3 Ways to Find the Perfect Freelance Designer

June 28, 2007 // Drew Stauffer

Last month I wrote about Website Design Solutions for your Small Business and how important the design of your website is to the image of your business. Today I am going to focus on where business owners can find good designers that won’t break the bank.

Much like any search, knowing where to look is half the battle. Searching for “web designers” or “website design” on Google is going to lead you to a sea of companies that may or may not have good designers. What we want to do is go directly to the source.

Design Directories

Design directories like CSS mania and web crÃ¨me are excellent sources for finding designers who are trying to be recognized. Designers who put themselves out there are anxious to prove their skills and will work with you to get the job done. I personally check Most Inspired everyday just for creative motivation. The great thing about most inspired is that it is a directory of directories. MI has over 30 directories that are devoted to design galleries. Search through these directories and look for designs that you like and then contact the designer.

Site Developed By

Just like in fashion, there are trends in the website design world too. It is pretty easy to tell if a website was designed within the last couple years. You’ll notice that many of the sites in the above mentioned directories have certain aspects that are very similar. You can use these similarities to your advantage if you decide to randomly search the Internet.

Typically at the bottom of websites there will be a link that lets users know who developed the website. If you find a website that you like you can follow this link to the company’s website. From there you can review their portfolio and see if you like their other previous work. If so, contact the company and begin your new website. If not, keep looking.

Ask the Owner

If you’ve reviewed the galleries and seen sites that you like but can’t seem to find who developed them then just email the company and ask. I have had numerous emails from people that say they liked the way I designed soandso.com and would like a quote for me to do one of their sites. I have to admit that itâ€™s quite an ego boost and I will most likely reply to your email instantly. Anyone who is already excited about my designs is that much easier to please and I am more than happy to work with them.

One thing many businesses forget is that drive that they had when they were first starting out. If I had to pick one of these options I would definitely say that the directories are by far your best choice. These are eager, fresh designers that will most likely bend over backwards to make their clients happy. The passion that you have for the work and the energy you’ll put into every aspect is what makes a business great. These young designers have that passion and that is what’s going to make you a satisfied customer.

Technorati Tags: website design, website promotions, online marketing

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4 responses so far ↓

1 Bill Hartzer // Jul 4, 2007 at 3:40 am

Great tips…especially the ones about the directories and “site designed by”. The “site designed by” links could be a violation of the Google webmaster acceptable guidelines, so the better SEO-friendly designers may not have those links to their sites.

Anyhow, even if you do your due diligence you can even end up with someone who may take on a project and never complete it, so you just have to test people out with smaller projects like logos and graphics and then build up to bigger projects.
2 Khalid Hajsaleh // Jul 9, 2007 at 6:19 pm

What do you think about using some of the freelance sites such as Guru or Elance? we had some mixed results with them. After testing about 8 freelancers, we ended with one whom we have been working with for the last year or so.
3 Drew Stauffer // Jul 14, 2007 at 9:53 pm

@bill hartzer
@khalid hajsaleh

I agree with both of you. Most times you just have to give a person a shot.