Who to Hire for your Next Website Redesign (and Why)
Finding the right person—or team—to help you with your next website project can be overwhelming.
A good referral might give you a starting point, but if you don’t understand the strengths and limitations of different vendors, you could end up with a skill gaps, unexpected costs, or a site that simply doesn’t perform.
Many vendors sound impressive, but few are upfront about what they don’t do well. I’ve learned that the hard, expensive way.
Some professionals have integrated skill sets. Others are highly specialized. The key is knowing what you need—and what to look for—before hiring.
This guide is here to give you clarity—so you can choose the right mix of skills for your next redesign.
Questions to Ask Before You Start
Before you engage a vendor, here’s a few key questions to ask yourself or your team to get clear on your top priorities:
Are you mostly focused on improving the look and feel of your website—or do you need someone who can help solve deeper usability or content issues?
Do you manage a content-heavy site that needs better structure and navigation?
Does your site require custom functionality—like dynamic content, advanced filtering, or robust search?
Are the current words on your site confusing, outdated, or failing to clearly communicate what you do?
These are just some of the questions to be thinking about. It might help to sit down and list your top three goals for your new website in order of priority to help you identify the right fit from the roles below.
Understanding Key Roles in a Website Redesign
Here are some of the types of vendors you might encounter:
Web Developer:
A web developer builds the behind-the-scenes code that makes everything work. They’re essential if your site needs anything more functionality than a basic “brochure” website template. Maybe you need an advanced search function, or other complex or custom features for users to interact with.
But here’s the key: To build a site that’s truly worth the investment—you’ll need more than clean code. Unless you find a developer who is also skilled in both both visual design and user experience best practices, I would recommend seeking out a designer as well.
Strengths: Making sure your site has well-structured code and everything runs reliably. Can also help with technical performance issues like improving site speed
Limitations: Most don’t have front-end design skills or UX expertise. Some of the best developers I’ve worked with had great coding skills but needed help with even tiny details like spacing. You may need to give specific design direction to avoid frustrating or costly revisions.
Tips for working with a developer:
Even if you find a top-tier developer, don’t assume they can handle design too. Unless they’re a rare “unicorn” with both skill sets, you’ll need a designer to ensure the site is visually cohesive and user-friendly.
Ask deeper questions about their portfolio: If a site looks great, find out if they designed it or just built it. Don’t get caught off guard if there was another person behind the visuals.
If you’re not working with a designer, be specific about layout and design to avoid costly revisions. (Development is not cheap!)
Web Designer:
This is often the go-to title people search for. But this role can cover a very wide range of skills, from purely visual creatives to more strategic designers who also understand UX, content, or even light development.
You’ll need to vet carefully to find the right fit.
But most web designers focus on how your site looks and feels: layouts, colors, typography, and overall visual style. Make sure they’re not focused on aesthetics alone—unless that’s all you need.
Strengths: Strong visual design, branding alignment, and making your site feel modern, consistent, and visually engaging. Some may also offer UX, SEO, or light development—but don’t assume that without asking.
Limitations:
Some designers make decisions based on aesthetics alone, rather than usability or strategy.
Many don’t have deep knowledge of UX, SEO, or content hierarchy.
Design choices may look good but clash with your branding or frustrate users.
Some rely on templates they’re comfortable with, even if they’re not ideal for your content or audience.
Tips on working with a web designer:
If they use templates - do they choose a template based on what they are familiar with or what you need?
Review past work carefully. If something looks great, ask if they designed it solo or collaborated with others.
Clarify who will handle functionality like forms, dynamic content, or backend integration—do they partner with a developer?
Clarify whether they factor in SEO, site speed, and performance optimization—or if that’s outside their scope.
For a site that performs as well as it looks, consider pairing them with someone who brings UX, content, or development expertise into the mix.
UX (User Experience) Designer:
When most people hear “UX,” they think it’s synonymous with “web design” but UX design isn’t about the visual design of your site.
Many business owners turn to a UX designer after working with someone who made their site look great—but then discoverered that users weren’t finding what they were looking for. Maybe leads dropped. Or conversions slowed. A UX designer helps fix that.
Strengths: They focus on making your website easy to use, easy to understand, and focused on business goals. Some bring valuable skills like user research and usability testing.
