Therefore you should approach the selection and decision-making process almost like an interview. What web agency is the perfect fit for you, your business and your brand? You do not want to take on board any aspect which will go against your business aims and goals – rather you should only want things that will help it to prosper and make more profits.

10 Things to Look For when Choosing a Web Agency

1. Depth of Services
You should select an agency that offers a wide range of services in the overall digital marketing and website design sphere. Why? In doing so, you align yourself with an agency that is equipped with the skills and experience to optimise many areas of your business (such as SEO for example) and can also take action and fix anything that you may need to pivot into (such as updates and changes to algorithms and trends). What you will learn is that a website for example is actually made up of many different moving parts (wireframe, CMS, domain, hosting, security certificates) etc. and you need a web agency that is proficient and confident in all of these areas and more.

2. Proof of Work in your Sector
While overall reviews and testimonials from their previous clients are of course important; try to see if a web agency has worked for any other brands in your sector before. Each industry and sector has their own set of standards, circumstances and niche factors which will be vastly different to the next. So if an agency has worked with a brand in your space before, they will have encountered these and therefore be able to anticipate them and understand the full scope of your needs. This is a big benefit when choosing to work with the right agency. Would your brand be a test subject to them or would you be part of their already tried and tested strategies?

3. A Modern Website
When it comes to the web agencies that you research; make sure to assess their own website and digital presence too. Surely if they can design and deliver a modern, slick and responsive website like you have in mind for your business, they should also have a modern, slick and responsive website themselves? Along with their proof of work (as touched on above), don’t neglect to notice the standards they set for themselves as their own website should in theory be the pinnacle of their design prowess and technical knowledge. If their own website is slow to load, clumsy to navigate and contains the likes of spelling errors and low-quality images; how can you expect the work they deliver for you to be of a higher professional standard?

4. SEO and UX Knowledge
In your quest for choosing a web agency you will probably come across the terms SEO and UX. SEO stands for search engine optimisation and this means taking steps and completing tasks for your website that specifically help it to rank higher on the Google search engine results page. UX stands for user experience and this pertains to how your website visitors interact with and use your website. Ideally they should find the website easy to navigate and enjoyable to use – the better the experience for the users (visitors) on your website, the more likely they will convert into customers. Ensure your chosen web agency is adept and knowledgeable in these areas – just like we are with our expert UX system for example.

5. They Understand which CMS Fits Your Requirements
The term CMS stands for content management system and this is the framework that a website is built upon. Different types of CMS exist for different requirements. For example if you are looking for an industry-leading platform that can support large amounts of text, image and video content etc. WordPress may be the best choice. If yours is an eCommerce website with the main focus of making sales online, Shopify may be the best CMS to fit your requirements. The ideal web agency will not only have a knowledge and understanding of the different CMS for your needs, but also experience with designing websites for clients with them so they can show you professional and working examples.

6. Experience with Various Sizes of Businesses
When it comes to website design and digital marketing, there is no one size fits all for every brand and business. Yes of course there are common themes and trends that will be applicable for all (such as having a modern responsive website), but ultimately businesses of various sizes will have different needs. So when choosing a web agency, it would be good if they have worked with small businesses all the way up to global brands. Why? It means they will have first hand experience of what each business type needs and will have navigated any of the pitfalls and problems that can arise during the process. With this your business will not be a ‘first’ for the web agency to deal with, instead they will have previous experience with a business just like yours (in terms of scale and size at least).

7. Clear Roadmaps for any Project
An experienced web agency should have proven systems and procedures in place for all of the work they carry out for clients. So when it comes to designing a custom website for you for example, they should be able to give you clear and direct guidelines and roadmaps for the project. Beware of ‘wishy-washy’ answers and feedback when you enquire about timelines and projections. Even though the very nature of website design does not always work in a straight line, here at Webheads we pride ourselves on delivering our custom websites both on time (and on budget) for our clients. When a web agency can do this for you, you can properly plan and execute other aspects of your business without waiting around for random progress reports and timeline updates on the website build and deployment.

8. Knowledge of Page Speed Optimisation
We have all been there. You are browsing a website and it is slow to load, images won’t display properly, menus lag when opening etc. These are all examples of bad page speed optimisation – whereby the elements on a webpage (and possibly by extension the website overall) are not optimised to provide a slick and speedy experience for website visitors. Your chosen web agency should not only be knowledgeable when it comes to page speed optimisation but also actively work on it and implement it. Examples of this can include compressing images so that they still look high-quality and impressive but their file size is smaller so they do not take as much time to load and display. Just like how they are similarly named, page speed optimisation has an effect on search engine optimisation too – with a faster page speed helping with your SEO efforts overall.

9. They don’t offer a ‘One Size Fits All’ Solution
Unless you want a website that looks similar (or even in some cases exactly the same) as others online and possibly the same as your competitors too; avoid web agencies that offer a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Even beyond the realm of website design, yours is a unique business which should be treated as one by your web agency. A website design from an already made theme / template is a website that is not custom or bespoke for your business. Likewise web agencies offering social media marketing that only provide basic and overused templates and ready made designs are not attuned to your brand and are instead completing a box-ticking exercise instead of a custom service for targeted results.

10. They Build Websites that are Ready to be Scaled
Surely you want a web agency that thinks big and wants to nurture the future prospects of your business? They should build you a website that is ready to be scaled as your business grows too. Instead of saying in the future that you will need a new website after you gain X amount of customers or make X amount of sales etc., they should be providing you with a robust tool that is ready to grow with you and your business too. This shows that the web agency is working on the side of your business not only in the ‘now’ and short-term with the website design project, but also priming it to perform and be successful in the future too as your business scales.

Taking all of this into account, we are glad to say that we here at Webheads fulfil all of the above and are an ideal choice for any business (of any size) who are looking to turbocharge their online presence and be ready to grow their business in the future too. You can click / tap here to see our list of services (such as custom website design and more) and here to see our sprawling portfolio and client reviews which we have built up over two decades of being in business. Offering our clients work that is delivered both on time and on budget, an expert UX, technical prowess when it comes to payment gateways and more – whatever your brand needs, we can help!