Picking a Website Design Company

#1 - Where do they RANK?

As I just mentioned, your website exists to make you money, reaching customers you can't otherwise connect with day to day! And if your web design company can't optimize and rank your website, then you're dead in the water! Take our website for instance, If you search within our city and county we rank NUMBER 1 for multiple, high-competition searches like "Web Designer", "SEO Company" and "Web Design Company". You can't argue with results like that. And no matter your industry, the company you choose needs to be able to effectively research and budget your website to include ranking your new website higher than your competition.

Equally, important make sure they are not using "black-hat" techniques to rank you. One example of that includes buying "backlinks". I suggest you flat out ask them if they buy their backlinks. If they do, then run for the hills! Google heavily penalizes or BANS websites for this tactic.

#2 - Can they DESIGN?

Too many businesses pick a Web Designer who can't design - perhaps never even looking at the developer's site or portfolio! Look at the company's website! Does it look dated? Generic? DO THEY USE CLIPART?!

Do they have one great example but nothing else to show or their other works are a "YES" to the questions above? Then that's going to reflect on you and your business website. Make sure and pick a company that can design something fresh and professional and that will continue to look that way for years to come.

I hear it happening all the time at Chamber events, a busy business owner with little know-how regarding online marketing... they trust the first developer they run into, or go off of a cheap advertised price from some google ad and don't do their research.

There are plenty of web developers that can talk the talk and can sell website packages all day long to people who don't know better, but when the rubber hits the road, each business is unique and their website needs to reflect that, especially when there are a lot of competing websites in their industry. The more competition you have the more your website needs to stand out and appeal to the consumer.

So how do you cut through the noise and stand out?

A successful website captures the eye and is highly functional from colors, to the slider to how the elements and information are laid out. Take at least 10 minutes and scrutinize the potential website company's site and work examples. Is their work consistent, appealling, custom designed, with NO CLIP ART OR GENERIC IMAGES?

If all is well, then go ahead and move on to #3!

#3 - Are they IT Techs or MARKETERS?

Let's be honest, kids in 5th grade learn how to "make a website" but you need a company that goes far beyond that.

The website company you choose needs to have good listeners. Will they develop just a cool website, or is that site also going to be built to interact with your audience intuitively? Will the navigation make sense and flow well for the information and pages you are presenting? Will it achieve your marketing goals? i.e. Promote product sales on or offline, compel them to connect with sales people for a demo, showcase your product or services well? Will they help you shape your information to best communicate to the audience? Do they offer copywriting services in the event that you're no Ernest Hemmingway?

There's more to a website than code and images and we know that, and now you do too. Just make sure the company you choose knows.

#4 - Can they GROW your business?

Main services and questions to consider, hosting the website, custom emails that integrate into common programs like outlook, branding (website ads, images, logos, email signatures, pay-per-click ads), further search engine optimization for new cities, keywords or locations you want to branch into down the road, e-Commerce! Even your platform matters!