Limitations: Most UX designers don’t handle visual design or coding—so you’ll likely need to pair them with a designer and/or developer.
Tips on working with a UX Designer:
Prioritize UX if your last site looked good but didn’t work—whether that means low engagement, high bounce rates, or confusing navigation.
Don’t assume they can or will conduct user research or usability testing. Some focus more on strategy and layout, so it’s important to ask.
Clarify whether they also handle the visual design or if that will be handed off to another partner.
Copywriter:
If your site looks good but doesn’t say the right things, you might want to hire a copywriter. Strong website copy is what sells while you sleep. A great copywriter can help you shape your story and make it clear for visitors to understand what you do, and why it matters.
Strengths: Turning confusing or generic messaging into words that connect and convert. Giving your brand a consistent voice that builds trust and makes people want to engage.
Limitations: Most copywriters don’t design or build websites, so their work needs to be integrated with the design. If not coordinated well, content may end up squeezed into a template that doesn’t support the message—or vice versa.
Tips for working with a copywriter:
Ask about their process—how they research your audience, understand your business, and define your voice.
Review their past work and see if they adapt their tone based on the project (not every writer can).
Clarify whether they collaborate directly designers or if the content is handled separately to avoid content/design misalignment.
Content Strategist:
If your website feels overwhelming, disorganized, or like it’s just not telling a clear story, a Content Strategist can help structure and organize it to better serve both your users and your business goals.
They often also write great copy, but their true value is in seeing the big picture: identifying what content you need, where it belongs, and how it all fits together.
(Don’t confuse this with a Content Marketing Strategist who focuses on editorial content and campaigns.)
Strengths:
Bringing clarity and structure to large or complex websites—especially ones with lots of services, audiences, or decision paths, and aligning messaging with business goals.
They also can creating content plans, page outlines, and messaging frameworks to guide writers and designers.
Limitations: Typically, they don’t design or build the site themselves. They’ll need to work closely with a designer and/or developer to bring the structure to life.
When to choose a content strategist?
You have a content-heavy site and you’re not sure how to organize it all.
Your team struggles to keep your content consistent or aligned with business goals.
You’re planning a redesign and want to make sure your content isn’t just copied over but actually improved.
If you just need copy for a few pages and the structure is already in place, a dedicated copywriter may be a better fit.
Tips for working with a content strategist:
Ask about their strategic process and how they involve stakeholders to achieve alignment.
Ask about deliverables: will they provide site content maps, audits, or wireframes?
Clarify who they partner with for design and development—and how they ensure those pieces are implemented correctly.
All-Inclusive Agency:
An agency offers full-service support—bringing strategy, design, development, and content together under one roof (or so it seems).
Agencies can simplify the process, but only if they’re transparent, communicative, and truly integrated. Make sure you're not just buying convenience at the cost of quality.
Strengths: Convenient one-stop shop for everything your website needs. IIdeal if you want someone to manage the entire project from start to finish.
Limitations: Often more expensive than assembling a team yourself. And some agencies outsource key pieces to freelancers or third parties, which can affect quality and consistency.
Tips for working with an agency:
Ask who will handle each part of the project—is it done in-house or outsourced?
Clarify how the team will stay aligned on your goals, messaging, and brand voice.
Confirm whether you’ll have a single point of contact or be communicating with multiple team members.
Key Questions to Ask Any Vendor
What specific parts of the project will you handle directly—and what will you need help with?
If you collaborate with others, how do you manage that process? Are those partners involved from the start?
How do you ensure anyone you bring in understands our goals, audience, and brand—not just the task at hand?
Can you share examples of past projects where you helped solve a problem or improve results—not just make it look good?
How do you approach websites holistically—balancing design, content, user experience, and performance from the start?
Partner with Someone with an Integrated Skill Set:
If you want a website that looks great, works seamlessly, tells a clear story, and drives results, you need more than individual pieces—you need someone who sees the whole picture.
You don’t need a big agency to do that. But you do need someone who understands how brand, content, UX, and functionality intersect.
That’s exactly the kind of work I do.
Hi! I’m Brooke 👋 I’m a web content strategist with a background in both copywriting and design, plus enough technical fluency to work closely with developers to bring custom functionality to life.
If you’re ready to build a site that’s not just polished, but purposeful—let’s talk. I’d love to help you create something that connects with your audience and delivers real impact.
