You’ve made the decision to start looking for a website designer and you’ve settled on building (or updating) your website on Showit. Yay! This is an exciting first step! You head to your good friend, Google, and start typing in, “showit website designer.”

And then…

You get hit with your next venture: How the hell do you even find a designer? Let alone one that makes you excited and giddy about your new piece of artwork that lives on the Internet?!

Oooh I am so glad you are here, because this is one of my favorite topics.

In this post we are going to discuss:

• Where to find a showit website designer
• How to use different tools to find the right designer for you
• And what questions to ask to narrow down your search and land your dream designer

First Up: Where to Find Showit Website Designers

Okay, first, let’s start with the where. 

Finding a Showit designer can come from many sources, but here are my top 4: Google, Pinterest, Instagram, and Referrals.

Using Google to Research Showit Designers

Google is not a new tool so I will go ahead and skip any form of a tutorial here. But it is important that you consider *how* you search on Google to find exactly what you are looking for. 

Think about some necessary criteria for your search. Are you looking for a Showit designer that has experience with restaurants? Or wedding professionals? Or creative small businesses? Maybe you want to work with someone local to you. Then make sure to include your city/region/state in your keyword search.

Google is the mecca of the Internet so try and get specific with your search to find more results aligned with your specific needs.

Showit Website Designers on Pinterest and Instagram

Pinterest is a visual search engine, while Instagram is very much “social media”, BUT I am grouping these together because the strategy for finding designers on each is similar.

In either platform, start by searching for “showit website designer,” or if you want to get extra specific, add in your required keywords.

Both are going to populate with tons of options that will instantly give scroll-worthy pages of visuals. This is important because your website is also a super visual piece to your business. So finding the style that resonates with you is going to be crucial here. Although a good designer should always take into consideration the preferences of their client, each designer does come with a built-in style. Pay attention to some of their past work to make sure yours aligns.

Pinterest is a great place to search by style. Looking for terms like “boho website design” or “romantic showit website” can help pull up website images that are in line with your own website vision. 

Instagram, on the other hand, will typically pull up accounts that have common followers first. This can be great because if you notice that a business you know and trust follows a particular Showit designer, then you can reach out to ask for more information.

Which leads me to our next source…

Using Referrals to find a Showit Designer

If there are a handful of websites within your industry that you find yourself going back to, check the credits of the site to see who designed it! (hint: it’s usually near or on the footer of each page).

Don’t be afraid to reach out to a business owner and ask who did their website, or more importantly, how their experience was in working with them. I promise, most people in the small business world are super friendly and won’t tell you to buzz off.

Now, using each of these four sources, start compiling a list of potential designers. Then, get in contact with them and set up discovery calls. This is where you get to really narrow down to your final choice by running your own interviews.

Top Questions to Ask a Potential Showit Designer

On each of your calls, you are going to want to get these 6 questions answered…

1. What is your project turnaround time?

This is a key piece of information that could widely vary designer to designer. Some showit website designers are able to produce a website in one day, while others expect a 6-10 week turnaround. If getting your website up and running quickly is a priority to you, make sure you catch this information from each designer.

2. What is your current wait time?

Okay, equally as important as question #1, this can make a big difference in when you are actually able to publish your new website. That one-day designer might have a 3 month waitlist., whereas the 6-10 week designer could start your project next week. 

At Kelly Ryann Co., our websites are all completed within 1-2 weeks depending on which package you go with. And we are typically able to get new clients started within a month of initial contact, so definitely reach out today if you want to get up and running!

3. What is required of me for us to work together?

Every designer is going to have different preferences, but most will require that you have full branding completed, photos ready, and website copy submitted before your start date. This question is an important one to ask so that you can make sure you hire any help you might need to get these pieces completed. (Think: brand photographer, copywriter, etc.) We include a website copy template with our website packages to help creative small businesses get started, but you may choose to hire a copywriter too.

4. Have you ever worked with [insert integration here]?

Depending on what you need for your website design, there may be specific plug-ins or integrations you NEED. 

Ask your potential designer about any specifics so that they can give their feedback. They might not have experience with a particular plug-in, but should at least be willing to do some research and make sure you both have a positive experience with it.

I recently started working with a real estate agent who needed an MLS plug-in integrated onto her website. This was new to me! But we did the research to find the right option and were able to come up with a beautiful design plan! I promise I will reveal it as soon as the project is ready to launch 🙂.

5. Do you include SEO services?

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I am wildly passionate about the power of SEO. I won’t get too deep into it here, but feel free to DM me if you want to talk about keyword ranking. 

BUT, one of my greatest pet peeves as a website designer is seeing how many other designers list “SEO optimization” as a part of their website package… only to find out they actually didn’t do a majority of the keyword research and on-page optimization. 

SEO is definitely one of those things that you don’t know what you don’t know, so I am not trying to “throw shade” (as the kids say) at anyone. I just want to make you, as the potential client, aware. If maintaining your Google ranking, or starting to rank, is important to you, make sure you have an in-depth conversation with possible designers about this topic. 

6. Finally, what is your favorite snack?

Okay, maybe you don’t ask this question specifically, but I do think it is important that you find a connection with your designer. Make sure you choose someone to work with that is a personality-match. You will be working closely with them for the duration of your project and feeling good about that relationship can make a big difference! 

Finding the *right* Showit designer for you can be a lengthy process, but if you’re going to spend your hard-earned money on a new website, you want to make sure that you are finding the perfect match.

Take a look at our Showit website services to get an idea of what we can offer, or set up a discovery call so you can ask me these six questions next!