Your website is your company’s storefront window to the online world. You want it to accurately depict your brand, serve as a valuable marketing tool and just make a good impression. Whether you’re hiring a small business web design firm to redesign an existing website or create a brand new one, it’s vital to ensure that you’re putting this important project into capable hands. Here are a few questions to get a discussion started with the web designers you’re considering.

How are costs calculated?

The price of building a website can vary widely between web design firms, and it’s important to know what you’re getting into beforehand. Learn about the firm’s different packages and what the price of each one includes. Find out whether the designer charges per hour, per page or uses a different method of figuring costs.

What additional services does the firm offer?

After you’re familiar with the web designer’s different packages, ask what additional services the firm offers. For example, can they use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to improve your website’s rankings on the top search engines? Do they employ professional writers who can create the site’s content?

Will I edit the site myself or will the web designer make changes?

After your site is complete you might want to add a great photo, update product info or switch to a new company logo. Many web designers create user-friendly websites with content management systems that allow the clients to make changes themselves. If they don’t, or if you’re not comfortable editing the site, then you’ll need to find out how much it will cost to have the designer make changes and updates to the site.

How will this website help achieve my business goals?

If you’re hiring a designer to build a new website, think about why you’re taking this step and what you hope to accomplish from it. Do you hope to increase orders from the site? Would you like to have more newsletter subscribers? Are you hoping for a lower bounce rate? Make sure that you communicate these specific goals and learn how the web designer can create a site that will help meet them.

To learn the answers to these questions and many more, please contact us today.