About 38% of people will stop interacting with your website if it’s designed poorly. In fact, these visitors will judge your website and business based on a glance, too. If you’re not investing in professional website design, you could lose customers.
Need help designing a business website this year? Here are a few tips to help you pick website design companies. With professional help, you can wow your customers before converting visitors into leads and sales.
Turn your website into a valuable marketing tool with these tips for finding a web design company today!
Outline Your Needs
Before rushing to find, interview, and pick between web design companies, take a second to outline your distinct goals. What do you want to accomplish by updating your website? Think about your needs versus wants as you build your list.
For example, maybe your goals involve:
- Improving search engine rankings
- Showcasing your products or services
- Adding e-commerce capabilities to your site
- Generating more leads and sales
- Gaining email subscribers
- Informing and educating your audience
- Generating brand awareness, recognition, and trust
Once you outline your needs and expectations, you can determine what web design services you need.
For example, if you want to generate sales through your website, you’ll know to find an agency with e-commerce services.
If you want to improve your search engine rankings, you need to find an agency that understands search engine optimization (SEO). You’ll also need to make sure they can design your website with technical SEO and Google’s Core Web Vitals in mind.
As you interview different web design companies, make sure to talk about your goals. Ask each agency how they’ll help you accomplish the goals on your list. If they can’t provide recommendations, keep searching.
If they try to push you on services you don’t need, remove them from your list and find another agency. Choose a team that will develop a plan based on your distinct needs.
Gather Referrals and Reviews
To start building a list of available web design agencies, turn to other business owners within your professional network. Ask if they can recommend a web design agency. If they can, make sure to check out their company’s website.
As you start gathering referrals from other business owners, ask about their experience working with the design team. For example, you can ask:
- Was the team professional and experienced
- How long has the company operated
- What services do they offer
- Are you satisfied with your website
- Did you encounter any problems
- Would you hire them again
- What was their design process like
If you’re unable to gather referrals from other business owners, check online for reviews instead. Reading online reviews can help you determine which agencies to trust or avoid.
Check the agency’s website, BBB listing, and Google Business profile for reviews.
Look for comments about the company’s responsiveness and professionalism. If you find an abundance of negative reviews for the company, remove them from your list.
Check for Experience
Before you pick between web design companies, determine how long they’ve been designing business websites. Look for a design team with years of hands-on experience.
A team with years of web design experience will have an easier time meeting your needs and expectations. A team that’s new to the industry, however, might make mistakes. There’s a chance they lack an efficient plan for helping clients, too.
While a new team might need to get their footing in the industry, an experienced team can streamline the process for you.
Think about your needs and goals. For example, maybe you need a mobile-friendly or a site with eCommerce abilities. Perhaps you’re looking for someone with raffle web design experience instead.
Make sure someone on the team has years of experience and expertise relevant to those needs.
Determine if the agency has helped clients within your niche, too. A team with experience helping businesses within your industry will understand your goals and customers. They could have an easier time creating a website that helps you stand out from competing brands as well.
Review Their Work
It’s not enough to find a company with years of experience designing websites. Instead, look for proof. Ask each company if they can provide a portfolio of their work.
Make notes on what you like versus dislike about each website. Look for sites that are similar to what you hope your website to look like, too. Does the agency’s work meet your expectations?
If they fail to meet your standards, keep searching.
Check for Additional Services
Ask each agency if they offer any additional digital marketing services.
For example, they might offer web hosting, SEO services, or web development services.
Find an agency that offers a range of the different services you need. You won’t have to hire multiple businesses to improve your website. Instead, you can rely on a single team to accomplish your goals.
Ask About Their Process
Ask each website design company about their process, too.
For example, what do they need from you to get started? The company should take the time to learn about your customers, industry, and business. They should learn about your brand to maintain brand consistency across your site as well.
Learning about the company’s process can help you determine if they’re organized and efficient. If they don’t have a plan in place, take your website needs elsewhere.
Compare Fees
Ask more than one company you talk to about their fees. Get an itemized list of the additional services they offer as well. Then, compare your options and find a company that will work based on your web design budget.
Don’t make the mistake of choosing the cheapest option, though. Instead, choose a company that can meet your needs!
Design It Right: Simplify How to Pick Website Design Companies Today
Learning how to pick website design companies shouldn’t feel time-consuming or complicated. Instead, use these tips to narrow down your options. Choosing the right company can ensure they create a website that aligns with your overall goals.
Start searching with these tips today.
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