Congratulations on taking this important step. You’ve decided to work with a professional to design your critically-important website.
How do you make that choice?
Let’s begin with something that you cannot help doing. Most likely, you will look at the work. How does the web designer’s own site look? How do you like the look of sites they’ve designed for others? Is the work attractive, friendly, and easy to navigate?
While these are intuitive and useful criteria, there are 2 additional steps to help you make the best choice.
1. LOOK BEHIND-THE-SEENS
What does the design convey? What does it tell you about the company you’re looking at?
Effective design, while beautiful, must also be a great communicator. When considering a web designer, always see whether that designer has done their homework BTS – Behind the Seens – to discover the client’s USP.
USP stands for Unique Sales Proposition. This is the reason that a company exists. Lots of companies, for example, sell shoes. But successful shoe companies are able to differentiate themselves from the competition.
In choosing your website design agency, you should go with the one that portrays more than an attractive veneer. The one that has clearly interviewed its client to go deeply into that brand’s USP. Go with the agency that conveys – without shouting but through many subtle points – why each client’s company exists.
What does the brand bring that nobody else does? When you find the web design agency that conveys that essential quality, you know you’re on the right track for your own web designer.
Design Tip: Design is the last step in a process. The best web designer spends time with each client, getting to know that client’s story. Sometimes, this is a process of discovery for both the designer and the client. We not only design your USP. We also help you find it.
2. LOOK FOR THE TEAM
Now that you’ve checked out each candidate’s ability to work BTS – Behind the Seens – you should go a little deeper into a rarely-considered aspect of the designer’s work.
Does the web design agency bring an effective team?
There are solo website designers, and many are great. But what differentiates the solo player from the one that can produce a truly professional site is its squad – the people who finesse every aspect of successful website design.
The ideal design agency provides a copywriter who writes clean cogent words that sell you. The agency has an expert in SEO. Recommendations for everything from illustrator to online payment processor are aplenty when you work with the right agency.
