Advance Agency has been a web design company in London for a while now so we know a thing or two about what to look for. So here are the 8 tips on how you can ensure you choose a company that puts your needs first.
1. Where you find the company is everything
This is a brilliant way to start, think about how you came across this company in the first place. Did you find them on Google, on gumtree, a cold call perhaps, or from a friend recommendation? It matters where you find them. If it was from a cold call a cold email this can sometimes be alarming. They don’t have enough customers that they need to outreach to you. Not to mention you don’t want to go with the web design company that’s brilliant at sales and negotiation on the phone and not brilliant at their own craft. This is why it really matters where you find the company you choose to work with. Where is some credible sources to find a company? Use Google, if they are credible enough how to get to the top of search engines for their respective terms then they’re probably credible enough to handle your project. It’s as simple as that.
2. Make sure you have a big enough budget
If you have a budget £250 or less you’re potentially only going to attract value of £250 or less. This is why your budget matters on your quest for finding a great web designer. It’s not to say that always a more expensive web design company is the best out there. But most of the time it is a key indicator of how credible the company is. If they can have higher prices it means they don’t have to always compromise on price. Therefore providing value in the marketplace.
3. Ask for some reviews
Most companies should have brilliant reviews that they can show you as and when they’re asked. Because if they can’t they probably shouldn’t be in business or are just about getting by. And if that’s the case and they can’t provide these reviews upfront there’s no point risking your hard-earned cash on unqualified web designers. Ask to see their portfolio and look at the type of companies that are dealing with. Normally you can gauge the type of company they are and the type of service they can offer by looking at their existing client base.
4. Inspect their portfolio
As suggested above you should be looking at their portfolio. Take a deeper look into their portfolio, inspect their web pages see how they’ve built these sites for their customers. Maybe ask a friend of yours to check out some of the websites they’ve built and seen what they think. All of this double-checking and cross-referencing enables you to find the best website design talent in the UK.
5. Look at how many people are in the team
Think about this, are you a large business? A small one-man band? Depending on the size of your company and its aspirations you should look for a team that can fulfil those requirements. So do you need just one web designer to take care of the whole project? Or do you need a team of web designers to be able to finish a big project in a short period of time? The real sweet spot for web design company is 5 to 10 employees. This means they’re small enough to understand your requirements and enough in the team finish the project in good time.
6. Ask about their history
A typical question could be “tell me a bit about yourself and your company?”. This way you can gauge whether they’ve just been in business a month or 10 years. And if they give a very generic answer you should push on key questions. Some of these key questions would be:
When did the company start?
What’s your experience in the industry?
7. Ask about their customers
You should find out who are their customers. Finding out their customers allows you to analyse them from a different point of view. Not just analysing their actual web design and development projects. But analysing their credibility in the market place indirectly through their client base. Truly if they aren’t credible themselves they won’t be able to attract and retain credible customers.
8. Ask for past results and successes
You should be asking them on their biggest achievements. Asking these questions, you might think is setting them up to succeed. But if they don’t have clear achievements and successes this means they probably don’t have them and therefore you should avoid them. If they do have clear achievements and clear results this is a good indicator and what you could expect with your own project.
So I hope you found these 8 tips useful and if you employ all of them you’re sure to find the right company for your needs in the UK.