When it comes to choosing the right web design agency the choices can be endless, there are millions of web designers out there in almost every country around the globe.
There are full time freelancers, apprentices, designers who work full time and freelance in their spare time, small local web design companies, designers who specialise in certain niches such as ecommerce or “websites for accountants” as an example, local web design agencies who offer a full end to end service and even international agencies who are minimum fees start at £100,000 and work with international and public listed companies.
There’s so many to choose from but there are things you can do to help ensure you are giving yourself the best possible chance to find the right web designer for you.
Firstly, ask yourself how important is the project – Is it something you need done as a priority or something a work in progress that will happen in the background? Then ask yourself is important that you sit down with your web developer and run through the project face to face or are you fine working with someone overseas?
When it comes to outsourcing – and by this, we mean sending work overseas to another country that may not have English as their first language – there are a few things you should keep in mind.
English may not be their first language so trying to explain what you want may mean you saying the same thing 10 different ways until they fully understand it.
The quality of their work “beneath the bonnet” may not be great – Visually your website may look great, but when it comes to the code and the backend it may be messy and difficult to decipher meaning you may need a recode in the future.
Reliability may not be what you expect – When you work with a professional web design agency who do this as their full-time business then you expect a level of service. Overseas this may not be the case, especially if you choose an overseas freelancer who does this in his spare time and his project may not be a priority to him and ends up dragging on for months and months costing you more money and stressing you out with a lack of/or poor communication.
Most people think that by going overseas and be charged 50% of what they would in the UK, for example, is a great way to save money. But if your website is expected to bring you in new customers and new sales and you end up being delayed for months then the cost of lost business far outweighs any saving that could have been made.
That’s not to say there are not great overseas web design agencies, as there are, but its worth keeping in mind that cheap overseas freelancers can potentially be a minefield.
So, let’s say you want to work with a local web design agency, where would you start?
Google would be the first part of call.
A simple search for web designer in Birmingham, if you live in Birmingham for example, would be a great place to start, you could also try variations such as web design birmingham, web design agency Birmingham, web design companies in Birmingham and compile a list of the ones that have a message and quality of work that resonates with yourself.
The next step and probably the most important before contacting your chosen web designer is too look for reviews and customer testimonials and even speak with some of their clients to get an understanding of what their strengths are.
Some of the things that you want to look for include comments and feedback about how their websites have helped their clients grow their business – Look out for things that mention an increase in sales, conversions and enquiries as this will show that the web design agency understands the core purpose of a website.
If you are looking to sell your product online, you may be looking for a web design agency that specialises in designing & developing ecommerce websites only.
IF you are estate agent you may want to search for a web design company who only work with estate agents and know all the estate agent software on the market and know how to get properties listed across major platforms.
By choosing someone who specialises in what it is that you do – You get the expert in that field.
You may want a little more and look a for fuller end to end service, you may want a web design agency who not only know how to build websites and has success across the board in many different sectors but also offers complimentary services such as web development, SEO, Social Media Marketing. By working with a web design agency that can offer you an end to end service you get everything you need under one roof and work with a team that will have a clear understanding of all of your online requirements.
Ask about their process – Take the time to understand how they work, how they plan your project, at what points you will need to be involved and importantly what their testing and QA process is.
Take the time to get to know your web design agency before your jump in – It is likely to be a long-term relationship so start slow and small and gradually build up.
