You’re at the exciting stage where you know what you want from your new travel website and are ready to hand over the spec to your web designer – question is, do you tell them your budget?

In an ideal world you’d probably think your budget is an important piece of information which will help the travel web designer create a personalised solution within the restraints of your resources, yet the cynic in you may not help but wonder if you’re foolishly inviting inflated quotes from a web designer with dollar signs in their eyes.

So, what’s the answer?

Choose a travel web designer that wants you to succeed

There needs to be a mutual trust between you and the travel web designer.

While this may sound like a difficult trait to reveal in a web designer, there are a number of things you can do as a potential client to ensure you’re choosing a trustworthy company.

Firstly, has your web designer been established for a decent period of time and do they have plenty of example works and testimonials they can show you? A good portion of the work a successful web designer receives is from word-of-mouth referrals so it’s generally fair to say that those who have been established for a while, have plenty of example work, own their own premises and appear busy, are likely to be doing something right for their clients.

Secondly, use your instinct. When you sit down with your web designer or talk to them on the phone, what impression do you get? Do they ask you questions about your business and customers? By communicating with your web designer it should become apparent if they’re approaching the work as is you were their business partner, not merely a customer.

Your budget is important

Once you’re confident you’re dealing with a trustworthy web designer it would be wise to share with them your budget.

Any designer worth their salt will create you a website that is completely bespoke. Having a unique, professional website that is intelligently designed to ensure maximised booking conversions is vital for a travel operator, so can be the customisation of the backend.

Sitting down with your web designer to discuss both your requirements and budget will allow the designer to come up with the various options available to you. It’s important to remember that not all websites are the same and their complexity impacts the likely cost of the site, as well as the project completion time.

In many ways it is similar to the various experiences tour operators offer to their clients. If a potential client was interested in traveling to India to take in the beautiful culture, having an idea of the available budget will ensure that you as a tour operator can present an itinerary which is best suited to them. If they have a modest budget you may be able to offer a whistle stop tour of Rajasthan and New Delhi, not the more in-depth tour a larger budget could experience, such as excursions to holy Buddhist sites, guided wildlife sanctuary tours and time to relax on a quiet beach in front of the Indian Ocean.

As with a web designer, the best option for the would-be-traveller is to opt for a trustworthy tour operator that will deliver the best experience within the client’s available budget.

So, our advice for any travel operator would be to find a travel web designer you can trust and fully engage with them to find the best solutions for your business. After all, the more successful your business, the more likely you’d ask for more work and recommend the web designer to others - everybody wins.

We are The Travel Web Design Agency; trustworthy web designers with decades of experience creating stunning travel websites.