5 Tips to Choose a Great Web Design Agency

To grow and thrive in the modern business world, it has become imperative for brands to have their own websites. However, it isn’t enough just to have a website, you also need to ensure that the site is well-designed and maintained.

Establishing a well-optimized website that ranks well isn’t a one-man job. You need a coordinated team of programmers, web designers, content writers, and marketers. And this is where web design agencies come in.

However, not all web design agencies are created the same, and a key challenge for most business owners is knowing how to go about choosing the right web design agency. In this article, we The Mesa Crew, a Mesa web design company, are going to take a look at some of the most important things to look out for when choosing a web design agency.

1. The technology your website will use

This is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a vendor. Keep in mind that different content management systems have different features, benefits, and downsides. The type of CMS utilized will determine the difficulty of the task. At The Mesa Crew, a Mesa web design company, we are able to achieve business websites that generate profits by focusing on sophisticated sites that are fully optimized with business features and functionality.

The right content management system should be a good fit for your marketing stack. Our team delivers this by setting up a seamless solution that will cater to most of the business challenges that you may face.

To avoid locking yourself in too much of a niche group of vendors, you should consider going for open source technologies. This way you will give your business the freedom to choose from a broader range of providers to collaborate with.

2. The expected timeline for your project

You will find many freelancers out there who are highly talented at what they do. However, this might be of little help to you if they have loads of active projects that they are working on. You need to consider whether you have the budget to have your project prioritized and completed within the expected quality guidelines.

To get an idea of how long it might take to complete your project, consider asking the service provider how long it took them to complete a project similar to yours. In case your project has a tight deadline, you need to find out how much it will cost you to have the project expedited. This will be crucial in dealing with a freelancer with a lot of projects.

Bonus advice: You need to be very careful when dealing with providers who are only telling you what you want to hear. Keep in mind that complex programming projects often take time to complete. To get you to do business with them, many providers will quote an unreasonably fast turnaround time in situations where quality design and coding work would require much more time. As a result, your project may suffer poor execution, production errors, and missed items from your specifications.

3. Web design and user experience strategy

Your website shouldn’t just be a visual representation of your company. You need to ensure that all the web pages are optimally designed to help your business generate more sales and collect visitor information for the purposes of growth and expansion.

To establish an effective web design strategy, the business needs to have reliable demographic data. If your business primarily targets the younger population, your web design should focus on fun imagery that they are familiar with and colors that appeal to them.

Other important web design features to consider in your project specifications include the presence of a  landing page for paid traffic and a well-designed lead magnet page to bring in new email newsletter subscribers. You also need to consider how items will be arranged in your navigation bar and the type of content that will go into a sidebar of your blog. Putting all these factors into consideration will help to determine how the design team will handle the project going forward.

4. Properly review your project specification

Generally, when it comes to website development and programming projects, if an item isn’t mentioned in the quote, it will most probably not be addressed. This means that even the smallest items that were left out in the quoting process may be left unfinished depending on the provider. This is particularly true for low-cost projects.

Many service providers will want to protect their hours, especially if they are handling many projects. So, if you fail to include a certain feature in your project specifications, you might end up having to pay more for it to be addressed than you would have if it had been clearly indicated in the project specification.  Thus, it is important to ensure proper planning and clear project specification to avoid unnecessary additional expenses.

Keep in mind that even the details for something that’s seemingly minor can get out of hand and result in an unfinished project or unsatisfactory results for both sides. But through careful planning and clear project specifications, such situations can be avoided. Productive relationships can only be achieved when each side has a clear understanding of the exact expectations and responsibilities of each side. Basically, you stand a better chance of success in your project when there is proper planning as well as clearly defined and written specifications.

5. Chemistry with the team

Once you are satisfied with the provider’s portfolio, the technology that your website will utilize, and the technical specifications, you need to establish whether the company and staff are a good fit for you and your business. Are they friendly and welcoming? Do they respond to their questions and concerns in a timely manner? Are they invested in the overall success of your project? These are some of the key things that you need to look out for to determine whether the provider is actually serious and is dedicated to customer satisfaction or just wants a quick paycheck.