Your website is one of your business’s most important digital assets, and choosing the right agency to develop your site can be an exhausting task. This is especially true if you know nothing about what qualities matter when deciding who to partner with. No matter how knowledgeable you are about website design or what you want your website to achieve, it’s a decision that should not be taken lightly.
If you’ve found an impressive website portfolio and want to meet with an agency for your website needs, keep this checklist of questions in mind to find out if they are the right place to create your website.
Do They Stay on Top of the Latest Digital Trends?
The web is continually changing, and your website needs to be able to withstand these trends as they come and go. Web agencies should be able to build your site to match what’s currently essential for websites and foresee where the trends are going. An outdated website will stick out like a sore thumb, but not in a good way; it could have a negative impact on your website’s search rankings and bounce rate.
Take responsive design as an example. If your website currently cannot size itself to fit the screen it’s being viewed on; it will have a tremendous impact on the user experience. Any top web agency knows this is now a website requirement, and they should embrace the newest trends as they come.
Do They Stick Their Branding in Their Footer?
When you check out web agencies’ portfolios, check out the sites they’ve built and scroll to the footer. Do they link back to themselves at the bottom of those websites? If so, you should pass on them being your web developer. If you’re spending the money to have your website be yours, your web agency shouldn’t use it to promote themselves more.
Is Their Website Process Tried and True?
The process of creating a website concept to executing it is a lot of work. From defining your website’s pages and wireframing to gathering your assets and copywriting, it’s a tedious process for a reason; it needs to meet your goals and search engine’s goals.
Make sure the web agency you work with has a tried-and-true process and presents a detailed timeline as to when each step is to be completed. With both of these components in place, your project will be well-organized and streamlined.
Take a look at our process as an example. As you can see, we’ve laid out everything needed to execute your website efficiently.
Do They Make You Host Your Website on Their Server?
Surprisingly, this is a big “check” that many web agencies miss the mark on. Freedom and flexibility are both critical when it comes to your website, and you shouldn’t feel pressured to keep your site on their servers.
Why is this a big deal? If you weren’t entirely satisfied with the process or final product, it makes it difficult for you to cut ties with the agency and could cost you more money. On top of that, if they use a complicated content management system that’s not WordPress to build your website on, it could be very hard for other agencies and/or vendors make changes to it. This could result in spending money to create a new site or just use the one you have.
Do They Offer Ongoing Maintenance Plans?
Once you have a new website, the ball is your court to make sure it’s maintained to protect it from viruses and spam. Even the most advanced sites need maintenance at some point, and if sounds like something that’s a more significant task than you’re ready to handle, seek an agency that offers ongoing maintenance plans. What’s even better is that if they built your website, they would thoroughly understand how to fix any issues that arise. When interviewing potential agencies, talk to them about what they can offer for your site and/or digital marketing needs once the project is complete.
Don’t let your website project fall into the hands of just anybody. Take some time to do your research on web agencies, and you’ll come out with a stunning website worth calling yours.
At GreenMellen, we believe in all of the principles above and would be happy to learn more about your web project. Contact us today and let’s talk about what we can do for your business.
