Many individuals and businesses find themselves needing a professional-grade website but do not have the expertise or the budget to devise one themselves. When your resources or skill-sets are limited, it becomes apparent that hiring a web designer may be the best option forward for your project. There are countless web designers available, however, and it can be quite overwhelming to find the best one for the job – unless you know what qualities you need in a web designer. Below are five of the most important characteristics that any good web designer should possess if they want to earn your business.

Listening Skills

In order to do one’s job effectively, listening skills must be a top priority. An ideal web designer will be able to listen to your ideas and then proceed to create a product that revolves around those core concepts. While there should be some discussion and deliberation on certain elements of site design, ultimately a web designer will deliver a product that meets the needs of the customer. If you feel a potential web designer is not really taking into account your desires, then you will want to find a better alternative.

Knowledge Base

Any good web designer will be able to easily list and demonstrate his or her talents and qualifications. Any solid web designer will be able to build websites using validated HTML, write coded paging in Java, construct varying layouts with CSS, manage a variety of different content management systems and be able to handle multimedia requests. Unfortunately, the era of easy website creation has led to some claiming to be professional when they really are not, so be sure to check out the credentials of a potential designer before hiring.

Proactive Suggestions

An intelligent and well-rounded web designer will have plenty of tricks in their arsenal and will not be afraid to share them with you. If there are ways in which the designer can save you time or money (and there always are), a proactive web designer will suggest these solutions to you in order to make the process run smoothly.

Sample Websites

Can your potential web designer furnish upfront examples of work he or she has done in recent months? Screenshots just won’t suffice; you need to be able to see and verify at least two different websites that the designer in question has constructed and/or maintained. By gaining access to these creations and seeing how they work, you will not only have proof of viability but also can see the extent of work that the designer is capable of accomplishing.

Solid Estimates

Any webmaster who fidgets over concepts like installing a database or paging in Java cannot be trusted. You should be looking for web designers who can furnish an estimate of both cost and time upfront that is reasonable yet efficient. Those who have been in the business for some time know how to do this; if you feel like you are getting the run around from a potential designer on this aspect, run away as fast as you can.