What To Look For When Hiring A Website Design Company

Congratulations on taking the important step of deciding to hire a web designer or creative marketing agency to craft the design of your business website. Now, it's crucial to look for the right company to fulfill this role. This hiring decision holds immense significance as your aim is to establish a solid relationship with the chosen company or individual and provide them with a comprehensive understanding of your business. Just like any successful relationship-building endeavor, effective communication is key. Make sure to ask relevant questions and attentively listen to the answers to ensure a fruitful collaboration.

So what questions should you ask your potential web design team?

1. What services do you offer? - It’s important to know what kind of services your web design or creative marketing company does. Most companies do not limit themselves to just one ability. Find out if the company you’re talking to can assist you with other marketing aspects of your business such as content management, logo branding, design and print, video production and more.
   
2. Do you charge by the hour or by the project? What is included in the price? - Before talking to a design company, you should prepare with an ideal budget and be honest with the company. Design work will vary based on the complexity of your site, the size of the site being designed and the site’s functionality. You should also find out if your firm will offer hosting or maintenance. 
   
3. Do you do the design work? Is the design from scratch or a template? - It’s important to know if the design work is being done in-house or outsourced. Depending on your business you may opt for a custom, unique website or choose a similar method and use a customizable templated site. It’s important to discuss your needs with the designers and come up with a solution that meets the needs of both sides. 
   
4. Can you provide examples of sites you have designed? - Reviewing a sampling of sites will allow you to see the design style, note the performance and study the navigation of a variety of sites. Use these sites to ask your designer about why a design was used and if it worked for that business. 
   
5. What is your turnaround time per project? - The turnaround time is based on the complexity of your site and the scope of work required. It is also based on how quickly you provide your designer with necessary elements for your site. You should discuss a target date with your design team.​​​​​​​
   
6. What do I need to supply to get you started? - Find out from the beginning what will be needed to complete your project. Your creative marketing agency will want to know who your target audience is and what your goals are. What is your current website and social media situation and what are ways you can improve. You should also have logos, fonts, company colors, etc. ready to provide to the team.​​​​​​​
   
7. Who owns the site design when it’s done? - You should find out whether you will own the domain name, website design and hosting account or if the website design company requires your site to be hosted on their servers. You should also ask if your site will need an on-going contract to keep your site live and functioning. ​​​​​​​
   
8. Do you offer maintenance training? - As technology, trends and services change and evolve you may need to make edits to your site. Find out what additional web design and development work will be done on your website and how often updating content can take place. Find out what the prices to update content are for both minor and major changes and find out if you will have access to make any of those changes yourself. 
   

These tips will help you determine if your business is ready to design your company’s website. We would love to discuss your business’s marketing goals more with you and determine a strategic plan to grow your business. Contact Tommy House Studios and let us help you develop a plan to take your business to new heights. Although, we are located in Montgomery, Alabama, Tommy House Studios has clients all over the country. We bring together technology with creativity to enhance the ability of our customers to connect with the world. Call us at 1-877-246-1315 and let us help develop a marketing solution unique for your business.