Due to superior resources, improved technology, and the fast pace of industry change, today’s website designers are extremely versatile. Whether you need a sleek and sophisticated site or something creative and full of life, you can assuredly find someone with the expertise and inclinations to match.
But aren’t you limited by the talent in your physical region? After all, it’s long been the norm for brands hiring website designers to focus heavily on in-person discussions covering everything from wireframe options to color schemes. Well, things have changed for the better in recent years, and it’s now perfectly normal to hire a website designer remotely.
This makes all the sense in the world. With the proliferation of flexible communication solutions making it trivial to conduct effective exchanges and share design assets, there’s no longer much need to limit your website designer search to your area. One problem with this, though, is that it can give you analysis paralysis. With so many options, how can you start?
In truth, you can start anywhere. You can work with an agency, of course. You can source an individual contractor. You can even find someone through an online marketplace. Whichever route you choose, the principles are largely the same. Once you know what skills and experience you need, it’s just a matter of finding the right person.
To help you get going, though, we’re going to reinforce the value of hiring remotely and provide some tips for choosing your route. Let’s get started.
Why is hiring remotely a good option?
In today’s world, there are so many options available to employers and employees. Hiring remotely is particularly great for finding someone who exactly fits the needs of your business without feeling limited. In other words, you can locate a better match. And once you’ve made that match, the freedom of remote working will likely result in greater productivity.
Here are some more key reasons why hiring remotely is a good option:
You can often save money by hiring remotely by reducing operational costs (not needing to fund office space, for instance) and being able to draw upon a hotly-competitive freelancer marketplace.
When you expand your search to the entire world, it’s vastly easier to find someone with specific design experience. So if you’d benefit from hiring a website designer with experience working on certain website types, you can probably do so.
Hiring remotely can boost employee retention. That means your design projects will remain productive throughout so you receive great results.
You can still hire someone to work in your office, but do you really want to? There are thousands of talented website designers farther afield who could be much better suited to your business, whether you’re working on a one-off project or need a full-time employee.
How to find a remote website designer
If you’re looking to improve your web design, trying to do everything yourself is likely a bad idea, so you should start searching for a website designer. As noted, depending on your needs, you can work with an agency, use a marketplace, or hire an in-house website designer who can work remotely.
Yes, you need to consider that hiring someone full-time is an option, even when you’re taking a worldwide approach. Using an employer of record service, you can hire overseas without the added complications of worrying about local compliance and payroll, as those things are all handled for you. For instance, the team at remote.com can onboard your remote website designer trouble-free so you can concentrate on getting your design project started.
The following are some considerations to keep in mind when finding a website designer.
Skills. When hiring a website designer, you need to broadly consider their capabilities. What expertise do they offer? How creative are they? Can they solve problems without your consistent input? Can they stay true to your brand?
Availability. Is this a one-off project, or do you need someone to work for you on a long-term basis? If the latter, you need to ensure that your prospective hire is in a position to commit to regular work.
Communication. Does your potential designer have the right communication skills to work remotely? Can they write well enough to clearly and concisely explain their work? Calls will definitely help, but documentation is extremely important.
Budget. How much are you willing to spend on design services? What services do your prospective hires offer, and at what prices? Keep in mind that scrimping on investment here can backfire: needing to pay to have mediocre work redone will end up costing you more than it would have to get it done correctly the first time.
Creativity. Finally, you need a designer with enough creativity to turn your ideas and customer needs into a design you’ll be happy to present for a long time. A great design will set you up for years, setting a baseline that you can tweak slightly on occasion when your brand identity needs refreshing.
Working with an agency
Design agencies come with their own advantages and disadvantages. If you have a particularly big website design project, though, this route could be the best option.
First, the advantages:
Agency website designers are usually more established than individual contractors, so you can be more confident in their skills and expertise.
Having access to multiple designers working on the same team allows you to take advantage of greater expertise and increased productivity.
Now the disadvantages:
It’s harder to find a great agency than a great individual contractor, and it’s inevitably significantly more expensive to secure the needed services.
When you hire an agency, you have limited control over the website designers assigned to your project. You may anticipate working with a particular designer, only to see them leave the company before work even begins.
Agency-led projects can take longer to complete due to the agencies having to juggle multiple clients and deal with more elaborate in-house responsibilities.
Some agencies may be more appropriate for certain types of work than others. If you need a website redesign, for example, you would need to find an agency that specializes in this type of work.
Working with an individual contractor
Individual contractors have their own advantages and disadvantages as well.
The advantages of using a contractor:
You have more control over who you hire, allowing you to be incredibly flexible.
You can take as much time as you need to find the right person for the job.
If all goes well, you may be able to hire the contractor as a full-time team member.
You can be very flexible with payment terms. For example, you can pay them as you go, or set up a salary with a contract if you want to hire them long-term.
The disadvantages of using a contractor:
Contractors may be less reliable than agency designers.
It’s harder to find well-established contractors.
Sole operators can’t offer the same variety of services.
Finding a freelance website designer through a marketplace
You can search for remote designers with specific skills and experience, then rate and review them as potential candidates. Not all website design marketplaces, however, are created equal. Some have more listings than others, and some have more strict rules and vetting processes than others.
The advantages of hiring a freelancer:
You can find freelance website designers who specialize in exactly what you need.
You can find unique skill sets, leading to your website standing out from the crowd.
The competitive gig economy leads to services being relatively affordable.
The disadvantages of hiring a freelancer:
You may have to negotiate your rates with a designer before hiring them.
It can be hard to determine which freelancers are worthy of investment, so it can take a lot of time (and various sample projects) before you feel sufficiently confident.
Overall, hiring a website designer remotely can be a great way to save money and get better results. Your hiring process, however, needs to be different. Whichever of the above routes you take, you need to put even more effort into making sure your potential hire is the right fit. After all, you can’t rely on in-person exchanges to iron out any issues. Put in the effort, line up strong communication channels, and you’ll have great success.