If you want your San Diego business to thrive then you need a website that looks the part.
You probably already know that San Diego is one of the biggest cities in the US. It has a strong business sector and tons of major industry players. That means there’s plenty of competition AND (more importantly) plenty of opportunity for your business.
In other words, there’s a massive pool of your potential customers out there – they just need to find you, and once they find you, they need to trust you. So…how do you get eyes on your business and customers through your door? With a WordPress website, of course. All you need is a San Diego-based website designer to help you.
And that’s what we’re going to be talking about in this article – how you can find the right website designer in San Diego.
Now, you might be thinking, aren’t you a website designer? We are, but we are not the only one in the area, and also, we’re not the right fit for everyone.
It’s important to us that you find the right website designer to help you, and that’s exactly why we’ve created this article. So grab yourself a cup of coffee* (to us, coffee is magic that fuels our day!) and read on…
*Other drinks are also available–you don’t have to be coffee addicts like us!
Before we start, why do we recommend WordPress Websites?
WordPress is the most popular CMS – that’s a Content Management System or, quite simply, the backend of your website.
So if you want to move from one web designer to another without wrecking your site, WordPress makes that straightforward too. Many website designers use WordPress, so you’re not tied into one agency if you need to move.
WordPress is also easy to update yourself – got an event coming up and need the good people of San Diego to know about it? You can put your latest news online at the touch of a few buttons.
And let’s not forget, WordPress is totally customizable. You can choose a layout from their handy template library, or you can get creative and develop your own designs so your website truly stands out from the crowd.
Since you’ve got a business to run it’s likely you don’t have a lot of time for website design and development. So you’ll be looking for a web designer to take care of that for you.
So how do you find the right website designer in San Diego, exactly? Let’s find out…
1. What are your goals for your website?
To start looking for the right web designer in San Diego, you need to know what you want to achieve with your website.
Do you want to build your email list? Get rankings on Google? Bring in more organic leads?
Defining a clear target will help you find the WordPress web designer in San Diego who’ll deliver on your needs.
Look for website designers who talk about meeting these goals. Some website designers are brilliant at design, but don’t have the technical know-how to make sure your website is ‘search engine friendly’ (and by that, we mean speedy or with good user experience).
2. Make a list of features and functionality
Next, make a list of the features and functionality you’ll need on your website.
Do you need an online store? A membership website? A landing page for your marketing campaign? An image gallery? Should your site integrate with your CRM?
You’ll need to find a WordPress web designer who can deliver all the functionality you need AND make the site look good too.
Finally, figure out your budget and your ideal timeline for your website’s development. This’ll help you build a selection of WordPress web designers in San Diego who fit your criteria.
3. Research San Diego web designers and compile a list of the best
It’s time to bust out a search. Look for web designers in San Diego who specialize in WordPress. Review their portfolios to see the quality of their work and the caliber of companies they work with.
Do you like the look of their websites? Are they attractive and appealing to you? It’s important to remember here that you don’t have to choose a website designer that has designed websites for your industry before. So don’t let that dissuade you if you don’t see a website in the same industry on your favorite website designer’s portfolio.
After you’ve done that, check out the web agency’s testimonials and reviews – what do past clients say about working with them? If their testimonials look something like this:
Your WordPress website will be in safe hands!
4. Ask the right questions to find the right website designer
When you’ve built your shortlist of WordPress web designers in San Diego, start talking to them. Ask questions about their design process and the approach they’ll take.
It’s vital that any website designer you choose can take care of the design AND the technical side. A lot of website designers or agencies specialize in one (either design or development). If they specialize only in design, it can mean you get a beautiful-looking website, but it’s not as fast or user-friendly as it should be. Or, if they specialize only in development, your website might not have an eye-catching, memorable design that reflects you and your brand. It might fail to engage with your website visitors and encourage them to take that next step with you.
So make sure you ask your potential website developer…
Do you specialize in both design and development? Do you know how to make my website fast, mobile-friendly and easy to navigate?
Also, check what kind of timeline they can work to, and will it match your own? Probe them on how long it will take to deliver your new site.
If you like what you hear, it’s time to talk prices. Ask each web designer how much they charge and what kind of contract you’ll be signing up to – make sure it fits with your budget expectations.
Don’t forget to ask your prospective WordPress web designer whether there’ll be ongoing website care plans. And find out their recommendations for updates, security and backups, too.
Everything must align with your wish list before you sign up for a web designer, but there’s one thing that’s more important than any other. And that’s to…
5. Pick a WordPress web designer you get along with
A web designer is someone you’ll build a long-term relationship with. So it’s handy if they’re local to you in San Diego, and it’s essential you get along well together.
So when you’re looking for a WordPress web designer, don’t make decisions with your head only, involve your heart, too.
What do we mean? While you’re asking all the key questions for your website and your business, ask yourself whether you like the people you’re talking to. Will they care about your company enough to do a good job? And what about their values – does their business match your own ideals when it comes to valuing the environment and the community?
For example, we value sustainability and paying it forward.
We have been supporting a Volunteer Firefighter and Community Disaster Relief organization with free Web Design and Graphic Design services since 2012. We often provide mentoring to a small number of young startup web designers and graphic designers, and have provided web design consulting and brand consulting to women founders of startups.
We have also provided free website services for an incredible nonprofit that raises funds to build classrooms and care centers for early childhood education, in under-served communities. Six months after we designed and built their first website, we accompanied them in person to cut the ribbon for the first classroom they had raised funds to build!
Ultimately, make sure you pick someone who’s on your wavelength. Choosing the right WordPress web designer for you means liking their team, not just admiring the work they do.
Ready to find the right web designer for your business in San Diego?
Looking for the right WordPress web designer in San Diego could be quite intimidating – there are so many out there, and it can be difficult to know who’ll be the best fit for your business.
But if you follow our simple steps, you’re sure to find the designer who’s the right fit for you. Remember:
- Define the goals for your website. Get this nailed before you start talking to web designers so you can focus clearly on your needs
- Understand what features and functionality you need, so you can see if your potential website designer has the skills for this
- Research web designers in San Diego and check out the quality of their work – do their websites look the part AND work well for users?
- Ask plenty of probing questions to understand what each web designer can deliver. Can they build you a new site quickly, at high quality? Do they fit with your budget?
- Choose a web design team who you get on well with. If you pick a good web designer, you’ll both be in it for the long run, so choose a San Diego-based company that takes their work seriously but not themselves! Once you get talking, you’ll soon know if your personalities are a good fit.
At Potion Web Studio, we love to grab a coffee (a good one – after all, it’s the potion that fuels our creativity), so come and meet us for one of our signature Fair Trade lattes. Or grab your drink of choice and meet us on zoom. And find out whether we’re the right website designers for you in San Diego.
