If your business needs a new website or a website redesign, then you’re probably looking for a great website design and development company. But how can you know you’re choosing the right one? It’s all about asking the right questions before you hire anyone. Here are seven questions you’ll want the answers to:
- Who Does the Design and Coding?
Many so-called design companies outsource either their coding or their design — or simply customize existing templates. If you’re truly looking for custom design work, you should make sure you’ll be able to communicate directly with the people doing the bulk of the work on your site.
- What Devices Will My Site Work On?
The key here is to make sure that your site will be mobile compatible. There are numerous reasons to prioritize mobile-friendly design (including search engine optimization), but the simplest is that users have made it clear that’s what they want.
- What Browsers Will My Site Work On?
Make sure your website will work well on all the major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.
- Will There Be an Intuitive CMS?
A content management system, or CMS, will allow you to make updates to your website’s content without knowing how to code. This may be more or less important to you depending on the type of business you own and whether your site will need frequent modifications.
- Do You Have a Marketing Background?
A website may be facilitated by technical knowledge, but it needs to be guided by marketing knowledge — after all, a website is the most powerful marketing tool most businesses have. The design company you end up choosing should have a background in marketing, consumer psychology or something along those lines.
- How Does the Revision Process Work?
You need to know what will happen if you need the website design revised or updated. It’s often worth paying a small monthly fee that will cover this type of maintenance, rather than trying to negotiate it all in the initial design contract.
- Is This Your Full-Time Job?
Web design is a field that currently has a very low barrier to entry, and that means the field is crowded with hobbyists and freelancers looking to make a few extra bucks on the weekends. While that may be an admirable goal, you can’t expect the same level of professionalism or the same timely turnaround you should with a full-service website design and development company. If your website is an integral part of your business — and chances are it is — then you simply can’t afford not to work with a professional web development firm.
Do you have any other advice to share on choosing a website design and development company? Join the discussion in the comments.
