5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Design Company

Hiring the Right Web Design Company

Unfortunately, I’ve had clients that have come to me out of desperation after a bad experience with another web design company. One client found someone; it was going well and then all of the sudden progress slowed down and then stopped. And, then the person they originally contracted told them they couldn’t work on the project anymore. So, they reached out to me.

Another client kept going around and around with the same individual and after months of frustrating back and forth exchanges they just couldn’t do it any more. So, they cut their losses; fired the original web design company, and asked me for help.

I’ve even had one company come to me after paying $5,000 up front for a website and then never hearing from the person again.

It’s a horrible reality to face. And, one that I hate seeing clients go through. But, there are ways to avoid it. Here’s a few questions to ask that can help you make the right decisions.

1. What do you really need?

This is an important question. And, one that you should really flesh out before you even begin the process of looking for the right company.

See, amongst web design companies there are a great deal of subset specialties. There are companies or individuals who are great at eCommerce websites who would stink at designing a nice blog. There are companies that would be great if all you need was a 5 page website that acted like a business card on the web. That same company would be horrible at designing a state of the art online dating website that rivals match.com.

So, do a little research. Google is your best friend. And, he knows everything. So ask him things like “web design for….” and try to fine tune what it really is you’re looking for.

2. How much work do you want to do?

The adage is true. You get what you pay for. So, the more you pay the more you get and vice versa. The more you’re willing to pay for a website the less work you’ll have to do. And, the less you’re willing to pay the more work you’ll have to do. That being said it’s not always bad to pay less.

Maybe you’ve got a DIY spirit and are willing to put in the work along side someone else that can pick up the pieces and connect the dots you just can seem to connect on your own. Great! You don’t need to hire a company that charges $50,000 for your 10 page website with an eBook download.

There are great resources like upwork.com or toptal.com. But, trust me when I say if you use these services to find the cheapest solution you’ve still got a lot of work to do.

I’ve hired 3 different freelancers from Upwork myself. And, no matter how self-sufficient and expert they claim to be they always need my help to get it exactly how I want it.

3. What’s your time frame?

Everyone needs their website up yesterday. There’s a lot to be gained from being first to market. But, good web design companies always have a back log of people waiting for them to build their sites. Why? Because they’re good. They’re in demand because of what they have to offer.

Now, maybe you don’t need what they have to offer right away (refer to question 1). Maybe you just need to get something temporary up right away and then you’d like to come back to the 5 star web design company later on. Great! But, hardly anything of quality can be built super quickly. Even from the most seasoned of web design companies.

4. What do other clients say about them?

Don’t just take their word for it. And, please please please don’t just go off of your gut. Ask for references that you are able to get in touch with personally. This will be invaluable!

Ask their previous clients all sorts of questions. Here’s a few that will really help:

  1. What’s one thing that X web design company really excels at?
  2. What’s one thing that X web design company really struggled with?
  3. Would you hire them again?
  4. They told me…..Was that your experience with them?

Brainstorm some other questions. But, don’t pull any punches. And, realize again, there’s no company that’s going to be everything for everyone. You wouldn’t even want that. So, just because a web design company fails in one area it doesn’t mean they’re not right for you. This goes back to question 1. What do you really need?

5. Do you seem to click with the person you’ll be interacting with?

This may not seem like a big deal, but you’re going to be interacting a lot with your web designer or web design company. So, it’s important that you actually enjoy working with them.

There are all sorts of web design companies and freelance web designers with all sorts of dispositions. There’s

  • The “no non-sense/I’m just here to get it done” kind of company
  • The “I want to hear all about your life story and how your day was” kind of designer
  • The “I’m super creative and somewhat scatterbrained” freelancer
  • Or the “I’m very methodical and detailed” type of business

There’s not right or wrong in this. It all depends on what you want to work with.

Wrapping Up

There are plenty of great web design companies to choose from. Hopefully, these questions can help you get started on finding the right one.

As always, if you want to talk with me a bit more on your project and see if we’re the right fit. Click the link below and let’s get the process started.

Comments (5)

freelance web developer
July 1, 2017 Reply

Howdy this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use
WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with
HTML. I'm starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted
to get guidance from someone with experience.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Chris Misterek
    July 10, 2017 Reply

    Thanks for reaching out! It really depends on which platform or CMS you're using. Most blogging platforms like Wordpress or Squarespace will require little to no coding skills. But, it's always good to have a general knowledge of HTML and CSS which are very easy to learn. If you're getting started in blogging it'd be super beneficial to go through a free online course like Code Academy.

    Cheers!

Dion Sidwell
August 25, 2020 Reply

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October 28, 2020 Reply

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