Today, having a website is more important than ever for businesses as it can ultimately determine sales, competition and overall success.
Companies have started investing more of their marketing dollars towards their online presence as our population has become heavily reliant on search engines such as Google for answers.
While the appearance of your website is important so that it is attractive, considers user experience and consistent with your brand; it should increase your businesses visibility and drive potential customers to your business.
This is why choosing the right web design company is so important.
Sure, cost and design are important factors when choosing a web design partner, unfortunately due to negligent hiring business owners see little to no results.
After their site is launched…nothing.
In this article we will provide guidance on how to can choose the right Stouffville web design company.
What is the goal of your website?
The first step for any web project should be determining the goals and scope of your website.
Does your business an informational website only or are you looking to sell online? Who are your competitors and what do you like most about their website? Identify what functionality you need from your website. A good web design partner should provide feedback and ideas that should help your business stand out from competition.
What is your budget?
When hiring a web designer it’s important to understand that you are essentially paying for expertise and time. The misconception with most businesses is that tools such as WordPress have simplified the process, but planning, strategy, customization, SEO and design still require time. While it’s tempting to use Do-It-Yourself website builders or buy cheap website packages for $500; a reputable web design company may be more costly however they may be the difference between getting results or never being found online.
Determine your monthly costs
Unfortunately, a website is truly never finished. You will likely need to determine what on-going maintenance is needed. Can you rely on internal staff to manage the website? Along with understanding the level of support needed you can also determine on-going goals and costs needed for upkeep and growth.
Finding a local web design company
There are many design companies that can be found in Stouffville and surrounding areas. If you don’t have a non-technical background you might be bewildered by available choices.
Take a careful look at their web design portfolio to view their quality of work and standards. Also, pay attention to their own websites design, search ranking and loading time.
While it may be beneficial that they have developed websites within your industry to understand your business – this isn’t critical. A great web designer can build a website for almost any business. A diverse portfolio proves they are versatile to any project.
Setup a call or interview
There are many excellent web designers in Canada. Unfortunately, many companies either outsource a lot of the work overseas or pawn it off to junior web developers. It’s recommended to ask to speak directly with their web designer rather than simply dealing with sales people.
When interviewing a web design company it’s important to ask important questions such as their experience in your industry, will they implement on-page SEO, ask about their previous client success stories etc.
Will the website be developed in WordPress?
WordPress has become the most widely used content management system which currently powers over 1/3 of websites in the world.
Having your website built in WordPress can empowers business owners. Through an easy-to-use and secure dashboard they can manage their website content.
Whether you’re looking to build a corporate website or require ecommerce functionality, you can achieve a high quality and bespoke solution with WordPress.
Are the web design company competent in SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a websites visibility within search engines such as Google. A professional web design company should deploy SEO with every project.
Business owners should ask them about their SEO strategies. Ask them how their SEO strategies follow Google guidelines, what on-page SEO and what technical SEO they will implement into the website.
You want to make sure they aren’t using any black hat (shady) tactics that can otherwise hurt your online ranking.
Final Words
Choosing a web design company will be a challenging task but it’s important to have open communication and be comfortable with your potential company partner.
NexToronto is a Stouffville web design company that can create a website for your business or provide a full website redesign.
As SEO experts, we ensure that our clients receive online visibility.
We are WordPress web developers. Whether your need a corporate website or looking for ecommerce services to sell online – call us today to find out if we can help you with your next online project.
