Should I go for the red Ferrari? Or the black?
These are options worth racking your brains over, don’t you think?
It is a criminal waste of time if you are looking at the right agency to take your business online. But it’s also important that you follow a little protocol before you end up hiring a website development agency.
What is this protocol, you ask?
Well, it is nothing more than a list of 8 simple steps that you must follow before deciding on an agency.
Step 1- Know your requirements
It is always good to know your main goal of developing a website before approaching an agency or vice versa.
To get a better idea of this goal, develop a list of things you would like from your website. The agency will bombard you with questions for which you must prepare yourself with answers. For example, do you plan to sell individual products or services in an eCommerce format? Would you like a payment gateway integrated into your website? Do you want a dynamic or static website? Are you interested in ROI, converting sales, or building and maintaining a customer base? Or do you just want to launch and raise awareness for your business?
The answers to these questions are also answers to comprehensive questions related to your business. For example, how will your business progress as a website? When do you think you will have logistics to support an online ordering system? Therefore, it is important that you do your homework before the agency puts you in a situation.
Step 2- Know your cost vs. the value of your product or service
The costs of creating a website can differ from agency to agency. Therefore, it is best to know what could be the deciding factor for both you and the agency.
Make sure you get what you pay for. If you start cutting costs just to save a thousand or two thousand dollars, you may not get as much value in the long run. Especially when it comes to delivering results or planning to your requirements.
By this, we do not mean that you should give in to all the demands of the agency, but be prudent and take into account the efforts made by both parties.
The best way to make this decision is to look at previous investments made in marketing and development, add that investment made over five years, and compare it to the cost you will incur with this agency. Simple math, right?
Step 3- Identify a strong track record
In this step, you conduct research on the agency you hope to work with. It’s not always true that only the big agencies are the best, smaller and newer agencies also have some innovative ideas that could prove beneficial to your business.
Ask the agency to provide you with performance data, customer testimonials and case studies, or demonstrate their approach to issues and measurement tools. Trust us, the agency will be obligated if they want to work with you.
Step 4- Exchange communication skills and learn
Currently, it is difficult to keep up with changing technologies and technical formats. It is the agency’s job to update it with the latest technologies and use them in the development of your website. But it’s also important that you read about them briefly, if not in detail.
Ask the agency about their process, their methodologies, the technology they use, and why they are making certain recommendations or decisions. It is your responsibility to ensure that you know exactly what you are getting into. Sure, you need to do your research, but you also need to be knowledgeable about your investment.
Step 5- Pay attention to the content
If your agency is just beautifying your website, then you are probably in the wrong place working with the wrong team. Content is key to ensuring your website is generating the results you want. The agency you choose must ask the right questions about your audience, your business process, and your industry.
The agency you choose must understand the importance of content. They need to realize that they are creating a framework for their business content. They need to know how their website visitors absorb and respond to their content. Content is everything a business needs to build an online base. The copy of images, videos and everything else is just as important as the main content that explains your business. They should talk to their marketing team and client managers to find out what wavelength they share with their clients.
Step 6 – Know what you want to achieve and be realistic
In this step, you need to spend some time to know your goal and expectation of your website. Create timelines for your growth.
Think of ways that will help your business grow, in addition to being first on Google and generating traffic.
Some goals that you can set for the first semester plan.
• Generate more leads
• Increase online sales
• Create awareness about the product or service
• Stay in touch with your customers’ requirements
Ask your agency about the tools and services they provide to measure the traffic they drive to your website. Make sure the agency understands your sales process so they can help you design efficient plans to improve sales from your website.
Step 7 – Know your strategy
An agency will provide you with a clear and concise web strategy. But is that enough? It is important that the strategy they provide gives your business a strong sense of authority, relevance and trust. You’ll know you have a solid strategy when you can measure its success. When you can measure your success, you can make the right business decisions based on real data.
Ask your agency about their approach in detail. The approach should outline the expected results and the time frame in which they will be achieved.
Step 8- Maintain the quality of your investment
After launching your website, a good website development agency will maintain a good relationship to ensure that you feel comfortable using and maximizing your website. Depending on your website, the agency will help you upload, maintain and publish content and images. A good agency will assist you with analytics to ensure your website profits are always maximized.
Ask your agency what their relationships are like with other companies. How are they helping other customers? Is there any maintenance plan or service that I can subscribe for your website?
conclusion
In most cases, you will get what you paid for. But it is also important that you are well prepared, so that you make the right decision. With these eight easy steps, we assure you that you will never find yourself in a situation where you regret your decision. A little homework, clarity of thought, and collaboration is all it takes to get a custom, value-based website for your business up and running. Design and development together create the backbone of your brand’s digital presence, and content just makes it all come together. All 3 are equally important to the success of your brand.