If a person is in the market for a new online site or they are looking to redesign their current website, they are probably wondering how to pick a good web design firm. After all, the agency they pick will be responsible for developing and designing the website, giving customers the first impression of the business and the brand. It is a huge decision to make. So how do business owners choose which firm to go with? Below are some tips to help entrepreneurs pick their web design firm and the question they can ask potential partners.
Make a short list of the business’ site needs and goals
Before entrepreneurs start searching for an agency, they need to have a good idea of what they want their site to do and the features it needs to have to help them achieve their goals. After all, their website is a marketing and business tool – not just a beautiful design. Examples of the things entrepreneurs might want their site to do:
- Generate tons of leads for the business
- Sync with Customer Relationship Management like Hubspot, Salesforce, or other major Customer Relationship Management software
- Integrate with the company’s marketing automation tools like Marketo, HubSpot, or Pardot
- Link with the company’s email marketing platform, such as MailChimp, Emma, or Constant Contact
- Collect donations or payments such as recurring or subscription-based donations and payments
- Allow users to fill out different forms directly on the company’s website and submit them to the organization’s marketing team
Examples of features the site might need to help the company achieve the things mentioned above:
- Search-engine optimized content, conversion-optimizes pages, and user-friendly navigation
- E-commerce functionality
- Secured online forms (and forms that are Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant if the business is in the healthcare industry)
- A Secure Sockets Layer Certificate and Hypertext Transfer Protocol
The company’s site is an extension of their enterprise and should help business owners achieve their goals – no matter what these goals are. Having a short list of the needs, nice-to-haves, and goals will help them, as well as the design firms they interview, make sure the platform is actually customized for their brand.
Other vital info to consider before reaching out to a potential design firm is the company’s timeline and budget. While entrepreneurs might not know how much it will cost them to design a working platform, having a price range will help them get pretty realistic design quotes within their price range. The company’s timeline is also pretty helpful because if they need their platform live in two weeks, they will need a firm that has the ability now compared to having to wait for three waits to get started.
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Check out and review local and national design firm partners
Now that the company has its shortlist ready, it can now start looking for potential partners. Business owners should look for firms in their local area, as well as nationwide, especially if they want a partner that is pretty experienced in a particular industry such as legal or dental.
Applications like Google Meet and ZOOM have made it a lot easier to communicate and collaborate with individuals across the country or state. Even if the business ends up choosing a firm near them, it is worth seeing what is out there so they can assess portfolios, experience, agency culture, and services offered.
Review agency culture, portfolios, and experience
There are important things to look for in excellent partners: Agency culture, portfolio, and experience. These items can provide individuals with a closer look at how their project will be managed, if it will meet their standards and goals, and if they will be an excellent overall fit with their chosen firm.
Experience
When it comes to experience, enterprises need these questions answered:
- How long have they been working in this industry?
- Are they a startup or an established firm?
- Do they have tons of experience developing sites for their client’s industry, platforms that get good results, platforms that their clients like, or platforms that have the features that their clients need?
The firm should have processes in place to make the designs and development process easy and simple, support for the client’s platform after it is life, marketing services to help grow the business or the brand, and teams of knowledgeable professionals to help make sure the platform will meet its needs and goals.
Portfolio
A firm’s portfolio is the next best way to help people assess capabilities and skills. Enterprises just need to make sure they are looking for more than good-looking sites. A beautiful-looking platform that is not easy to use will never outperform decent sites that are pretty easy and simple to navigate. Portfolios will provide insight into industry experience, creativity, as well as complex coding abilities. Listed below are some questions that need answers when reviewing a portfolio:
- Does the agency develop mobile-friendly sites?
- Are all sites similar – same navigation, structure, or imagery?
- Have any of their sites won awards, both local and national?
If individuals like the work that the agency does but do not have their industry in the agency’s portfolio, entrepreneurs can ask them what they would do for their organization. While they want to work with a web design in Brighton agency who has their experience, organizations ultimately need to love the job they do.
Agency culture
A firm’s culture will tell businesses a lot about its working style and personality. Ideally, entrepreneurs want to find a firm that matches their organization’s personality so they can easily collaborate and work together throughout the process. Owners can scope out culture by:
Checking the firm out on social media – Do they see a lot of happy faces in their Facebook or Instagram feeds?
Reviewing pages – Do the agency showcase their team’s expertise and talent?
Community involvement – Are they actively involved in their local community?
When individuals meet with their potential site design partners, they will also get a feel for the organization’s culture as well. So they may their clients feel welcome? Do they listen to their client’s ideas? Are they excited about their client’s project? Agency culture is a very important factor when picking an agency. Businesses and their design partners are going to be spending a lot of time working together, so they need to make sure their partner fits their personality and company.
