your new brand. If you are ready to start a new website project with us but aren’t sure who you want to design it, don’t worry – we have many amazing web designers who collaborate with our team and are happy to help you find the right fit!
Development
Once you have a plan and some of the basic elements of your website ready, it’s time to find the right developer to bring your vision to life. A good developer will provide user experience input for a website, make sure you get the right systems on the backend and the front end to help your business run smoother, and make sure that your site is as beautiful as it is designed to be on every device.
The development portion of a custom website can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months or more and costs vary widely based on the complexity of your site. It’s a great idea to hire a developer at the same time you hire your designer to allow them to collaborate as needed throughout the process.
SEO
If you hire an experienced web developer, your website should be set up with some basic structural elements that optimize it for search engines from the beginning, but SEO is an ongoing process as your content and site evolve.
Consider giving yourself the added advantage of working with an SEO expert to help you strategize and implement practices for getting your shiny new website found! When hiring an SEO expert, costs and offerings can vary widely from a one time audit to monthly content suggestions, so it’s a great idea to look for someone who offers services tailored to your website’s needs.
Marketing
Having a lovely new website alone is not enough to bring in amazing new customers to your business. You will need to do some marketing to show people your new brand and services and put yourself out in public!
It can be a huge relief to hire someone with launch experience to plan and implement a marketing strategy for your website launch and capitalize on the traction a rebrand or launch brings your business. When hiring a marketing professional, focus on finding someone with specific expertise in one or two areas that are most relevant to your business and will give you the biggest boost as your new website goes live.
Head over to the Alchemy + Aim website Resources page to meet some of our favorites.
