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Looking for the Right Stuff:
5 Questions to Ask a Blog Designer Before Writing the Check
 Before the Internet, there was print design. Then came website designers who, in the beginning, tackled their projects in much the same way a graphic designer would create a print brochure.
But they gradually realized that web design is different. So they learned to apply standards of HTML and other web technologies.
But still there was a gap. Many web designers weren't much more than print designers who were now able to transfer their graphics and images to web pages.
Then along came blogs. But many designers did not keep up with the advancements in blog design, technology and marketing. They were still focused on the look of the page or, worse yet, just the SEO (search engine optimization) needs.
The problem is this: good design is not enough. (A little secret: it was never enough.) The best designers also build a blog that is easy to navigate, understand the importance of community building, social media engagement and marketing, and consider not just your current needs in the way of a blog, but your future ones as well.
5 Questions to Ask a Blog Designer Before Writing the Check
So how do you know if your designer has the skills and savvy to create a blog that has the right stuff-all the components that work together to help you achieve your goals, along with a process that includes you from the start? Before you write that check, in addition to requesting work samples, ask these five questions:
1. Do you have your own self-hosted WordPress blog? If the answer is "no," I'd move on. And if they have one, but they haven't written a new post in, say, three months, I'd also be a little worried. Designers who blog themselves just know so much more about what it takes to create a superior one.
2. What are your steps in the design process and how do they include me? This one is key. If your designer prefers to work alone and doesn't involve you in the planning and feedback loops, you may not be happy with the results. Good design is a collaborative process.
3. What do you do to understand my current and future needs before we select a theme for my blog? It's a red flag if your designer doesn't take the time to thoroughly understand your needs: the purpose of your blog, what you hope to achieve with it and what features you may be adding to it down the road. Some designers will want to choose the theme for you (or offer you a very limited choice of themes), but it may not be the one that best fits you and your business.
4. If I want my blog to match the brand of my business and my other marketing tools, what will you do to make that happen? Design doesn't happen in a vacuum. At the minimum, your designer should
ask for a link to your website and understand the importance of using
your blog to strengthen your business's brand.
5. What is your process for choosing plugins and widgets to make sure we have the right ones for SEO, social media engagement and other functions? There are so many choices in plugins and widgets. Your designer needs to ask you the right questions to be sure that you have exactly the right ones: to promote your content through various social media channels, to grow your newsletter subscriber list, to earn revenue through affiliate sales or to do whatever else you want to do with your blog.
It's your money and you have a right to know that it will be spent wisely and that you'll get a good product. So just ask.
Click here to find out more about making a blog your next marketing tool.
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