Are you struggling to generate leads and sales through your company website? You might want to look at your design and development. Your website could end up scaring customers away or help draw more paying customers in.
In fact, design has a 75% influence on your credibility. Without credibility, consumers might not trust your business. If they can’t trust you, they likely won’t shop from you, either.
Two out of three people prefer reading beautifully-designed content. It’s not enough to have eye-catching pages, though. In fact, slow websites lead to a $2.6 billion loss in revenue each year.
With an experienced website design and development agency at your side, you can create a website that will wow your target audience. Then, you can generate more leads and sales to improve your ROI. Your website could set your business up for long-term growth and success.
Not sure which web design and development agency to hire? Here are 10 questions to ask before making your final choice.
Asking these questions will help you find a team with the experience, expertise, and services you need. Once you improve your website, you can use it as an essential marketing tool.
Set your business up for lasting growth. Discover how to find the best design and development team by asking these questions today.
1. How Will You Accomplish My Goals?
Before you sit down and interview a website design and development agency, take a moment to outline your goals. What do you want to accomplish through your business website? Consider how you’ll use it as part of your overall marketing strategy.
Understanding your goals will help you find a design and development team that can accomplish those goals. Otherwise, you could choose a team that lacks the expertise or services you need.
Think in terms of both short- and long-term.
For example, you might want to start by improving the appearance of your website. Perhaps you want to implement the latest design trends. Maybe you’ve updated your branding and want your site to reflect your brand guidelines.
Maybe you’re more concerned about mobile optimization, speed, and your search engine rankings.
Long-term, you might want to focus on:
- Establishing your credibility
- Positioning yourself as an industry thought leader
- Generating more website traffic
- Generating brand awareness and recognition
- Gaining more leads and sales
- Building an email subscription list
- Improving search engine rankings
- Building brand trust and loyalty
- Improving your ROI
If you want to generate more sales on your website, look for an agency that offers eCommerce services.
To improve your search engine rankings, you’ll need search engine optimization (SEO) services. You might want to look for an agency that offers copywriting services, too.
Improving your search engine rankings can boost your credibility and help you generate more website traffic. You’ll have an easier time building brand awareness and recognition as well. SEO could help you accomplish multiple goals.
Once you determine your goals, ask each agency how they’ll help you achieve those goals. If they’re not sure how to help, choose someone else.
If the agency doesn’t ask about your goals at all, they might use a cookie-cutter approach when updating your website. Choose a team that can meet your needs and expectations every step of the way.
2. How Long Have You Worked in the Industry?
If you want to find the best agency, look for a team with years of hands-on, relevant experience.
Learn more about each company’s professional history. First, determine when the business began operating. If you’re hiring a digital marketing agency, determine how long they’ve offered website services.
Try to find a long-established business with a team that’s worked together for some time. These teams likely have a plan in place. They’ll know how to work efficiently without using a cookie-cutter approach.
Their prior experience can ensure you receive the best possible services, too.
A new business, on the other hand, might still need to get its footing. The team might still need to learn how to work as a unit as well. Newer businesses might use you as a guinea pig to determine the best procedure, too.
Determine who will end up working on your website. How long have they worked in website design and development? How many websites have they worked on over the years?
If you’re interested in additional services, determine how long the company has offered those services, too. Remember to find a team that has the experience and expertise you need.
Otherwise, they might struggle to accomplish your goals moving forward.
3. Have You Helped Businesses Like Mine?
It can also help to find a team with experience relevant to your business. Have they helped an agency in your industry in the past? If so, ask how they helped that client accomplish their goals.
Learn as much as you can about the agency’s experience when working with that client, too.
For example, what services did the client request? How was the agency able to improve the client’s website?
Finding a website design and development agency with experience helping businesses like yours could improve the outcome of your project. These companies will have a better understanding of your industry. They’ll know which design trends are relevant to your type of business, too.
They’ll also have a better understanding of your services, customers, and competitors.
You can rely on their previous experience and expertise when making design choices for your website.
If you can, find a website agency that specializes in helping businesses like yours. Choosing an agency with relevant experience will give you peace of mind. You can feel confident in their abilities to help your business.
4. Can You Provide Referrals?
Ask each agency for references and reviews. Try to speak with three of their recent clients. Otherwise, visit the company’s BBB and Google My Business profiles for online reviews.
Reading reviews will help you find an agency with a strong reputation in the industry.
5. What Services Do You Offer?
Remember, you might find you need more than website design and development services. Look into the other services the agency can offer. Their additional services could help you accomplish your overall marketing goals.
UX Design
First, ask each agency if they can design your website following user experience (UX) design trends.
