Important things to remember when starting on a design project:
1) Figure out what you want before you start - Find 3 websites you like and share them with your web designer. Have an idea of what colors you want. Know ahead of time what images you want to use, how many pages you would like, and what content goes on each page. The more your can show and describe to your web designer about what you want, the less it will cost you because the designer won't waste hours guessing.
2) Figure out what your budget is - This directly relates to the first question. It is not very realistic to want 12 pages of content, with 30 images, 20 links, and a flash intro on a $200 budget. Your web designer can help you with this if you have one already. She/He can give you estimates of how long things take, so you can pick and choose the most important elements of your website.
3) Educate Yourself - Graphic designers drastically range in price. Most charge between $20-$65/per hour. Some will charge by project or website. There are so many small details that go into a project-images, links, navigation buttons, flash graphics, and pages-that these details add up to a lot of time. If you pay by the hour, make sure to know exactly what you want so that the designer can give you an accurate estimate of how many hours it will take. Many designers use this method because it give flexibility to the customer. They can keep the client up to date on how much time has already been spent cot the original estimate. Also, it allows the customer to change their mind without renegotiating a project price. If you pay per project, know what is and isn't included in the project. What is the maximum number of pages, images, links, and flash graphics? This one is important-Will they edit the images or insert them exactly as they are given. That could mean the images don't look consistent unless the customer is skilled in Photoshop. Also find out how flexible the designer is-can you add on elements and details later if you decide? How much will that cost? One last thing-Keep in mind, a website needs a domain name and somewhere to host it. Some designers, like myself, can host client websites, but there is still a yearly fee and it is contingent on you keeping that web designer.
4) Less is more when designing - Pictures and fonts are great, but when you use too many, the project looks convoluted and unprofessional. Also, the focus changes from the website content to the whistles and bells of the design. Flash is great, but it takes fast bandwidth to execute and usually needs a DSL connection to load smoothly.