There are three important considerations that must be satisfied when selecting a designer to create a cover for your ebook, software box, or CD cover: design skill, marketing experience and price.

Obviously, design skill is an important consideration. Samples are the primary way to evaluate a designers skills. Look for evidence that the designer has the ability to create quality, professional-looking, effective cover images and knows how to work with fonts, colors and images.

Are the designs effective from a marketing standpoint? Is the designer experienced in Internet marketing? Or is someone knowledgeable about Internet marketing supervising the designs?
Is the designer experienced in designing ebook covers or other images that will be used to sell products on the Internet? Does the designer understand your goal? A cover designer with marketing experience will ask you questions about your goal, audience and web site topic in order to design an effective image.

Check the sample images closely and look for these points that make an ebook cover effective:

Does the design support your sales message?
Is the design appropriate to your books topic and audience? This includes the choices of fonts, colors, images, and layout.
Is the title easily readable at the small size displayed on a web page? If there is other important text, is this readable as well?

Testimonials can also give you some insight about the designer. Try to determine how genuinely satisfied the testimonial writer is with the design. You will also want to look for any indication as to how easy it was for the customer to work and communicate with the designer.

Price is the simplest point to evaluate when choosing a designer. If you want to get an effective image, the lowest bidder may not be your best choice. Do not sacrifice quality for the sake of a lower price. Low fees usually indicate that the designer is inexperienced. If you cut costs in the design of your cover, you may be cutting down potential sales. A quality ebook cover will more than pay for itself in increased sales.

By paying attention to the considerations we have mentioned here, you will find the right graphic designer for your project. Good luck!