About 70% of online businesses fail due to bad usability. Nearly 90% of shoppers won’t return to a website after a bad experience. Improving the UX on your website can encourage visitors to explore your content and offerings.
If they leave without clicking around, it could hurt your bounce rate.
A higher bounce rate can cause your search engine rankings to drop. When consumers search for your product or service online, your website might not appear. Creating a positive UX, on the other hand, can help boost your rankings.
Make sure the agency can optimize your website for mobile devices, too. Bad mobile optimization annoys nearly 50% of consumers.
Otherwise, make sure your website is fast and secure. Consumers don’t want to wait for pages to load. They might leave your website without exploring if your site lags.
SEO
If you’re interested in improving your search engine rankings, look for an agency that offers SEO services.
About 70% of online experiences start on a search engine like Google. Higher rankings can help you generate brand awareness and website traffic. In fact, SEO drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media.
SEO leads also have a 14.6% close rate.
Social and Search Advertising
Otherwise, consider social and search advertising services. You can create eye-catching visual ads for Facebook, Instagram, or Google. Your ads will direct consumers to landing pages on your website.
Your website design and development team can help you create dedicated landing pages for your ad campaigns.
Social Media Marketing
Perhaps you’re interested in social media marketing instead. Look for an agency that can offer graphic design and social media services. They can create eye-catching posts that you can use to attract new clients.
Make sure the supplemental services you choose align with your overall marketing goals.
6. Can You Provide Case Studies?
Ask each agency if you can see case studies to evaluate their work. For example, you can determine if they helped a client generate website traffic over time.
For social and search advertising services, review website visitors, leads, sales, and the cost-per-acquisition.
Think about your goals and the key performance indicators to want to track. Reviewing previous case studies can help you determine if the agency can accomplish those goals.
7. Can I See Your Recent Projects?
Make sure to review each agency’s website design and development portfolio. Visit some of the websites they’ve worked on in the past. If they’ve worked on a site for a similar business, visit that one first.
Are you impressed by their design and development abilities? Does the website meet your expectations?
If not, scratch that agency off your list.
Reviewing their previous projects can help you determine if they’re the right team for the job.
8. What’s Your Process Like?
Nearly 40% of consumers will stop interacting with a poorly designed website. Over 38% judge a business based on how their website looks at a glance. Make sure the agency you choose can meet your needs and expectations.
Take the time to ask each agency you interview about their process. How will they design a website with your distinct goals in mind?
Remember, they should start by asking about your goals. If they don’t determine your goals, they could create a cookie-cutter website. Your website could fall into the background.
You might struggle to impress customers as a result.
Understanding your goals will help the website design and development team determine what elements your site needs. For example, let’s say you want to generate more leads and sales. They can focus on creating more conversion opportunities across your site.
They might add a chatbot, eye-catching buttons, and new forms across your site.
Perhaps you want to use your website for social and search advertising. The agency should take the time to gather keyword and audience research. Otherwise, your ads and landing pages might not align with the consumer’s needs.
If you want to boost your credibility, the team should add customer reviews to your site. Reviews can show on-the-fence consumers that others have trusted you in the past.
Learning more about the agency’s process will help you determine if they have the abilities to accomplish your goals. It can also help you determine if the team is efficient and organized. If they don’t have a process in place, take your business elsewhere.
Otherwise, they might waste your time and money on inefficient practices.
9. How Will We Communicate?
Ask each agency how they’ll keep you informed about the progress of your website once they get started. How often will you communicate? Will they email or call you?
Determine how often you can view the progress of your website, too.
Catching issues early on in the process can help you avoid lengthy edits at the tail end.
For example, the design team might create a wireframe you can review before they start designing. You can make adjustments to the blueprints before they bring your website design ideas to life.
If you request services like SEO or social and search advertising, make sure to check in with the team more often. You’ll need to review the progress of your campaigns. Otherwise, the agency might blow through your budget before you realize it’s happened.
10. How Do You Determine Pricing?
Ask at least three different companies on your list for a quote. Determine how they calculate their pricing, too. If you’re requesting supplemental services, get an itemized list of short- and long-term prices.
For example, you might pay a one-time fee for them to set up your social and search advertising campaigns. Then, they might charge you a monthly fee for updating and optimizing your ads.
Are you requesting ongoing website maintenance and hosting services? Determine if you’ll pay a one-time or monthly fee, too.
Get everything you discuss in writing to avoid any potential disputes.
Designed Right: How to Hire the Best Website Design and Development Agency
Take the time to ask these 10 questions before hiring a website design and development agency. Then, review your notes. Choose the agency with the expertise, experience, and services you need.
With their help, your website can become an effective marketing tool for your business.
Searching for an experienced, talented marketing agency you can depend on? We’re here to help.
Contact our team today to get started.
