5 Branding Elements You Should Get From Your Website Designer

If there's anything I've discovered throughout my time as a coach is that ignorance is not bliss. What you don't know can harm you and, sadly, generally does. And among the most significant unidentified realms for coaches is the innovation that accompanies running a company-- particularly, your website.

When it comes to getting your website created and out into the world, you are essentially (pardon the pun) at the grace of your web expert. You may not even recognize that some of their "benefit services" such as acquiring and hosting your domain for you, could seriously jeopardize your company in the future.

So to help guarantee that you have total control of your brand, here are a few things you should hammer out with your website designer prior to hiring them.

1. You should always register your domain name.

Your domain is your company's online address and a huge piece of your brand name, and it should be on an account you own. If your website designer owns your domain and they go out of business, or you have a dispute (which may appear not likely, but it happens!), you might risk losing your domain.

I wasn't wise when I started one of my first services. A design company called me and used to set up my website for no upfront fee, and after that if I liked it, I would pay a low monthly membership for ongoing maintenance. It sounded like a wonderful offer; they even registered the domain for me as a benefit. I thought to myself, "Oh, how nice of them!"

When I chose I didn't want to utilize the site they constructed (it was beyond awful, so far beyond), they said I could not transfer my domain to a new host unless I paid them $2000. Yeah!

Looking back, it's amusing how ignorant I was, but at the time, I was devastated and had to develop something completely new.

2. Make certain you own your logo and graphics.

It might appear apparent that you own your logo and graphics. After all, you paid for the designer to produce them! However, that's not always the case.

In your contract with your designer, make sure that when payment is total and the design is authorized, it is yours to keep, and they can't use the exact same design somewhere else. (and this goes both ways, naturally, if you haven't completed the payment, then you can't use the design elements or take your mockup design to someone else to duplicate.).

As part of this, you might also want to request for the graphic source files. This is normally in the form of an Adobe Photoshop file that contains your site's design. The source files will have layers that comprise your design components that can be separated and changed as needed.

By doing this, if you require to have changes made by your assistant later on, or even another web designer, they have the initial files to deal with. I likewise find these files valuable when making other branding elements like your social networks profile images so that they match your website without going back to square one.

3. Get your logo design in high resolution.

Expect you can get it as a vector file that's even much better (a vector file can be resized without jeopardizing the image quality). Often this costs a little extra, but it's worth it! A logo produced just for your website will look fuzzy when you utilize it on your business cards or other printed materials unless it's been developed for high resolution.

4. Self-hosting is normally an excellent concept.

With all of the respectable and user friendly hosting business, hosting your website is extremely simple (and inexpensive!). Some web developers provide hosting, keeping the website approximately date, and a couple of hours of maintenance monthly. And the majority of the time, this is an okay plan. It simply constantly makes me worried not to have overall control of my account if they fail or we have a disagreement (similar to above). Of course, they could close down your website whenever they choose, though it is not likely.

At least, guarantee that, if needed, you get FTP access to your website if you require somebody else to work on the website or you want to keep the site yourself. If you use WordPress, for instance, and something breaks, often FTP access is the only way to bring it back, and if your developer is out of town for the weekend, you will run out luck.

5. Premium plugins on your website.

If you're paying your designer to purchase premium plugins for your website, you might ask to purchase them yourself, so you have the login information. That way, you own the plugin and can get assistance yourself if needed.

Often developers will have a special license to utilize the premium plugin on numerous websites, so this might not be needed, particularly if they will be your ongoing support for the website. It does not hurt to ask.

These components are important to keeping your brand online and don't constantly "come basic" with your website design, so it's worth inquiring about them. The more control you have more than your brand name, the much better!