10 signs of professional web design (Or why you should drop your amateur web designer)

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UPDATED April 30, 2009: Many people have pointed out that the items in this article require a team of individual professionals from specialized fields, and they are exactly right. If a business can afford to pay an agency with teams of specialized professionals then this article doesn’t apply to them and they wouldn’t have amateur web designers in the first place.

This article applies to small businesses that rely on amateur web designers and should move to freelance web designers/developers who are professionals. Those freelancers have to wear many hats, including the disciplines discussed below.

Uses lots of images but still seems snappy

That’s because professionals know how to optimize images for display on the web, including proper cropping, choosing the right file type, using sprites, and balancing quality vs. size.

Easy to read

That’s because professionals understand the subtle art of typography, including spacing letters and lines, choosing the right font, and using optimal line lengths.

I found what I was looking for

That’s because professionals understand that a site is more than the sum of its pages and provides navigation that matches the user’s needs.

Shows up in search engines

That’s because professionals strategically place elements on a website that improve search engine placement for relevant keywords.

Lots of links to it

That’s because professional web designs attract attention. Ugly designs don’t spread past the people who make or own them.

Makes me feel safe sharing my information

That’s because professionals understand the psychology of a user who’s been asked to share their information and take steps to make users feel safe. A professional design alone goes a long way in making a user feel safe.

I bookmarked it

That’s because professionals build sticky content that gives you a reason to return. A simple online brochure works just like an offline one: People look at it for a second and throw it away.

Highly engaging

That’s because professionals have the skills to take interactivity to the next level. There’s only so much clicking a user can do before they want to do something less boring.

My website was never finished

That’s because a $200 website isn’t worth finishing and a high schooler has better things to do.

I’m happy with my website

That’s because you read this article and hired professionals.

14 comments skip to comment form

  1. kiwus said— 18 hours later

    I disagree. These outcomes you counted will vary because of the brief and the whole target of webdesign. In the end the webdesigner isn’t the only one responsible for all these acomplishments. Besides – webdesigner “builds sticky content”?? I thought it was the copywriter’s responsibility.

    #1

  2. Brian Cray said— 2 days later

    Kiwus: Good points! Certainly each of the above points has a specialized field, and if a business can afford to pay an agency with said people then this article doesn’t apply to them. This article applies to small businesses that rely on amateur web designers and should move to freelance web designers/developers who are professionals. Those freelancers have to wear many hats.

    #2

  3. Mariusz Cieśla said— 2 days later

    “professional web designs attract attention” – not really. There are a lot of people, who do great designs but simply can’t market themselves well. In the Internet, it’s easy to become invisible even if you’re good, because the stream of the information is too fast and too noisy.

    And as for Easy to Read and subtle art of typography – before you start writing about it, start using it. Whitespace in this post totally kills the typographic rhythm. Just a side note.

    #3

  4. Brian Cray said— 2 days later

    Mariusz: Hah! Ouch! You’re right, I threw this design together in no time at all because I have too many other things going on :) I have another design in the works that will be published when I have time :)

    #4

  5. BloggerSavvy said— 3 days later

    Additionally, another issue is that business owners should give the developers the freedom to work. In many instances I’ve observed sites that are terrible because the owners had such an overbearing need to question and direct the developer to do things exactly the way they want. Some business owners should realize that the developers are the web professionals not them (business owners). On the other side of that coin, it’s in the best interests of the developer to take the time to better educate business owners!

    #5

  6. Joni Mueller said— 4 days later

    This article applies to small businesses that rely on amateur web designers and should move to freelance web designers/developers who are professionals.

    Yes, but the better article would be how to figure out if you’ve got a professional freelancer or an amateur freelancer. There are an alarming number of folks out there calling themselves web designers who have neither the skill nor the talent to pull it off. In the end, the client received a substandard product and all web designers get a bad name, just like lawyers have done for years. :)

    #6

  7. sal said— 5 days later

    “Shows up in search engines
    That’s because professionals strategically place elements on a website that improve search engine placement for relevant keywords.”
    Really? I’ve never met a web designer that could spell SEO. Tell a web dev that you need keywords in a site, and you’ll most likely find they’ve incorprated them quite elegantly into a logo – that a bot can’t read.

    #7

  8. Bart said— 5 days later

    Easy to read – That’s because professionals understand the subtle art of typography, including spacing letters and lines, choosing the right font, and using optimal line lengths.

