A business’s online presence, regardless of industry, can have a massive impact on its success. In this day and age, some businesses still don’t realize that a majority of their customers will visit their website before making a purchase. Having a strong online presence, particularly a website, can be a make or break for generating more revenue. Yes, the quality of your website impacts results.
1) Experience
One of the first questions to ask a web designer should be if he has experience in building websites that are similar to yours. While this may not seem overly important, if your firm operates in a unique or complex industry, the learning curve required for a redesign partner to get up to speed might be too steep (or costly). Just like hiring an employee who has previously worked in your industry is a benefit.
2) What is your web design and development process
Process plays a major role in the design and development of a website and process can vary greatly from agency to agency. Every digital agency has developed its own internal process that guides its projects and some are better than others. Knowing what the process is, how it gets implemented and how it will ultimately impact you and your project is helpful to understand. It’s also important to know who will be involved in the project and what each person’s role will be.
3) How do you ensure a consistent and useable experience on all device
With few exceptions, responsive web design is the Google-recommended (and industry-recommended) best practice for building a website that is not just mobile-friendly, but “friendly” and optimized to create a consistent and ideal user experience for all devices. Understanding how each firm approaches mobile users and responsive design throughout the entire process will be insightful and perhaps eye-opening.
4) Duration of the project
The length of a website project varies greatly depending on scope, complexity, schedule and both the client and web design partner’s ability to hit deadlines. Based on an understanding of your project needs, a potential web partner should be able to give you an estimate of how long a project like yours typically takes and provide a basic schedule for key project milestones. They should also help you understand what factors can affect the schedule and where issues typically arise.
5) Requirement from the employers
Successful websites are not built independent of the client. And while you are clearly hiring an outside agency to design and build the site, understandably there will be work required on your part to get the project completed. Going in, it’s beneficial to know what will be required of you and your company, from a resources, time commitment and deliverables aspect.
6) Budget
While many firms are hesitant to share budget information with a potential web development partner, it’s useful for them to know for several reasons. Think of it like sharing your budget with a realtor. If they don’t know your budget, they won’t know what kind of house to show you. It’s important to understand whether or not a potential web partner can work with the budget you have and include as many or all of your wish list items within those parameters.
7) Capabilities of your web designer
Websites are arguably the greatest marketing asset that a company possesses. Therefore, selecting a redesign partner that understands marketing at a high level is critical. Also, website redesign projects often involve much more than just web design and web development. In fact, you’ll likely need the services of marketing strategists, content strategists, copywriters, photographers, videographers, etc. It’s essential to hire a firm that has most, if not all, of these capabilities in house and can provide them on an as-needed basis.