At HITS, we have collated some questions that we feel are a ‘must ask’ when speaking with any web design agency. Choosing the right web design agency for your company’s project is vital, with so many agencies appearing all the time. It is crucial to pick one that can help you with your exact needs and provide a stable foundation for your company to grow.
1. Build Costs & Future Costings
It is essential to find out how much your new website is going to cost. Not only to build and develop but also on an ongoing basis once it is up and running. What will future costs be incurred, such as website updates, hosting renewals, domain renewals, along with SEO updates? A lot of agencies do not inform clients about these hidden costs, which can quickly add up! We make sure that we are clear and upfront if there are any costs right from the start – from design and build through to launch and beyond.
2. Security & Hosting
The next important question to ask is about website hosting – Is the hosting fast? Is it up to date? Is it secure? What backups are in place in a worst-case scenario? As an agency, what was your website downtime in the last 12 months? All of these questions should be easily answerable for any experienced and competent agency. We would also recommend bringing up the subject of website security. Many of our new clients come to us because they have experienced security issues with their previous web agencies. These security mistakes had led to their sites becoming broken, infected or even hacked.
3. Website Platform Updates
Another vital question to ask is about website update frequency. These days, most website agencies use a CMS (Content Management Systems) such as WordPress, Shopify, or Joomla. These are being developed continuously and have frequent updates. These updates affect everything from security to SEO. However, many agencies don’t regularly roll out these updates to their existing clients during the year. We apply any new updates for our ongoing clients CMS weekly, at no extra cost, as standard, throughout the year.
4. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
SEO requirements are changing all the time. Your site should be updated regularly to meet these ever-changing requirements. Failure to comply with SEO changes or conditions could result in your site losing ranks and positioning on Google. We recommend that our client’s websites have a full review every three months to ensure that they meet Googles’ strict SEO requirements.
5. Ownership
An important question to ask is about website ownership. Who owns the code, content and design? What happens if you wish to transfer your site to another host? Will you be able to do this? We design and build websites to make you and your business look and work as efficiently and effectively as possible. We provide you with the means to make this happen, and your branding, design and content always belong to you.
If you would like to find out more and fully understand our best-in-class practices and how we work closely with our clients on these essential questions, please feel free to get in touch.
