When a new business or an established business requires a brand-new website designed, there are thousands upon thousands of web design agencies to choose from. There are everything from freelancers working in their spare bedrooms at home to large web design companies that only build websites for one specific business sector, such as solicitors.

Yet, we think you may choose local companies when looking for a web design agency. So here’s why we believe that:

– Build up a long-term relationship, whereby it is easier to have meetings in person because there are local
– Local knowledge of the city and surrounding area
– Cost-effective: choosing web designers from larger cities can sometimes be more expensive

So, how do you go about choosing a web design agency?

Well, no two web design agencies are ever the same. Most, like W&P, want to provide you with a quality CMS that helps promote your business’s products and services for many years ahead.

However, on the other hand, you have your companies that churn out websites, well, a bit like a product on a factory production line. What ends up happening sometimes is that you have a website that’s cheap yet a bit basic.

So, here are some of our top recommendations for when choosing a web design company:

Clearly define what you need and set a cap on how much you’re willing to spend.

There’s no point in being sucked in by a web design “special offer” only to find when you’ve added up everything you need to get your new website live; it’s treble what you anticipated to spend at the start.

So, make sure right from the outset what the monthly/yearly hosting costs are. Also, make sure that the quote also includes making the website responsive.

For those of us who do not know what responsive means, it simply means the website will work on a mobile phone. However, some web design companies do not automatically include making the website mobile responsive within the initial quote.
So, you have to make sure that when agreeing to a web design quote, it includes the basics needed for your website to work. For example, all businesses will need hosting, a domain name, and a responsive website.

We recommend arranging a meeting with your web designers so that you can discuss everything the business will need. Often, special offer prices do not include everything, and for example, when you add up the costs, sometimes the cost of the monthly hosting can be pretty high compared to the price of getting the website designed. So, this is where some businesses draw your interest through getting a low-priced website built initially, yet the ongoing hosting costs could be high.

Don’t commit to an web design agency before you are ready

There are so many web design businesses splashing out tons on advertising on social media and on Adword campaigns. You may have entered your mobile number for a callback, and before you know it, a smooth-talking salesman is on the line.
After a chat, you might be sent an agreement to sign to begin designing your new website.
Hold your horses and not rush to choose any web design agency. A business often uses a website for an extended period, perhaps over the next seven years.
So our best recommendation is to don’t rush into signing any agreements. Instead, meet with your web designers in person and see if the company is a business that you want to work with over the long run. For example, you may want to hire a company to manage your company’s social media accounts or to improve organic search engine optimisation. Therefore, many web designers offer these supplementary services.
However, these services are ongoing, meaning that you often need to work with the business on a monthly basis. Therefore, we think it’s a good idea to meet with several web design agencies to see which company directors and management you enjoy working with because you might want to work with them over the long run.

CMS

Many people stick with a car brand because they are familiar with its styling, performance, and garages that service cars.
Some businesses are the same when choosing a content management system, or CMS, for short. Often, businesses get familiar with how a CMS such as WordPress works, and therefore, understandably, during a website redesign, they don’t want to switch to a different CMS and have to learn, for example, a totally different dashboard.
Our web design company is solely focused on building WordPress websites. Most of the businesses that contact us to get a website designed or redesigned want WordPress because they are often familiar with the CMS, how the Dashboard works, and the many benefits WordPress can bring.

What’s the ongoing cost?

So, any business does have to work out the ongoing costs of running that website. What you don’t want is to sign an agreement only to find that the ongoing costs are high.

Our business, for example, offers one year of free hosting for the brochure websites we build.
This differs from other businesses, which may charge a fixed monthly fee. After the first year is up, we charge a flat yearly fee, which is very affordable for all businesses.

Time frames

If you see they have made solid progress so far, there should be an element of time where you allow the web design agency to run over a deadline.

Yet what you don’t want is to sign up to get a website designed, perhaps pay a deposit, and then sign an agreement for the website to be designed. Then, you might be left waiting months for the website to be designed. Some brochure websites can often be designed in a matter of weeks.

There are times of the year, such as the peak of summer and the run-up to Christmas, when Cardiff web design agencies are busy bees, yet you should gain an understanding from the web designers how long it will take them to design the website.
With us, if we have the content marketing ready to go and add to the website, we can often design a brochure website from start to finish in

less than three weeks.

Would you like to work with us?

If your business needs a WordPress website designed or help improving its organic search engine optimisation, why not give us a ring today?