What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Web Designer
Hiring a web designer can be exciting—but if you choose the wrong one, it can also be a very expensive mistake. As someone who’s rebuilt dozens of websites that “looked nice but didn’t perform,” let me give you the blueprint to avoid regret and get results.
1. Not All Designers Are Marketers
A lot of designers know how to make things look pretty. But pretty doesn’t pay the bills. What you really need is a conversion-focused designer—someone who understands user behavior, SEO, and performance metrics.
Ask them:
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“Do you know how to structure a landing page for conversions?”
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“Do you build with SEO best practices in mind?”
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“How do you optimize for mobile and speed?”
If the answer is vague, keep shopping.
2. Your Website Is a Sales Funnel, Not Just a Portfolio
Every page on your site should have a purpose. Your homepage should drive action. Your service pages should answer questions and build trust. Your contact forms should be trackable.
A good designer:
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Builds for the user journey
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Creates strong calls to action
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Uses tools like Hotjar, Analytics, and Tag Manager
3. What to Ask Before You Hire
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Will I be able to edit the content myself?
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Do you provide mobile and speed optimization?
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Can you install Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, and conversion tracking?
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What CMS (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow) do you recommend—and why?
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Do you offer content writing or SEO?
4. Design + Marketing = Success
The best results come from combining web design with:
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SEO structure
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CRO (conversion rate optimization)
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Content strategy
At Rio X Marketing, we don’t separate design from performance. Every website we create is built to convert, optimized for search, and engineered for scale.
Closing Thoughts
Hiring a web designer shouldn’t be about “how it looks”—it should be about how it performs. Take the time to ask the right questions, and you’ll avoid months of frustration and lost sales.
If you’re ready to build a website that actually works, let’s talk.
