You have decided to hire a Website Design company to help you grow your business and generate new clients. Fantastic! Now you need to know which questions to ask so that you can make sure you hire the right company for the job.
This article will explore some of the questions you should pose to the web design company and what you should look for in an answer.
First of all, what makes a good website design company?
There are a lot of factors that go into making a really solid web design company. You want an experienced organization that has seen success with their designs and executions. A versatile company that can generate effective websites across multiple industries is excellent. Companies that understand the value of all aspects of a website, including images, structure, content and marketing message is critical.
Let’s get to the questions.
What is the main service your company offers?
If the company offers too many services, they may not be particularly good at any one in particular. Imagine you have gone to a restaurant and the menu contains ten pages with cuisine from every corner of the world. One might assume that yes, they can cook all of these meals, but are they really any good?
Look for a company that focuses primarily on website design. If they offer additional services, like SEO, social media and email marketing, that can be fine as long as they are a part of an overarching marketing strategy. It is not OK if they simply offer endless, a la carte services.
Be sure that your website design company is a website company first!
How do you create your websites?
There are essentially two types of websites that small to medium sized business owners use. They are custom developed websites and pre-built themed websites. Both have their pros and cons. Predesigned themes can be a better option for companies on a budget, as the costs aren’t as high, and the templates can be very attractive. The downside is there is minimal customization, so you are limited from a development standpoint. You get what you get.
Custom developed sites are more costly and you have almost unlimited options as to what you can develop. You can really it make it your own. The other benefit is that you have a website that is unique to your company.
Do you have a portfolio?
Any website design company worth their salt should have a portfolio of case studies to offer new clients. These should include detailed descriptions of the projects, what the goals of the projects were, the outcomes, and ideally a positive testimonial from the client. This will demonstrate that the website design company is experienced and it will show their level of versatility. You could also ask for a reference or two from previous projects to contact about the overall experience of working with the company.
What is entailed in the website design process?
Generally speaking, there are four stages in the development process – Research, Design, Development, and Launch.
- Research includes learning about your business and industry, usually through an intake questionnaire and possibly an onsite visit.
- Design includes creating the style of the site (including fonts, images, colour schemes, navigation bar, site architecture, etc.).
- Development involves the implementation of the design and required testing.
- Launch is the final stage, putting the completed product live on the internet.
An experienced and professional website design company should be able to reference and describe these in detail.
How long will the process take?
The amount of time it takes to develop a website depends entirely on the scope of the job. Most websites for small to medium sized businesses can be expected to take between 30-90 days. That time period can depend on the client believe it or not, and how long it takes them to receive content. A quality agency will insist that their clients submit content on a timely basis in order to adhere to a schedule.
Click Here to read Part 2 of Questions to Ask a Website Design Company!
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