As businesses wake up to the fact that they need a strong online presence, the demand for web design and marketing agencies has increased. With so many web agencies out there, all claiming to bring you success on the web, it is extremely difficult to choose one for your business.
To help you try and narrow your choice a little, we’ve picked five of our top tips for choosing a web design agency.
Do some digging
Try to do some research on the agencies that you’re considering, to see what kind of clients they’ve worked with before.
This kind of information will usually be available on their website and gives you some indication of the level of client they work with.
You should then check out the sites themselves that the company have worked on to see the agency’s work first hand, and test out whether it delivers a good user experience.
Also, consider how long the agency has been working. While a more experienced agency isn’t necessarily a better one, it does suggest that they’re doing something right!
We spoke to Kendal-based Digitaloft who said: “We would recommend getting a few examples of your agency’s work, and asking yourself how you feel as a user.
“Does it look good? Is it easy to use? Does it make you trust the company/brand? These are all questions you should ask yourself before placing your trust in an agency.”
Get a phone number
One of the biggest problems clients find they have with agencies is struggling to get someone to answer their queries.
If an agency simply provides you with an email address, your emails and concerns are much likely to be forgotten about and sink to the bottom of the pile.
On the other hand, a phone number means that you’ll be put through to a real person who will be able to keep you up to date on the job.
Consider the staff
While a bigger agency isn’t necessarily always the best option it does give you more resources at your disposal.
This will be dependent on your budget and the size of your business, and while it’s better to know that there are plenty of staff to pick things up if someone is off, a smaller team can also have its benefits.
Smaller teams are more likely to take more individual care over your site and you can build up a closer relationship with them so that you can have more of an input over the job.
This is why it’s also important to make sure that you actually get on with the people that you’ll be dealing with.
Your relationship with your web development team should be a two-way partnership and they should be approachable and to the point without any jargon!
Find out if work is outsourced
Some agencies are known to outsource some or all of their design work, so make sure to find out what will be carried out in-house and make sure to meet the team that will be working on your site.
If your work is going to be outsourced, this raises worries about quality control, so make sure to find out who will be doing the work and try to get a contact number.
Hiring an outsourced web developer isn’t ideal but check out this post from Forbes on how to survive the process!
Read the small print
As with anything you should make sure that you know exactly what you’re agreeing to. Get an in detail proposal before any work commences. Make sure that it contains are no hidden fees in the small print.
If you’re going to need the agency to help manage and maintain the site, make sure to check how much this will cost too.
Hopefully, your web design agency should be transparent and upfront about these kind of things, but if not make sure to ask lots of questions.