Today’s businesses are in dire need of efficient, customer converting websites that establish their presence on the web. Although this might seem too expensive at first, particularly for small businesses, hiring the right web design agency will result in high ROI and seemingly unexpected success. Of course, the question is, how do you find a reliable, professional, reputable, and affordable web design company?
If you go online and start looking for a web design agency in your city via a search engine – let’s say with Google – there’s no telling how many pages you’ll get in the results. It’s overwhelming. But how do you find out which of these countless companies can provide you with relevant assistance? One thing is for sure – each one of them would be happy to get a hold of a new client and make some money. But, don’t worry, you are reading one of the most straight forward articles regarding web design agency selection to date.
First of all, you have to understand that not every design company that appears in the search results is reputable. One of the most excellent and effective tools in determining if an agency is what you need or not is to ask them about how they handle their work, how they manage their projects, how they form their prices and what services they provide. Their answers will provide enough valuable information regarding the agency’s expertise, qualification, reputation, and overall professionalism. It’s also necessary to make sure the company can make your website adaptable, search-engine-optimized and available for various updates in the future – you want your site to look great and provide your customers with the best experience possible.
Based on the information retrieved from such inquiries, you will be able to sift through the incompetent companies and choose one of the reliable web design agencies that will provide you with all the services you need. You can’t spend your budget on something you will have to eventually re-do, so making the right choice at the start is a big deal. We have created a list of questions that will help you determine the proper agency. Check it below.
Question #1. Is There an SEO Expert in Your Agency?
While web design and graphic design are essential for any website, your site will not be very successful without proper search engine optimization (SEO) treatment. SEO is pretty much the fuel for your online vehicle – your website. The better the fuel, the better the car works. Neglecting SEO will result in missing out on tons of potential clients because your site will be dragging somewhere in the far search engine pages.
Therefore, you must clarify if the web design agency you consider hiring can provide you with adequate SEO services. If it does, it would also be nice if it had a copywriter on the team, because you first have to have texts that are then going to be optimized. Although your site’s layout and good looks matter, they will hardly help it rank high in web searches if there’s no relevant, unique, and SEO’d content.
Question #2. “Will You Optimize My Website for Mobile?”
Today, if you don’t have a responsive website – meaning a site that users can view on all gadgets, including desktop, smartphones, tablets, etc. – you’re preliminarily turning a broad audience away from your brand. Moreover, according to research, more people are using mobile gadgets to surf websites than just desktop computers. And if that’s not enough, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites over desktop-only sites. Thus, you should find out if the agency is going to make your website responsive or not before you hire it. If the answer is “no,” you should pass and move on to the next web design company on your list. You might also consider looking to a user interface design agency who specialize in mobile responsiveness.
Question #3. “Will I Be Able to Introduce Changes to My Website in the Future?”
When you have your website up and running, there may be a need to update it in the future. You need to know the site and have all the accesses and systems in place to update it either yourself or hire a content manager to do just that. Some design agencies instruct their clients and their teams to use CMS for future updates. Some agencies neglect this, and customers don’t have the opportunity to update their respective websites. Such design companies only enable the sites to be updated by themselves, for which they charge additional money. It’s necessary to figure out what is the prospective agency’s stance on this matter, will you be provided with a CMS, or will you have to contact the company each time you want to change a letter or replace an image? It would help if you find out this information in advance, in order to save on your future expenses.
Question #4. “Will You Make My Website Completely Custom from Scratch or Will You Use a Customized Theme?”
There is a critical difference between custom and customized website themes. If your website is custom-designed, the team that places its code also develops and designs it, so you get a unique site created by highly qualified specialists. You will have the advantage of being one of a kind on the entire Internet.
At the same time, anyone can use customized themes. They are cheaper than custom-made sites and are available in free and premium formats. Multiple web design companies use customized items when developing projects for their customers, since doing it this way is not as demanding and takes less time to complete. Although this is a more affordable option, a unique website gives you an advantage among your competitors and helps you stand out in the crowd. Therefore, you must find out your custom vs. customized options before signing a contract with an agency.
Question #5. “Can I Get Some of Your Client References?”
One of the best ways to get a clear idea of an agency’s professionalism is by requesting client references. Ask your potential web design agency for recommendations – you can do it on the phone or via email. If an agency willingly provides you with contact information of its former customers, this is a good sign and most likely means that the company is reputed and acknowledged in the market. Although this approach does have a downside in that you will most certainly only be able to contact those clients that are happy with the agency’s work on their site. But, talking to even delighted customers is better than not talking to any at all. You will, either way, get a better idea of your prospective web design agency’s work, professionalism, and process.
Conclusion
Creating and launching a website can be a real pain, especially if you are new to the web or don’t have a lot of resources to afford premium-class web design services. However, you can always improve your site little by little as your business grows, revenue increases, and sales become abundant. But the first step is still the same – you must hire a reputed web design agency that will create a website for you. You mustn’t hire just someone and flush your budget down the drain. Asking an agency relevant questions about its experience, services, qualifications, and other things related to its work will help you get a better understanding of whether it suits you or not. Finding a reliable and professional agency will ensure a stable platform for the success of your online presence.