Here are my best tips on how to squeeze every benefit out of hiring a Showit web designer!

Here you are – ready to finally hire a Showit designer to help you get your dream website launched. You look around for the designer that feels right, aligns with your values, has worked with clients who were satisfied, and offers services within your budget.

You’re investing in this project and believe it’ll really ramp up your business – it’s the missing piece of your marketing plan! A good website can sell for you, build your e-mail list, funnel leads, and get your brand seen and booked! You are *so* excited – as you should be! A website can elevate your brand and help you to raise your prices and streamline your processes so that you’re working smarter (not harder).

But all too often, entrepreneurs hire web designers without a few key things that would really help them get the most out of their investment in a new website. I’m going to lay it all out for you so that you can avoid being the client who walks away with a less-than-stellar experience/results!

1. Know your brand colors. Unless you’re choosing a Showit template that was created with colors that you absolutely *love* and want to keep, your designer will need to know your brand colors. 2-3 specific colors would be perfect for the average website. I’ve learned that a Pinterest board of colors clients love or even a photo of 6+ colors can be overwhelming for your designer to choose from – just make it easy and send over the only colors you’d like across your site!
   
   
2. Have your packages/collections finalized. In the middle of a website build isn’t the ideal time to rework all of your pricing and packages! I know this might seem like the perfect time to change things up, but your designer has limited time to collect information, design it in a way that makes sense, and then add it to your site. If copywriting is included, this just turns into a hot mess. Have your packages typed out or your investment menu ready to send over to your Showit designer and if you’re considering a change, know that you can update information on your site easily when you’re ready!
   
   
3. Take the time to look at other websites. As you’re getting ready to have your own site created or customized, you’ll want to share a few websites that you love with your designer. If you’re thinking you love ‘funky, colorful, eclectic’ but you send your designer ‘minimal, neutral, luxury’ site inspo, your designer will know there’s a disconnect with what you want and what you like and the conversation can happen before you’re halfway through a website you only thought you wanted. (This is a nightmare.)
   
   
4. Know your clients and what they need to know. When it comes to creating a website that really works, you need to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about who will be visiting your website and what they need to know before reaching out to you. They need to know where you’re located, where you service, the types of clients that are a fit for you, your process, what happens after they reach out, and more. Making sure your designer knows these things will help to create a site that’s built for your ideal client.
   
   
5. Don’t skimp on the onboarding questionnaires. Web designers will onboard you with a questionnaire to collect a lot of the information we need for your site. When it’s time to do this, pour a cup of coffee and schedule time so that you can focus on these answers! The most streamlined and successful website projects usually happen when a client gets deep and detailed with their answers – *especially* when copywriting is involved!
   
   
6. Choose a Showit template that you love. For semi-custom Showit websites, we start with a Showit template! There are thousands of templates out there, but really only a small community of truly impressive template designers that I love working with. I listed my favorite template designers here if you’d like a discount on some high-quality and gorgeous options that I personally source from for my own clients.
   

Tip: When choosing a template, open it on your desktop and click through every page and section – notice how easy it is to navigate, how much space is created for both text and images, and try to imagine your own work and information in the design! All colors, text, fonts, images, page titles, etc. can be customized, so don’t let one font throw you off of a template you otherwise would love! If you wonder if something can be changed, reach out to your designer and usually the answer will be a big ‘absolutely.’

7. Lastly, decide if you’ll be blogging or not. Your Showit website connects to WordPress for your blogging platform. Blogging is powerful for SEO and important when using platforms like Google and Pinterest to get found. You don’t have to blog weekly to make a big bang on the internet – a few great SEO optimized blog posts can bring in website visitors for years! When clients ask if they should be blogging or not, the answer is always Yes, you should be. But we also have to be realistic and ask – but will you? An empty blog that you never get to isn’t doing anyone any good, so if you know that you won’t take on blogging as a form of marketing for your business, then you may as well opt for NO BLOG when having your new website created and launched!

________________________________________________

I hope this helps you to feel more prepared (and excited) to have a new Showit website soon! If you want to try Showit out and get your first month free, you can use this link.

If you’re ready for a new website, we create semi-custom Showit websites complete with SEO and Copywriting at Coyote Brands!

_{This blog post may contain affiliate links (but I only ever share from small businesses that I love and personally use.)}