How Can I Know a Website Design Agency is “The One”?

Are You Ready To Meet Your Significant Other (SO)?

First things first: it’s essential to clarify and refine your brand’s ‘about me,’ including goals, audience, and current state of affairs.

1. (Clearly) Define Your Goals: Before you consider colour, fonts, and artwork, you need to know what you want your website to accomplish. Should it increase leads? Boost online sales? Enhance brand awareness? Setting specific, measurable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goals is a critical step, as they’re the objectives that will guide the entire collaboration.
2. Re-examine Your Audience: It’s time to document everything your experience and interaction with your target audience has taught you. You can even create buyer personas that reveal demographics, pain points and life goals. The web design agency can lean on your knowledge to customize the website to appeal to the people you want to reach.
3.  (If it Already Exists) Scrutinize Your Current Site: Get forensic and dig into the details you already have. What do you like or not like? What’s working? What’s not working? Your agency partner should offer to help you use Google Analytics to identify your most popular pages, where you’re losing users and your current conversion rates. This will be super-helpful baseline data for the new design. 

After clarifying these particulars, it’s time to search for the right agency. You need more than flashy designs. The agency of your dreams understands that web design is an essential component of your marketing strategy, helping customers decide to take one more step toward you.

Here are some key guidelines for evaluation.

Finding ‘The One’: Get Ready To Dig Deeper Into Their Story

Like grandma always said, ‘appearances can be deceiving,’ so you must look deeper and ask more questions.

1. Look at Their Process: A reputable agency will have a transparent, well-defined process that is easy to understand. It should span from discovery to design, development, and—ultimately—website launch.
2. Look at Their Portfolio: Do they have experience in your industry? Have they worked on projects of similar scope or with similar goals as yours?
3. Look at Their Personality: Do they value open and frequent communication? Are they a match for your energy? Do you like them? Remember, you’ll be working closely with them, so good rapport isn’t just important; it’s essential.

Narrow down your search for the website design agency of your dreams, and find a mutual connection. 

Hooray! It’s a match!!

The Define the Relationship (DTR) Convo: Making It Official

Wait just a moment. We’ve all seen things go wrong when expectations aren’t clearly defined at the beginning of a new connection. 

How can we ensure the designer/manager partnership stays strong and healthy for years? 

“Clarity is kindness,” so removing the rose-coloured glasses is a wise move to guarantee things stay mutually clear for the duration of your relationship.

1. How Often Are We Talking? From the outset, agree on how and when you’ll communicate. Calls? Emails? Meetings? What is the best way to provide feedback? A structured communication process will go a long way towards preventing misunderstandings and frustrating delays.
2. Who Is Talking to Who? Making sure the business relationship doesn’t become like a bad game of ‘telephone’ is guaranteed with a single contact person on your team and a specific project manager from the agency.
3. Don’t Keep ‘em Guessing: Your new agency partner needs to know your brand inside and out. Everything you can give them, from the logo to the colour palette, typography, and brand voice, helps you continue to build trust and transparency.
4. Trust and Listen to Each Other: You’re the expert in your brand, and your agency is an expert in web design. Both partners need to know they’ll be heard and considered. Remember: your successes aren’t mutually exclusive. The more you communicate, the better the relationship will be. It’s a win-win!
5. Make Sure Feedback Is Clear: Be specific and constructive when reviewing designs. Instead of saying, “I don’t like it,” explain why it’s not working for you and tie your comments back to project goals.

The Future Looks Bright!

The successful launch of your new website isn’t the end of a journey; it’s the beginning of a new chapter. 

A great website is an organic and evolving entity set to grow with your business.

You’re not just building a website by fostering a strong, collaborative relationship with your website design agency. You’re creating a powerful tool to help you optimize your brand presence and achieve your goals. 

The right partnership with the right web design agency can provide value long after the launch through ongoing support, maintenance, and future developments.

So, my friend, you’re ready to find a great partner. 

PS: DM us at STEALTH because we are always looking for a great collab.