8 things to look for when choosing a web design agency

Having made up your mind it’s time to build a business website, how’s your hunt for a web designer coming along?

Like most people, I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy.

One of the hardest parts of creating a website is finding the right web design agency to work with.

There are just so many of them out there nowadays, which makes it difficult for potential site owners to decide on which one is best for their business.

The good news?

This guide will help you through the decision process.

If an agency checks all the boxes in this guide, then they’re good to go. But if not, you may want to continue with your search.

Features of a good web design agency

1. They follow your ideas

2. They have a marketing/SEO department

3. They understand both global and local web design

4. They don’t compromise with CMS

5. They have live website samples

6. They know and understand the importance of mobile responsiveness

7. They know what’s needed to guarantee conversion

8. They keep up with modern design trends

They follow your ideas

Many a time, the reason why a web design agency might try to convince you to do things differently from what you have in mind is because they don’t think they can do what you’re asking.

A good web design agency should be able to dance to the tune of their client, regardless of how difficult or challenging their demands are.

So, if they’re telling you “let’s do this instead of that,” it’s most likely because they can’t do it. And if at all you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, ask them why they think things should be done differently.

They have a marketing/SEO department

A web design agency without a marketing/SEO department in this age is like an airplane without an engine.

As much as you want your website to look its best, you also want a guarantee that that website will rank on search engine pages.

And the only person that can offer you this guarantee is someone in a marketing/SEO team. A web developer might do the building, the designer might work on the user interface, but it’s someone with the SEO experience that will combine all to rank the pages on the SERPs.

They understand both global and local web design

If you’re targeting local audiences, you need to look for a designer that’s known for helping small, local businesses. This type of designer most likely knows all about local SEO and what it takes for a site to gain relevance locally.

If you’re targeting the whole world, however, then you need a designer that has a reputation for building sites that are of global standards.

They don’t compromise with CMS

A designer that’s telling you to build a static HTML website is certainly not of this age. In today’s disposition, content management is king, and anything relating to your website has to be done with this in mind. Otherwise, you may have to keep updating your site every day of the week.

Any modern web design agency is more or less familiar with all the major content management systems (CMS) that are there, such as WordPress, Magento, Drupal, etc,

They have live website samples

It’s just commonsensical to ask someone for their previous works before trusting them with your own project.

But in the case of web design you aren’t just asking to see their works; you should be testing their works.

Visit their live sites and click around.

For example, if you aren’t able to tell whether their UX is great or not, you can seek the opinion of someone who knows more about web designing, and most importantly user experience (UX).

They know and understand the importance of mobile responsiveness

For today’s internet users, desktop computers are a secondary means of accessing the internet. The primary means is mobile – that is, smartphone and tablets.

So when designing your site, this should be the benchmark too – that is, your site has to be designed with mobile responsiveness in mind, otherwise your business won’t be optimized for mobile searches.

A good way to know what a web design company feels about mobile responsiveness is to check out a few of the live websites they’ve created for clients on mobile phones!

They know what’s needed to guarantee conversion

At the end of the day, the aim of creating a website is to expose your business to a whole new set of audience and increase sales.

If a design company isn’t able to guarantee you this or at least tell you what they’re going to do to ensure the website converts, then it’s probably best looking for another agency.

A good web designer should be able to show you facts (how previous clients are converting), figures (expected number of visitors and sales conversion), and methods (landing pages, Call-to-Action {CTA}, etc.) to prove that their work will generate sales or leads for you.

They keep up with modern design trends

The world of web design is constantly changing. And every day, new designs, elements, and styles are hitting the market.

To make sure you won’t be missing out on latest trends, you should look for a design company whose live sites boast some of the trendiest design features.

Nowadays, features such as parallax scrolling, flat design, mobile responsiveness, site map, social media integration, and a dozen of other styles and elements are the new normal!

PRO TIP: Not sure where to find a web designer that ticks all these boxes? You can check out the Sitecenter website!

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes