Ten questions you should ask before choosing a website company
Picking the right website company for your business can be a difficult task - here's a guide of what to look for so you can make the right decision:
What is their portfolio like?
To assess whether the company you are considering will come up with a website you will like (and, more importantly that your customers will like), look at their portfolio of work. You should expect to see at least 10-20 examples to get a good feel of their work. Questions to ask yourself include: Do I like the designs they have done elsewhere? Do all their websites look the same? Have they worked on a similar project to this before? And ask them for examples of websites with similar goals and features.
How big a company are they? And how long have they been in business?
More important considerations are whether they are going to be proactive - and if they can offer a high level of support. Companies that do not provide a landline phone number or an address will almost certainly be harder to contact when you need them the most. Generally speaking small website design companies can be more difficult to get hold of and more unreliable in the long term for support. Similarly very big companies can be hard to deal with if you have many different points of contact or complicated telephone systems to navigate through before you speak to someone.
Will I be able to update the website once it’s built?
Do they offer a content management system’? Being unable to make text changes without sending over the changes to a web designer is time consuming and costly. If they have one – what training do they provide? Is it ongoing or just a one-off?
To find out more about content management click here.
To find out more about JDRs content management click here.
Do they have a documented process to set up the website? Many websites can take months and months to finish, and in some cases never get finished at all. To avoid this ask: What information will they require from you? How much of the process will they do and how much input do they expect from me? How many people will I actually deal with?
How will people find my website once it’s live?
Many web designers are mentioning that they can provide search engine optimisation (SEO) support as well as web design. In truth, few web designers fully understand search engine optimisation, and even fewer would be willing to dedicate the time to optimise your new site through researching appropriate keywords and working on link building. In short, if they mention SEO take a look in the search engines for yourself.
What kind of ongoing support and service do they provide?
It’s all very well having a website designed at a great price but if the after-sales support leaves something to be desired then you haven’t got a good deal. Find out exactly what advice, support, and maintenance they will provide.
Can they help with my other marketing? Web designers will usually design your company logo but find out whether they can design your other marketing material as well, such as leaflets and letterheads. But as well as that, if the website isn’t getting the results you want, what advice can they provide? What is their experience in internet marketing? Can they advise you in other areas of your business?
What is your approach to usability? Asking about usability will help you understand the company's focus-namely, whether or not they have the most important thing in mind: the visitor. A company without a good answer to this may build a site that they like, or one that you like, but that visitors find confusing or difficult to use. You want a web-design firm that thinks at the highest level: user-centered design.
To get a FREE report on the 11 most common website mistakes click here.
Do I have rapport with them? This is very important. The relationship with your web designers is likely to be a long one so it’s vitally important that you get on well with each other.