    My pet peeves when looking at sites?

    When websites are so busy they are distracting. This one is fine. I am looking for information. If I want entertainment I might look elsewhere. Unless, of course, the writer is entertaining.

    When copy is written about and from the perspective of the website owner instead of the audience. I don’t want too much information on How you will help me, I want to know that you CAN help me first, and that means writing about MY problems and not YOUR credentials. If I think you can help me, I will then engage a conversation.

    #8

  9. Mandi Leman said— 3 weeks later

    Great post, Brian! I am amazed at how many large firms still hire the CEO’s niece or nephew to be responsible for such a major part of their brand. I’m talking about firms that have healthy advertising budgets, but aren’t aware that (via Techcrunch) “The top 100 advertisers in the U.S., who represent 41 percent of total advertising spending, shifted about $1 billion last year from TV and newspapers to the Web. …these top-tier marketers increased measured internet spending by $1 billion; slashed newspaper spending by $674 million; and cut TV budgets by $406 million.” As web pros, we definitely need to constantly tell this story.

    I also agree that creating a professional website usually takes more skills than one person has. That’s why it’s so important for freelancer web pros to hook up with others with complimentary skills. The key is recognizing what you yourself do best & stick to that. Subcontract out the parts of your project, like SEO – let’s say, that would be better handled by another pro.

    #9

  10. Kerwin said— 3 weeks later

    I agree, Not all web designer can write, not all have the time to build links.

    But still thank you for a very helpful article.

    #10

  11. David said— 3 weeks later

    I actually have a few times saved small and medium businesses from getting ripped off from larger development firms. One in particular recently, they had a firm handling design, hosting, domain, email-blasting. I’ve was just disgusted to see what one company in particular was charging! $50 a year alone to “maintain” the domain, which was, paying $10 a year to the domain registry, pocketing $40 for doing nothing? and hosting/website maintainence $400 a month.. we are talking a garden centre that email blasts a flyer ever week. email blasts now are handled by verticalresponse.com (highly recommend them!) the site looked totally 1995, so i got them on a server i’ve delt with for over a year and they are $3 a month.

    My point is, just because someone may have a team, has developed for years, doesn’t mean they are professionals. And most of the time, when you think you’ve found someone really good, it’s always at the “point of no return” when you’ve found out you got the shaft. When designing for a client, i always insist on $100 dep up front. to only keep them committed. when a firm comes and asks for 50% upfront.. move on.

    And i loved what SAL said about the SEO with designers.. hahaha so true! I myself had to try my luck at SEO.. i learned how to optimize pages, and i have a lot of up to date resources on that, since it always changes. But when it comes to the nitty gritty of SEO work, yes best left to those who have knowledge and PATIENCE for it. As for programming, well all i can say is, thank god for J-query.. that’s about as close to programming as i’ll ever get; well that and basic php stuff.

    But as for professionals again. designing and a designer handling the SEO, what in god’s name would posess a large firm to get away with charging $25,000 for a site all done in flash.. and then the client not knowingly, just paid a fortune for something Search engines can’t read! Ok that can be argued a little, but really, its not going to be as well received as a nice neat site. And again, thanks to jquery, you can pull off a lot of cool interactivity without flash

    #11

  12. Julia said— 3 months later

    Whether Design Firm or Independent Contractor, I feel it is the website designer/developer’s task to balance what the client wants with what will reach their audience and balance SEO best practices with user friendly design and readability.

    It’s important for clients to get to know the designer or the firm they’d like to hire to be sure they have found the right professional to work with their business.

    And yes, I agree it’s better to have a professional create a focused piece rather than a volunteer who may not be as invested in the results of their labor. Naturally, as another designer/developer weighing in here, I am biased this way. :)

    #12

  13. parfums said— 9 months later

    Developing a website for any entity – Business, Personal and anything that you want to have a website about is like a baby in the womb… Its all about how you nourish it. The nourishment includes – Looks – typography and images and colors, Content, and lastly Marketing – SEO and SEM.

    Just as you would pamper your kid, you also have to pamper your website every now and then.

    What do you ppl think?

    #13

  14. andy said— 9 months later

    clearly a designer, not a writer:

    “My website was never finished” is one of the “10 signs of professional web design”?

    Maybe, if you believe that a good website is always a work in progress; but not if your stated reason is that the website was never completed by a $200/project high school kid. It is ok to build a list of 8 or 9. Really. You aren’t Letterman.

    #14

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