Those who prefer to leave coding to the professionals have a difficult decision to make. Do they rely on basic, free site designs such as those offered on WordPress, or do they find a professional designer to come up with a more user-friendly and attractive front-end for their site?

Webmasters who understand their business will know this is a huge decision. The look and feel of a website can dramatically affect sales, clicks, and conversions. Penny pinching with a WordPress theme can be extremely damaging to the long-term success of a site.

Fortunately, if you put in a little groundwork and figure out exactly what you want in advance, it doesn’t have to cost the earth to hire a web designer to create the perfect customised theme for your site. In fact, it should cost you no more than $100 and a few hours of your time to get a beautiful, user-friendly, and high converting site.

Do Your Homework

Have you ever tried to give directions to a web designer by email? It’s not always easy to get your point across, and the results are often less than satisfactory. It can be almost impossible to accurately convey your vision to a contractor. The ideas that are crystal clear in your mind can be difficult to put into words.

A great way to avoid disappointment, and the expense of returning for a second attempt, is to research sites in your niche before even approaching a designer to create your theme. Look at the leaders in your niche and take screenshots of the things you like about their designs. You can use Jing to add notations to your screenshots, offering visual examples of exactly what features you want your theme to include.

Once you’ve collected enough screenshots to build an accurate picture of your vision, it’s time to find yourself a great designer.

Shop Around

Once you have a firm, clear idea of how you’d like your WordPress theme to look and it’s time to find a great designer who can transform your vision into a results-based website. Here is where the Internet comes into its own. In recent years we’ve seen an explosion of freelancing sites that bring employers and freelancers together. Elance, Freelancer, and oDesk are just a few of the more popular sites you can use to find a great designer.

The trick here is to find a designer who can show examples of his or her previous work. Only by checking out examples of sites designed by your potential freelancer can you tell if they know what they’re doing. You can usually filter the search results in online marketplaces to exclude candidates who have no work history.

Know Your Budget

This should go without saying, but you should set a firm budget before the project begins. Many freelancers like to charge by the hour, but from your point of view it’s much better to set a total budget for the project, no matter how long it takes. You can specify your budget in every online marketplace, filtering out those freelancers who set their rates higher than you’re willing to pay.

Communicate

Once you’ve found a designer who seems capable of creating a WordPress theme, you need to communicate the vision you have for your new site. This is key and it’s where most problems occur.

The best way to get across your ideas is with crystal clear visual examples. You should send your screenshots to your new designer and explain exactly how you’d like to proceed. Want a lead generation box in the top right corner of your homepage? Send a screenshot of a site that already has it.

The key is to leave as little scope for confusion and misunderstanding as possible. By offering concrete examples of the features you’d like, you can boil down your vision.

Enjoy Your Theme

As you can see, this article boils down to a simple point. If you want to hire somebody to design a good results-driven website, you need to work out your vision ahead of time and then communicate it precisely. In custom web design there is little room for miscommunication. Be clear and give examples. That’s how you get the theme you want.