Having a company website is a necessary marketing tool in today’s world. Your website is your most important sales tool. It’ll be the base of everything else you do. If you plan on building a company website the task can either be a stress free or a stress filled activity! Here are the top 10 questions to ask when hiring a web designer.
- How long have you or your company been in business and can you provide references/feedback/case studies? Building or updating a website is an investment in your business and sometimes a hefty one. Look for longevity and reliability in the individual and/or company. Ask to see case studies, client testimonials and websites they have built.
- How is the pricing broken up? Is it payable all in one slab? Or is it broken down into payment stages?
- Is the Content Management System the website being built on, the companies own product, or will it be transferrable in case of emergency/you don’t wish to partner with that web designer anymore.
- Where will the website be hosted? A reliable hosting company is vital to your customers having 24/7 access to your website. The size of the hosting plan required will depend on the amount of web site traffic you expect to generate. Find out how much downtime the host experiences. A higher percentage of downtime will leave current and potential customers frustrated and reflect negatively on your business.
- Can you explain your design process? Have the designer or firm provide you with a documented outline of what it will take to complete the project from start to finish. Having systems and processes in place demonstrates consistency, reliability and quality. Determine who owns the design files. If for some reason you decide to fire the web designer or they go out of business, you will have to begin the process from scratch if you do not own the design files.
- Will my website be mobile friendly? According to an article written by William A. Beachy on the Huffington Post, over 50% of consumers view websites on mobile devices, such as phones and tablets. It’s important that your website responds to the smaller dimensions of such devices.
- Who will be writing the content? Content strategy addresses the why, where, who, what and how of your business, providing a framework for the designer to effectively intertwine content and design for spectacular results. Is the copy included? Will it be unique? Or will you need to get a copywriter?
- Will my website have a warranty? Sometimes bugs or defects are not apparent until the website goes live. If your designer offers a warranty, find out how long the warranty is and what it specifically covers.
- Who will be updating the website’s foundations and what will it cost? If you’re purchase a WordPress website the updates must not be missed. Who will do these? Who will doing the monthly backups?
- What’s the strategy after we go live? The launching of a website marks the beginning of a process and not the end. Will we be doing email marketing? Content Marketing? Creating Lead Pages for paid traffic strategies?
For the answers to these questions or any others you may have, please contact us. We would love to partner with you in assessing your website needs.
