There are tons of website designers out there in the market and how do you make a decision and ensure that the end design is what we want- aesthetic feel, functional, seo optimised, good content and user-friendly. Yes, there are many factors to consider and this is why many businesses complain that their website developers go missing halfway through the project. I hope this checklist will help you in your selection and you can decide if you need to out source to a few parties or just one website agency and what will be the price you must be prepared to pay!
1. Who should come out with the content or text?
Many businesses forgot about this important factor and assume that this is included in the package! Take note, many website developers are good in IT software, coding and programming, they suck in copywriting! And this is the reason why many websites have unfinished text, grammatical mistakes and incomplete brand messages!
If you have no time to write passages for your website developer, please ensure that they provide a copywriter to write a compelling content to suit your brand style. I know it is often hard to write about yourself and your own brand, so I strongly advise you leave it to the experts! So, how can you guide your web designers to write about your brand, services, products and messages:
a. Give them some competitors in your industry to take reference
Everyone has his/ her view of what they want, often times, it is hard to describe using words, so why not try using images and similar projects. This is so much faster to relate and conclude your ideal concept. An experienced web design agency is one that is bold to give you ideas and advise which are the ones to use to suit your brand and any unforeseen challenges that you may face.
b. Share key points or key phrases that you want to include in your website
Your website copywriter can expand your idea and turn them into amazing phrases or paragraphs. Once you have conveyed your main ideas, the end results were be closer to you and will be more meaningful.
c. Past write ups/ publications/ awards
If you have an old website or publications on your brand, do share with your web development team. A good website designer should proofread or copyedit your content before publishing them! Don’t be stingy with what you can give, the more information you share, the higher the relevancy! End of the day, every brand is different!
2. Design, concept, style and layout all comes under website design framework
An experienced website developer should advise you what suitable concept your brand should be looking at. This will help a lot in creating a deeper impression on your brand and most important complement your brand’s values.
A grid, a text box, the type of typography used or the colors used can affect the look and feel of your website. A website developer that comes from a branding agency background will have more experience in guiding you the right concept, your colour palette and of course the type of typography to use. Be it a pop of colour to stand out or a subtle grid to make the design more appealing and forward looking.
Bre soap sheet website is one of the best website designs that I have come across. The look and feel of the entire website is clean and fresh, it conveys the brand essence which is clean, refreshed and innovative. The website is simple and it consists just sufficient information of the brand.
3. Functionality of the website
Many businesses use their website for different functions, so you need to spell out your intentions to your website designers. This is to ensure that the website serves its purpose and not a white elephant.
a. As a showcase of projects or portfolios
If your website is designed to put together your past projects, please ensure your website supports high quality and quantity of images and videos. You will need them in times to come. A well organised portfolio page elevates your website experience and get your audience to stay on your page. Etereo owns a playful and innovative webpage that syncs with the brand message. The portfolio page is rich in colours and comes in different formats, an excellent digital agency in Singapore! Can you guess what is the style and personality of Etereo?
b. Blogs or articles sharing
Professionals such as doctors, coaches and trainers do alot of blog writing or testimonials sharing. They have fewer images to share and they focus heavily on content and articles writing. If you are one of them, it will be a breeze to have pre-set templates on your website your implementation. Drag and drop your text is the best thing that can happen when you have so many things to settle!
c. Online store, ecommerce website
This is getting popular and many businesses are turning to online markets to increase revenue and brand awareness. But beware! Not all brands are suitable for e-commerce website, at times all they need are online catalogues or e-guidelines. So, if you do not need a payment website, do let your web developer know beforehand. This comes with extra cost such as monthly subscription fees, security fees and you may not even use it!
On the other hand, most B2C websites should explore to sell directly online. A good e-commerce website that I have come across is Love Bonito, the user interface is simple and the layout is clean and uncluttered. The products are well organised and shopping is easy, payment process is awesome!
4. Creative designs
One of the best and popular website design agency that are always in demand is one that is able to propose creative images and motion graphics that you can use for your website. They are usually not IT specialists and one way to sound them out is that they do not support hosting services, they may outsource this service if you request for it. They are also social media marketing agency or creative agency as part of their services. They have vast experience in creative designs which they do everyday! Get ready to ask what kind of designs/ images that you will be expecting and if you need to pay extra if you are asking for additional designs.
5. SEO optimised websites
With so much attention on website on 1st page ranking, you may like to ask your website developer if your webpage is seo-optimised. You may also note that buidling an amazing website does not mean you will have traffic coming to your website, you are just merely building your asset!
An SEO optimised webpage is a just basic requirement so that your website can be visible to a certain segment or market. You will still need to do your due diligence to build your webpage’s ranking or visibility. For a start, they keywords used in your website are mainly for a good headstart!
It is quite common for a website design agency to provide google marketing services after your website is launched. A reliable google marketing agencythat helps with your SEM or SEO should audit your webpage, keywords used, page speed, broken links etc first. The agency should also do their data analysis before recommending a sound strategy for your business.
In all, a good website is a long and worthy investment, not only it lasts for at least 5 years, it can be a powerful tool to bring you new sales. Do not go for price only, get a trusted partner that you can work together on long term. It is an investment that definitely earns you back higher returns if you build it and use it wisely!
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