Are you wondering how to find a great web design company? You’re not alone with this puzzling dilemma. We’re here to help with this problem. Here are 6 tips for finding a better web design company.
- Know What Services You Need
Do you need graphical design or are you supplying the logos in a high-quality digital format? Will they be hand-coding the site or using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal? Will the CMS be suitable for your needs? Can they justify why they’re choosing to use one CMS over another? Is it just because one is a core competency and the other they don’t know how to use it yet?
- Know Your Budget
Budgets are tricky things. While prospective clients feel like if they state their budget upfront, they’ll get ripped off, the reality is totally different. Every web design company has a pricing structure and a price range where they can offer different services. However, they cannot go below a certain cost or they’ll never stay in business or make a profit.
As the client, you may want to say that you don’t have a budget in mind, but reality is that you do. You know how much too much and how much is will seem too little for web design services; so, you actually do have a budget.It’s a good idea to be straightforward with a company. So, ask them what they can do for your budget. Alternatively, if you’re only looking for a basic 5-page website, then ask for a quote based on that and compare the price with your budget. It depends how large of a site you need.
- Know How Many People They Have Working at their Company
A web design company can have a large site but be a one-person operation. Alternatively, they can have a small office with a team of five people including a designer, a programmer, an SEO specialist, a video producer and a project manager. When they’re working alone, they’ll likely have to outsource some parts of a site’s development – certainly for specialist tasks like SEO or video production – because they cannot hope to cover everything.
One of the benefits of dealing with a solopreneur or a smaller operation is a personalized service. They also likely won’t have the operating expenses of a larger competitor. Some companies like tricity web solutions are also completely virtual or most of the staff is co-workers in which case their cost structure is much lower and that should be obvious in their pricing model.
- Know Their Core Competencies
What does the web design company do best? Ask them. Look at their portfolio to see what aspects of design they do well and what parts aren’t their best strength. Think about what kind of website you need and whether their strengths and weakness work for the kind of site you require.
- Know the Platform Your Site Will Use
Will your site just be hand-coded with HTML, use WordPress or Drupal or Magento, or another platform? The choice of this determines how you’ll access and update the site after they’re finished designing and launching it.
- Know If They’ll Provide SEO Services Too
If you want SEO services, do they provide them in-house, outsource them or recommend a partner as a referral? There are pros and cons to buying SEO services from a web design company. Some people prefer to have everything under one roof for simplicity.
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