what to knowYour business’ online presence is one of the most essential ingredients in establishing your identity. Therefor, it is crucial that you give serious consideration to not only your website’s design and development, but the team that is going to help you accomplish it successfully. When you trust this responsibility to a website design agency you’re entrusting them with your business reputation. It pays to ask the right questions when deciding which agency you’ll use.

1. How are their web design services priced?

When you use a professional agency, you’re hiring a dedicated team that should be able to guide you through the entire process start to finish. Most web development projects are priced based on the scope of the project. Find out if their prices are based on the project, charged by the hour, or some other method.

2. What is their history?

You want to know not only what kind of clients they have but the kind of results they have delivered. Can they provide you with proof of their claims and how many of their clients are still working with them?

3. What kind of results do they promise?

A well designed website should generate business and increase your profits. Find out what their process it to help reduce the bounce rate of your site and how they measure traffic that visits your site. It’s always a plus when an agency can provide visible access to this information.

4. What type of services do they provide?

Choosing a web design company that can handle your entire project from start to finish is the best thing you can do. This should include, planning, design, development, and marketing. Find out about their systems integration custom web projects that can deal with potential problems and advanced coding needs you may have in the future.

5. How are they qualified?

You want an agency that is an industry leader and is well known for their past works. Do they have credentials that show their skill and expertise?

6. Will they build your new site from scratch or from a template?

If you’re looking for your business to stand out from the crowd you want a design that will set you apart. A custom website design won’t look like a cookie cutter template that someone slapped your logo and images into. A custom website can be the difference between simply having a website and have a site that build your brand.

7. How will they accommodate the need for changes on your site?

A well designed site should incorporate an intuitive content management system giving you the ability to make changes in editing text, graphics, and making additions when needed. If you need more pages or anything else you should be able to do that without having to go to a third party to get it done.

8. Will my site be mobile-friendly?

Having a mobile site is no longer optional. If your site isn’t mobile friendly, then your business isn’t being very customer friendly. A good web design agency will consider the website’s final appearance from many different angles so that the visitor will not be frustrated when using it.

9. How long will it take?

While there are several factors that could impact how long it takes to develop a site, your web team should have a pretty realistic timeline for how long it will take to fulfill the project scope. On average, it can take from 60-90 days from start to finish.

10. What are their references?

Always check references to make sure that you’re dealing with a reliable and reputable company. This should include links to websites they have designed so that you can see working examples of their capabilities.

Your website is an investment, so keep in mind that designing a new website typically goes one of two ways; efficiently and effectively or it can leave you unhappy and finding a new designer. Hopefully, these questions will help you avoid the latter.