26 Apr How to choose a good web design company?

This is an internet era and Google is the new word-of-mouth where everyone (almost, 6.7 out of 10 in Malaysia) turns to when they want to find out more about a company, a service, a product, or anything.

You must have a website, at least, before you can plan for a solid digital strategy for your business. We will get to that in a bit.

We’ve met many businesses and almost 8 out of 10 have had bad experience with web designers. There are many good web design firms out there, and there are also bad ones. Finding a good and reliable one among hundreds (if not thousands) of web design companies out there is the utmost important task for you. We have laid out 5 important points to help you source for the best web design company for your business.

(A disclaimer: Tribeup Sdn Bhd is a digital company that specializes in web design, custom web applications and mobile apps development.)

1. What is your goal?

Having a clear objective is a must before we do anything – likewise for building a website. Why build a website? Do you want to build an ecommerce website or just a site to generate leads, by displaying enough information about your business and products?

Having a clear goal also allows you to ask the right questions when meeting those web design companies. E.g. Ask for their suggestion or a case study on how they approached similar case like yours.

2. What is your budget?

Having a number in mind always helps. Building a website can cost you from thousands to tens of thousands. To avoid getting lost into the comparison of prices, it is always good to have a value in mind. This question is closely linked with the #1 – when you have a goal in mind, there should be a value for us to work on.

Example: You’re building a website to showcase your LED business that targets on clients that will give you contracts ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, then you should probably set a higher budget to make your website stands out. Anyway those money comes back, and it helps you make more money, no?

3. Company or individual?

Freelancers are good. Tribeup worked with multiple freelancers for specific tasks and they are awesome. But you have no idea how many of them we have tried until we found these good people that really mean business. There are just too many freelancers out there, how do you know if they are good since this is your first time engaging them? You won’t want to find yourself losing your domain name just because you can’t get your webmaster.

Our suggestion is simpe: unless you know this person well as in he/she can really deliver, else work with a company.

4. Track record in business?

This point echoes item #3. Whether you choose to work with companies or individuals, ask yourself a few questions below:

• How long have they been in business?
• What is their core strength?
• What are the brands they have worked with?
• Who are the people behind the company?
• What are the other services they provide that might be useful in the future?

These are the few we usually asked by clients, and you may add yours at the comment section below.

5. How do you feel?

After you have done some checking and shortlisted a few candidates for your website design or website development project, next is to meet them.

Trust us, don’t ever skip this step. You are going to work with this person (or team) for at least a few weeks to months to come, and you want to be sure that you can work well with them. Meet up with them, and ask questions that you want to know further to help you make your decision.

6. What is your strategy?

From the very beginning of this article I mentioned about having a digital strategy for your business. If you do not have one, you should ask your future website design firm about it.

No matter what channels you choose to grow your brand digitally, be it Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Linkedin, website is still the most important element. Your website is your middle piece of your digital map, it is the central of your digital marketing activities, it is your only digital asset compare to those social networks that don’t belong to you at all.

A good website design firm should be able to help you in this, be sure to ask.

Share with us your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below.

If you wish to learn about how to build a sensible, cross-channel digital marketing strategy, take a look at this. If you are looking for a reputable and innovative website design firm, click here.