Start thinking about your Branding and Website needs as soon as you start thinking you want to open your own business. It’s even in the Small Business Bureau’s manual on how to start a business, and there is a reason for it.

How many times have I seen a client who is at the end of their business set-up process when they come to me for a logo, business cards, marketing materials, and a website? More than 60% of my clients, in fact.

Let’s stay focused on the Website out of all these.

As I have mentioned in the article “The Design Process Explained“, you will save money if you go to a Web designer prepared.

What that means is, you have to know what you want from them. It’s rare that a cheap freelancer is going to have a wide enough understanding of your business, your industry, and your needs, in order to really help you figure out what you want. For those kinds of services you would have to go to either an agency which has the experience, know how, and senior staff on board to handle that brainstorming process, or you have to go to a person who specializes in your field. In both cases, those will not be your cheapest options possible.

Even if you’re not looking for a low-cost site, you will still want to save the designer as much unnecessary work as you can. If you feel that you need help, be realistic about it and be prepared to pay for it. Personally, I think it’s money well spent to have a professional guide your decisions when you are not sure of yourself, or confirm your convictions when you are.

The bottom line is, this is your web site and you need to bring the concept in with you if you want to be happy with the result. In order to do that:

• Keep your eyes open for sites and branding materials you like, and save them to show to the designer
• Study your competition
• Decide if you want to be the same as them or different, and if different, how.
• Develop a vague, then a specific idea of what types of materials you will need and at what stage of your marketing

Whatever you think your website will take in time, multiply that by 3 and make sure you are comfortable with that time frame. The process will be cheaper, more satisfying and more pleasant if you do that. And if it so happens that it takes less time, who do you think will be happy .

• First of all, good designers have a pipeline of work. You will need to get in line even if that means a couple of weeks. Never assume that your project will be addressed immediately. If you need to have it so, you will need to pay for it, and usually it’s dear.
• It will take time to prepare all the materials your designer will need from you. This is something that usually makes or breaks the process. Most of the time, projects get delayed or halted by fault of the client rather than the designer. Don’t be one of those clients. Keep on top of your part of the process and deliver reviews, materials, and content in the time-frame you are asked. Your designer will love you for it, and will be willing to throw in freebies and help you out more than if you piss them off by being late. When a client is late, they screw up the pipeline, and cause stress and problems for the designer and the clients who are waiting.
• A website takes time to build popularity online. It used to be 6-8 months to even get out of the Google Sandbox, but these days, it just shows up poorly until it proves its worth on the market. If you expect business leads from your site, it’s imperative that you have it ready as soon as possible, even before you open your doors for business. If you rely heavily on your site for work, then you need to invest heavily into its SEO and Online Marketing.

A. Gathering Concepts:

Before anyone can design WELL for you, they will need to talk to you extensively about your professional needs and personal tastes.

Your future designer should ask you a lot of style questions for which you will need to be prepared. You should be asked to show a collection of materials (printed and online) which portray in some way the style, look, and feel of your future art.

Please spend the due time collecting such materials, URLs and other references where you see elements that you would like mimicked one way or another in your art.

The Reason for this collection:

Every person’s taste is unique and we have found through experience that descriptive words such as: pretty, classic, business-like, colorful etc DO NOT convey your ideas and needs accurately enough. We have found that when two people strive to convey an idea or a concept to each other only hard evidence truly demonstrates the meaning of their words.

DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF to materials relating to your industry. You can be a Realtor and get ideas from a flower shop ad. As long as they have the elements that you would like to see in your materials, please show them to your designer.

B. Interviewing the artist:

We suggest that you meet with at least two artists before deciding where to spend your money.

Graphic design is a large investment of time and money because its quality directly affects your company’s success and that of your marketing campaigns. You need to find the person that is going to understand you and work well with you.

A skilled designer can create spectacular art for a client they really “get” and do poorly for someone else. Do not rely only on the portfolio’s quality. Instead, make sure that the style and versatility of the artist fits your needs.

By the same token, never hire someone to create for you only because they were recommended by a friend and certainly never because they gave you the cheapest quote. Make sure that you like their work and more importantly that it satisfies the needs of your business.

C. Signing the contract:

Before signing a contract, make sure that the design process is clearly outlined. This is the time when the Project Plan is drawn up and put in place. Some projects are too small for a full blown plan, but it is still VERY IMPORTANT that one be written and included in the contract.

Make sure the contract clearly describes the final product desired and the time-frame for the project.

At Ivelina.com, upon finalizing and signing the contract, a retainer fee of 50% of the estimated final cost is paid before work can begin. You should expect a similar arrangement from any professional designer.

A. Reviewing the work:

Your designer should send you periodic drafts for your approval and comments. The more drafts you see, the safer and more efficient the design process will be.

Once the artist understands what you like and receives your approval to finalize the work, they can go into further detail and embellishments until they complete the project.

When reviewing drafts, please keep in mind that the work has only been sketched out. You will need to imagine what the materials will look like should the artist continue in the same direction.

B. Approving the final result:

Make 100% sure that you have received what you asked for. Once you have signed off on the product, you will not be able to ask for any changes without additional fees being incurred.

Also, please do not terminate a project in progress because you have ran out of money. Please plan the cost before you begin and make sure that the artist knows your budget and can work within it.

If anything unexpected should happen, and you cannot continue paying for an ongoing project, please let your designer know as soon as possible. A good established designer will try to work out a payment plan with you.

Terminating a project before it’s completed is the worst thing you can do because it means you have wasted your recourses thus far. It’s better to work out a payment plan than to abandon the job.

F. Payment:

Please respect your designer’s accounting schedules and pay your bills on time. Thank you!

A. Signing off on art

You will be asked to sign the progress report attached to the contract as proof of approval of the final result and fulfillment of the contract.

B. Package Contents

More often than not, clients walk away from a paid project with no materials at all. Whether it’s a print or web project, the end deliverable are your property in their entirety, and you should make sure you receive them as such.

The designer has no right to the artwork you have paid for, and is required to provide you with all working files, access to servers, passwords, and any other information that will allow you to use, modify, and distribute your product as you wish.

C. Delivery methods

You can request your art to be delivered in one of the following methods:

• A downloadable zip file either on your own web server or on the designer’s server. This option should not cost more than $20
• A CD or DVD-ROM ($25.00)
• Sent directly to the printer for production (Fees will vary, but should be less than $50)