If you want to create an excellent online presence for your business, start by hiring one of the best website development companies. An ideal candidate offers reasonable prices, has experience in building websites for your niche, has decent communication skills and meets deadlines. When you start searching, you’ll be probably spoilt for choice. In this article, we’ll focus on how to choose a web design agency that will fit your budget and justify your expectations.
Scrutinize the Portfolio
To check the projects that the company has already completed, you can visit its website and its GitHub profile. Do you like the looks and functionality of these sites? Can you spot any shortcomings? Has this agency previously delivered websites for businesses from your niche? If they understand the specifics of your industry, that would be a big argument in favor of signing a contract with them.
Glance Through Customer Reviews
Clutch should be your go-to web resource. It publishes unbiased reviews written by customers of IT contractors from all over the world. Even the most talented and responsible professionals might get negative feedback occasionally. Yet the number of positive reviews should be much higher than that of negative ones.
Ask for References
There is nothing wrong with contacting the previous clients of the agency and asking for their opinions. The easiest way to find such clients is to open the agency’s portfolio, visit these websites and use the emails from the Contact sections. Prepare in advance a list of questions that you’d like to ask all clients. While some of them might fail to reply, others will be glad to help you.
Assess the Quality of the Contractor’s Own Website
Explore the site of the web design company to find answers to these questions:
- Does it look aesthetically appealing?
- Does it load quickly on all devices?
- Do you like its mobile version?
- How intuitive is the navigation?
- Are there any bugs?
- How long does it take you to find the necessary information?
- How regularly is the content updated?
If the company built a great site for itself, it means it can deliver the same standard of quality for its customers.
Reach Out to the Company Representatives
Send them an email without revealing too much information about yourself. The quicker you’ll get a response, the better. A good contractor will start by asking you about your business, demands, preferences and budget. They might send you attached files with basic information about their company or give links to their website pages and online documents.
Communication skills are just as important for a web development agency as IT competencies. They should be polite, friendly and punctual.
Is It Better to Sign a Contract with a Local or Remote Service Provider?
There is no one-fits-all answer to this question. Let’s compare the respective pros and cons of both variants.
If you hire locally, you’ll appreciate:
- Ease of communication. You’ll be able to meet the developers face to face. You’ll see the design of their office and the atmosphere inside it. For some clients, this provides additional psychological comfort.
- Better understanding of the local audience. Let’s imagine that you’re planning to launch an online store for consumers from your area. Developers who live here perfectly understand the tastes and habits of your potential customers. They will fine-tune the looks and the functionality of your website accordingly.
- Speed of fixing legal issues. If you face any misunderstandings, it will be cheaper and easier to solve them in your homeland.
On the flip side, keep in mind the following drawbacks:
- Lack of time. If you want your website to go live as soon as possible, it would be unreasonable to limit yourself to contractors from your area. What if all of them are currently busy?
- Higher prices. Depending on your location, it might be more reasonable to outsource skilled professionals from abroad. You won’t even need to compromise on quality.
Working with remote professionals might involve these disadvantages:
- Time zone differences. The contractor might not be able to reply to your email within a few minutes after you send it.
- Cultural dissimilarities. You and the agency that you hire might differently interpret the notions of “beautiful”, “functional” and “user-friendly”. Your web designers might need to re-work selected parts of your website.
However, there are several meaningful advantages as well:
- Talent pool. Feel free to choose from thousands of web design agencies. Even if you’re a highly discerning client, sooner or later you’ll come across a company that will 100% meet your expectations.
- Expertise. When looking for talents on a global scale, you’ll have higher odds of contracting professionals who have worked with similar projects before and understand very well what you’re looking for.
- Pricing. Remote employees from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and South America normally feature a lower hourly rate than their Western and Australian colleagues.
If you opt for remote collaboration, find a company that has a lot of foreign clients and has streamlined its management accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of how to choose the best web development company. Consider both local and remote candidates. Scrutinize the portfolio, assess the site of the contractor and read client reviews. Ask for references and reach out to the company representatives. With so many options available on the market, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to sign a contract with an ideal agency.
