 8 Questions You Should Ask When Using a Custom Web Site Design Company
The questions you should ask in looking for in a web site design company.
What You Should Look For in a Web Site Design Company:
Drumroll, please...
01. What Experience Does the Web Site Design Company Have?
Are they new to the game or do they have many years of experience? Experience is king. It translates to good design and functionality practices and no painful mistakes that cost, you the client, time and money. We have over 12 years of combined design experience and that translates into attractive designs and effective websites. This means that your site will have the right font, the right color scheme, ease of use and most importantly will convey the message you desire.
02. Am I comfortable with the Web Design Company?
When you contact the company are the glad to hear from you? Do they seem eager to work with you or does it seem like they the view it as another project in their daily grind? Do they get back to you in a timely manner when you contact them? Do they listen to your business and web design needs?
These are all questions that pertain to customer service, experience, and your comfort level in trusting the firm with something as important as your online business presence.
When in doubt, ask the company for a list of references. Most clients, when contacted, will give you an honest evaluation of the web site design company in question. This will make your decision much easier by putting to rest or reinforcing any nagging doubts you may have had.
If you want to deal with a company that values working with you and views quality customer service as a lifeline of their business, please contact Think Productions today.
03. Is the web design company available and will the website be done in a timely manner?
This ties in with question number two in the sense that its important, as a client, to know that your questions and concerns are going to be responded to in a timely manner. Additionally, you deserve to know that your website isn't getting put on the back burner unreasonably, due to an overwhelming workload, unrelated job issues (such as a 2nd job), or other peripheral occurrances of unorganized businesses.
At Think Productions we pride ourselves on being available to our clients questions and concerns and don't take on projects if we don't feel we can complete them in the timely manner promised the client.
04. Does their portfolio convey quality work?
A web site design company's portfolio is an excellent glimpse into future of your web site. Web design companies take pride in the work they've done and are happy to show it off. Take a look at their work and ascertain what they offer. Are the designs clean, functional, and user-friendly? Are they original designs or are they produced by some template software that the company purchased for a hundred dollars and will amount to a $2000 dollar surprise to you when you see the exact same design somewhere on the internet next month?
We believe that every customer should have a unique, clean, functional, and user-friendly web site that will be a delight to look at and use.
05. Does the company have experience across many design disciplines?
Look for a custom design firm that has experience in many aspects of design (such as, web design, graphic design, flash and motion graphic movies, 3d animation and modelling, print design and product design). This multi-disciplinary approach and versatility provides clients with options to make an informed decision on the best marketing route for their business.
A multi-disciplinary firm that can perform other functions, such as search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising campaigns, copywriting, and database programming, will save you time, money, and possible headaches in the long run.
Think Productions proudly offers all of the above services.
06. Is the web site design company creative and how does it handle its creativity?
A web design firm's creativity is important. You want to select a company that will produce a beautiful and relevant web site for you company and your company's customers.
An important aspect of creativity, though, is its application, in relation to the business objectives of a company and its intended audience. The last thing you want as a business owner is a web designer owner that incessently pushes a site design that doesn't coincide with your vision of your site. This also goes for design aspects that don't add value to your site, such as noisy flash animation intros.
We believe in asking the right questions to ascertain what you as a client want from your site. From there we concoct the perfect mix of creativity and usability to create a site you can't wait to show your clients and business partners. Contact us today to begin the creative process.
07. How will the web design company help make your website accessible to search engines?
During the creation or redesign of a website, a good web site design company will make the site easily accessible to search engines. This involves adding meta tag keywords and phrases and making sure the search engines and their spiders find the content easily and relevant.
Think Productions includes these services free of charge. We always design our web sites with user and search engine accessiblity in mind. Contact us to find out more about search engine optimization and accessibility.
08. Finally, what kind of pricing structure does the web site design company use?
Web site design costs can vary from $500 to thousands of dollars depending on the design and functional complexity of the site. The first step in getting an accurate estimate of the cost of your future site is to sit down and determine what site features you would like your site to have. The next step is to give a design firm like Think Productions a call and talk to them about your goals for the site. After talking with you the design company should give you a project proposal with itemized costs such as initial design fees, web development fees, hosting and domain registration fees, and internet marketing and search engine optimization costs. Many will have separate maintenance fees.
The fees are determined by either hourly rates or on a per project basis. Many will ask for a down payment of one-half or one-third of the overall project costs.
To get started on your web site, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
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