Everybody has read tales of woe from somebody who used an unreliable small business web design company.
It can be a relative or schoolmate, the local guy from your neighbourhood or a even web business with a solid reputation.
Things often start well but half way through the project the budget has tripled or your web designer gets busy and stops returning your calls. They lose interest in small business web design and go overseas. Or you discover after paying 100% up front that your web designer has no visual design skills.
These questions will help you evaluate whether your small business web design provider can create a web site for you that meets your requirements.
1. How good is your after sales service?
Request proof that your web company provides great after sales service. Many small business web design companies focus solely on the initial project of building your web site. But they are not set up to help you build your business after the web site is built.
What happens to your business if there is a problem with your web site or you need something updated urgently and your web designer does not respond?
For small business owners your website can be as important as your physical premises. If it goes off-line your customers can’t reach you.
A good web design company will develop a long term relationship with you. You can expect them to offer constant tips and services for improving your web site.
To identify a good web design company, don’t just ask them if their after sales service is good. They’ll obviously say yes.
Instead ask them what happens after your web site goes live. This will identify if helping you grow your business is business as usual for them.
2. Will you create an awesome looking web site that matches my branding?
A successful web site gives a great first impression and is consistently branded.
Your brand is vitally important to your business and this is an area where many web sites fail to deliver.
When somebody visits your web site their first impression of your business and recognition of your brand are formed in an instant. This establishes how credible your visitor perceives you to be and can significantly influence whether you convince them.
Good branding means your web site, business card, letterhead, vehicles and sign-age should all look the same. Each exposure to your brand is an opportunity to build trust, credibility and recognition.
If visitors don’t recognise your brand because it looks different to the last time they saw it, you have to start building that trust all over again.
Don’t waste those all important first few seconds on reintroducing yourself. Your brand must be consistent across everything that has your logo on it.
Review websites that were built by the web company you are considering and evaluate how consistent they are with shop fronts, car signs, business cards and what ever else has their branded on it.
You can learn all you need from a simple comparison.
3. Do you provide a sales copy writing service?
Your web site visitors know at a glance that they have found what they are looking for when you have good sales copy. It makes it easy for them to find the information they are looking for and it answers all their questions.
It creates a personal connection with your best prospects, guides them through your web site and compels them to call you.
Without this crucial ingredient you may get visitors, but nobody will buy or enquire.
Once again, review the list of websites that have been built by your potential web partner. Do they consistently have a convincing message or do they put you to sleep?
4. Will I need a degree to update my website?
A good content management system (or CMS) makes it simple for you to update your website without requiring a degree to operate it. And it eliminates the risk of you accidentally breaking your web site.
It’s easy to change what you need to change and you can do so at your convenience. And over time you save a lot of money because you’re not paying your web designer to make every change.
Before you make your decision be sure to request a guided tour of the content management system that your web company is offering.
A quick test drive will tell you if you can easily and safely use the system.
5. How successful are your customers?
Effective web site development can only be accomplished by doing a great job with a large number of details. Creating html code, optimizing for Google, Facebook marketing or developing email campaigns. It’s very difficult for somebody who new to web design to properly evaluate every aspect.
Far simpler, is to ask for proof of customer success.
Any web designer worth their salt will guide you through a process and identify what methods will get you the best results. So check out the websites they have developed and the successes that they are helping their clients to achieve.
Obviously a web company is unable to guarantee success for any customer, but it’s an excellent sign if they can show you a lot of customers who have achieved success.
When I help a client evaluate their requirements for a web site, I make no assumptions.
And don’t you make any assumptions either. Before you take the plunge make sure you answer the biggest question of all: