Top 5 Things to Look for When Hiring a Professional Website Design Company

Choosing the right website design company can be time consuming and difficult.  But before you hire any website design company you should at least consider the following items to see if they are the right company for you. Following these steps wont make every match perfect, but it’s a good place to start.

01 / ACCOLADES

All great website design companies should have a portfolio and wonderful testimonials to back it up. You may want to consider things like; Has the company built websites in your industry before? Can they give you a list of three business references? Do they have any awards that set them apart? Looking at a companies accolades prior to working with them is a great way to set your expectations.

02 / AUTOMATIC OR FORCED ACTIONS

Any honest and legitimate web design company should not force you in to paying for or signing up for anything. Instead they should be giving you the information you need to make an informed decision. Unfortunately, we are seeing this more and more in our industry everyday. Most of these companies use something along the lines of the following model. After X happens, you have to pay Y (yearly, per month, etc.). For example, your website cost is going to be separated into 12 monthly payments. After you’re done paying that off, you just pay us for your website hosting at $40/month. Sure paying for hosting may not be included within your initial design pricing, but any decent company should be willing to give you ALL the options available to help you make the right choice.

03 / LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Sure those cheap website deals from foreign countries sound great, but do you want to be on the phone at 4 am because that’s their working hours? Or even worse, you might have to wait days in between communications. Not to mention the language barriers. These type of communication breakdowns can add a ton of unnecessary time, as well as, stress to any project. Save yourself the hassle and find a company that you know can communicate well and will be readily available during hours that are convenient for you. After all, you are the one paying them!

04 / TALKING BAD ABOUT THE COMPETITION

In the website design industry, reputation is everything. Unfortunately, a lot of companies use this tactic to sell their services when they have run out of true value. Any self respecting professional website design company should be respectful of their competition and should not be talking bad about them during sales meetings. Instead, they should be selling you on their strengths and the amazing things their company can do for you. Besides, if they’re willing to say those things about their competition to you, what might they say about you?

05 / “FREE” OFFERS

We have all seen those TV commercials that make huge promises of FREE websites. Remember that old saying? “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” The truth of the matter is that most of these companies may design the website for free, but that’s about where their generosity stops. Most companies have a TON of hidden fees for hosting, maintenance, etc. Some try to tie you in to lengthy per month contracts. While others have fine print terms and conditions that can cost you hundreds, or even thousands in the long run. If you see one of these deals, proceed with caution, and make sure you read the fine print!