Web Site Design: Choosing The Right Web Development Agency
You want a new web site design, or an upgrade. Your choice of supplier could literally make or break your business. But how do you look for a suitable supplier. Not just a 'quick fix' but a true partner who will enhance your online team for years? A business that understands everything from graphics and web applications to sophisticated online databases and membership sites…
Here are the key steps:
1. Write your web site design brief 2. Shortlist a few potential suppliers - local is often best 3. View their websites 4. Meet them 5. Invite proposals 6. Choose your new web design partner
Write your web site design brief
Tempting though it is to start approaching suppliers at once, take time to consider your requirements prepare a project brief. It needn't be a massive tome, but it should be carefully considered. Investing a few hours now will repay you later.
Shortlist a few possible web site design partners
Start with a web search. Launch Google and look for 'web site design' with your geographical area of choice, be it 'Gloucestershire', 'South West' or something else. Tempting though it is to go for super-cheap offers from distant, perhaps overseas, businesses, think carefully about the possible disadvantages of remote working…
The advantages of keeping business local
Although the Internet makes remote working easy, there's still no substitute for face-to-face contact between you and your web development agency. And that's a lot easier if you aren't at opposite ends of the country! If you're like many web site design clients you'll enjoy the benefits of a local, or at least regional, partner.
Email and SKYPE are great for day-to-day interactions but meeting in person is also invaluable. People buy people. You and your supplier will almost certainly build a stronger partnership if you're close to each other. What's more, discussions often go better over coffee and a chat - especially where you're communicating complex ideas or 'sparking off' each other creatively. If you're in Aberdeen and your web site design company is in Bristol this may not be easy or cost-effective…
There are also strong economic arguments for keeping business local - perhaps you already emphasise this when selling to your customers? Why be different with your web site design company?
View prospective suppliers' own websites
Next, view prospective suppliers' websites and see where they appear in Google results. Can they 'walk the SEO and SEM walk' as well as talking the talk? Look at their existing clients' sites too. Whether they're simple brochure sites, membership sites or elaborate ecommerce sites driven by online databases, are they easy to use, fast loading and with well-written content? Can you easily find information you want about their services, people and client portfolio?
Time to meet
If you like what you see, give the company a call, ask some questions and see if the chemistry feels good. Next, it's time to meet, and this is where geography comes into play. You could ask prospective suppliers to visit you - and this may be right for a first meeting. However, there's lots in favour of visiting their offices. Meeting a team at home can be a real eye opener.
Invite web site design proposals and choose your new partner
Based on your meetings and website brief, the next stage usually involves submission of proposals. Then it's over to you to make your choice, start your new web site design partnership and feel good about supporting your local economy.
About the Author
Graham Baylis has been involved in the Internet since 1995 and has seen the changes that dynamically driven website pages have made. Today, websites can be very complex things indeed, which is why Evergreen Computing's skill in producing striking, well constructed database driven sites is so very important. For more of their work see http://evergreencomputing.com
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