A lot of internet marketers who make money from selling products on their mini sites know that in order to successfully make sales, they should not just focus on writing a convincing salesletter or come up with a product that delivers its promise, but also they should have graphics to make their mini sites look professional and credible in front of their visitors.

When you want to have your mini sites look professional through graphics one way to do it is by hiring a graphic designer to do the designs for you. A graphic designer can do a custom mini site design composed of a header, a footer, a background image, an ecover, an order button, a money back guarantee seal, and other miscellaneous graphics such as credit card icons.

Tapping a graphic desinger who will do a custom design for your minisite will bring a handful of benefits. For one, a custom design will make you stand out. If the quality is great, it will also leave a good first impression on your visitors, and will therefore help build your professionalism and reputation. Compared to a professionally-made custom design, a generic, haphazard template will only confuse your visitors with other minisites with the same template and might leave a bad impression on them.

When searching for a graphic designer for a custom minisite design, you must do your research carefully and choose the right person for the job. While all of them may seem qualified, it can become hard to choose the right designer since after all, you don't see them in person, and you are not sure if they will actually deliver their promises.

Before searching for a professional graphic designer, you should decide first what you need. You can look for similar products and see what type of graphics they have on their minisites. But to give you an idea, here are the graphics normally found on a minisite:

1. Background image which usually contains the product name

2. Header which is usually 700x200 pixels long

3. Footer which usually has the domain name and the product name

4. Ecover graphics that represent the product

5. Order button your visitors click on when they purchase your product

6. Credit card images representing the credit cards you can accept

7. Guarantee seal if you are offering a refund

8. Bullets, arrows or checkmarks for highlighting your product's main points and benefits

Other miscellaneous graphics you might find are:

1. Price stickers which show the price of the product

2. Badge containing some text like 'Bonus!' or 'Special Offer!'

3. Johnson boxes found under the tables

Needless to say that you must also decide what kind of ecover style you need for your product. If your product is an ebook, obviously it has to be represented by an ebook design. If it's a software, it could be a 3D box. If you're selling a homestudy course, it could be a CD or DVD set. If you are offering a membership pass, it could be a membership card.

1. Search Engines, Of Course

Graphic designer who offer their custom design services have their own websites to advertise themselves. To find them, google the words "custom ecover design", "custom mini site design", "custom mini site design services", "graphic designer custom mini sites" and other related phrases. You will surely find a lot of them on just one page.

2. Internet Marketing Forums

Aside from the search engines, graphic designers also hang out in internet marketing forums like the Warrior Forum. By being a member, you can open a thread to ask fellow Warriors about the highly-skilled, reputable graphic designers around. There is a chance that fellow Warriors will recommend you the designers they trust. Also, there is a thread section called "Warrior Special Offers" where Warriors offer special discounts for their products and services, and from time to time you will find graphic designers offering custom designs at a special discount.

By now you have already chosen potential graphic designers who will design your mini site. Before actually choosing the right graphic designer, you should read carefully everything on their websites. Most of them have a salespage convincing their visitors to hire them. When reading their salesletter consider the following:

1. Background

Hiring a graphic designer online is not different from hiring a professional in the real world. Of course you need to see the designer's qualifications first to know if he really has the credentials, the education and the experience needed for the job.

When looking at his background, be sure to consider the following:

a. Certification

Does he have an education in graphic design? What are his credentials? Having a background and the credentials in graphic design will certainly help you feel at ease as he has earned the education needed to do the job right.

b. Past Clients And Projects

Of course, you will not be able to see firsthand how professional he was if you wouldn't consider the projects and clients he handled in the past. If he has them, look at his works and visit the links to his clients' websites to see how great they are.

2. Design Packages

Usually graphic designers offer their services in packages, which vary by the number of graphics. The more graphics are offered in a package, the more expensive it gets. Some packages offer a complete minisite design, others offer the ecover alone, others just the header, the background image and the footer. The packages vary, that's why I advised you to enlist what you need first so you can be sure you have all the graphics you will need.

3. Price Of Their Design Packages

As previously mentioned, the more graphics are offered in a package, the more expensive it gets. So be prepared to pay a high price if you want a complete minisite.

Standard prices for a complete minisite range from $97, and could get as steep as $299 or more.

4. Portfolio

You can never tell a designer's skills until you see his portfolio. This is where he displays the designs he did in the past. When looking at their portfolio, consider the kind of design you want done. For example, if you want a 3D software box for yourself, look for a 3D box in their potrfolio to see if they can really design it well.

5. The Size Of The Headers And Footers

Usually graphic designers can design headers according to the length their client wants. If the length of the header and footer does not matter to you, he will design them at standard or default size. But there are times when the length of these elements are important, such as when you are restricted by the membership script's HTML template.

6. How The Graphics Are Delivered

Usually, the graphic designer sends them to you via FTP, so you can just download them in .zip format. It's up to the graphic designer to decide how he sends them so you shouldn't that be concerned on this matter.

7. Delivery Time

Graphic designers can be busy at times, depending on the number of projects they are working on for that month. If they are very busy at the moment, they may hold a notice on their websites, notifying the public that they are not available to hold any assignments at this time.

Be clear as to how long they will have you waiting because some designers can work for as long as 10 days, while others can deliver the goods in up to 72 hours. But regardless of how long you will wait, most of them work for as long as needed to ensure they have come up with the best-looking design for you.

8. How The Project Starts

Graphic designers vary in how they start a project. Some designers do not start until you pay them first, and from then they will start working on your minisite design. Others, meanwhile, will do a mock design first, let you see it through a URL or email attachment, and if you like it, you will have to pay them first before they deliver the goods.

9. Copyright Or License You Hold For The Graphics

Do you hold the copyright for the graphics once you own them? Are the graphics only used for minisites you control, or can they be used on minisite templates you can resell or give away? What kind of restrictions are imposed on the graphics, if any? These are the things you need to ask yourself if you are concerned about copyright issues.

10. Format Of The Graphics

Usually, graphics are delivered in standard .jpg format, all ready for you to use. If you want any format other than that, like transparent .png (for miscellaneous graphics like bullets, order buttons, credit card icons, and seals), ask the graphic designer if that's possible.

11. Revision Charges

There might come a time when you will want some changes be made on newly-owned graphics. Maybe you are updating your product and you want some changes on the ecover to reflect that. Whatever it is, be clear about any charges that may apply if you want revision on the graphics in the future. Some designers charge for each revision, while others offer it for free.

12. Refund Policy

A money back guarantee is important because there might be a chance that you will not like the graphics he made. How much of your payment will be returned? Is it a partial or full refund? Also, how long will the guarantee last? How will the money be sent back to you?

Do they give some sort of consumer protection? (ie, are they part of BBB, Icop, or any organization that protects online consumers?) This is not really required but it will give you more assurance that the graphic designer can be trusted and will not run away with your money.

13. Customer Testimonials

A designer's credibility in handling projects is an important concern, that's why designers post positive comments they received from their past clients. More testimonials could mean they have handled a big number of projects in the past, and he has been in business for quite a long time.

Of course, you will not see a negative comment on their website, won't you? Ask on forums if anyone there has hired him before, and ask for real reviews on him.

14. Contact Information

Look for his full contact information on his website. It is important to get ahold of his contact information in case you've been waiting for your minisite for so long, you want to ask more questions about his design packages or you want a refund. Make sure you can reach him by various means and not just email, which might not be working. Try contacting him first through email, phone or Skype to make sure he is reachable.

When you have chosen the graphic designer who fits your requirements, be sure to contact him for questions before hiring him. And while working with him, don't hesitate to tell him your suggestion on the kind of outcome you want.