Starting a new business can be overwhelming with a laundry list of things to do to get a new business going. When it comes to the branding of your company, choosing a logo design company will be one of your top priorities and after your logo is designed, your website design will be high priority. There are some important things you should know about choosing the best website design company in Charleston, SC.
Choose a Web Design Company with a Solid Track Record
When selecting a web design company, it’s important to research them thoroughly. Some things you can do to make sure you are making the best choice for web design are to read online reviews, view their project portfolio and seek out references from some of their customers. Usually searching through their website portfolio will be a good indicator of the quality of work. Make sure to check websites projects on both your computer and mobile device so you can see that the company is designing mobile responsive websites as over 60% of website traffic is coming from users on mobile devices.
Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) important to you?
When your site is being built, the right web design company can also optimize your website for search engines like Google and Bing. If SEO is an important part of your marketing strategy, which it should be, SEO experience should be a factor in choosing a web design agency. A design agency should be able to show you case studies of current or past SEO clients so you can see results they have had with previous SEO clients. The right SEO company will provide you with ongoing SEO reports, analytics and progress on your target keywords so you can see exactly how your website’s keywords are performing.
Will you be managing your website content?
There are tons of options for website builders out there like Wix, Squarespace, and Godaddy Website Builder, but they offer very limited customization options. With a WordPress website design, your website is highly customizable and is powered with a very easy to use interface that we recommend for companies who want to manage their own site. This is particularly important when your website will be changing frequently or when you are managing an e-commerce site. If you are planning on managing your own site, WordPress is a great option. There are tons of plugins available to easily get the most out of your website and developers are constantly creating new themes, plugins and extensions that work with WordPress.
Does the web design company ask the right questions?
What are your goals? That’s one of the most important questions a web design company can ask. Designing a website isn’t just about creating a beautiful site. Your web designer should know exactly what you want to accomplish with your website. Do you want to convert traffic to sales in your online store? Do you want to generate leads via contact forms? Do you want to be #1 for target keywords on Google? What image do you want to convey with your brand?So many times, web designers are just churning out websites with no regard for the outcome. Choose a web design company that has your end result in mind. Dominating search engines and creating a beautiful and functional website go hand-in-hand.
Choose a Company that Communicates
One of the biggest pitfalls of web design companies is a lack of communication. You can usually tell how well a company is going to communicate early on in the process. How quickly are they returning calls and emails? How quickly did they get you a quote? Did they answer all your questions throughly? Are they thorough in asking about your goals for your new website design or redesign of your current site?All of these things are indicators of how well a web design company will communicate during the design process. Communication between the design team and the customer is so important in accomplishing a great design.
Cost vs. Value — You get what you pay for.
In today’s world, your website is one of the most important factors to having a successful business, and not just a beautiful design either. It needs to load quickly and be extremely user-friendly for website visitors. While cost is always a factor, your decision should not be based on cost entirely. There will always be someone willing to design your website cheaper, but what will you sacrifice by saving money in the short run? Time and time again, we’ve seen companies sell themselves short by choosing a cheap website design company or a website builder, and then come back to us asking for help. While there are times where a shoestring budget may be all you have, investing money into your website in the beginning will pay dividends in the future.It takes time to build your web presence and to rank on Google. If you have a subpar website designed, your wasting valuable time that you could be gaining more business via website traffic. A well designed website is not cheap, but the value you get back from that design and search engine optimization will pay off big time down the road.