7 Tips: How to Pick the Right Web Design & Development Firm

Deciding to build a website and hire a web design company can be overwhelming. Much like hiring a contractor to build a house, picking a qualified and reliable company that you can trust to implement your vision is a big decision. As one of the oldest Asheville web design and web development companies, integritive has worked with a variety of clients worldwide, many of whom have told horror stories of their past company experiences.

Here is a list of 7 things to look for in a web design and development company to insure you’re website is in good hands.

1. Portfolio & Case Studies- These can tell you so much about not only the quality of the work a company does but also the diversity and results of the projects they work on.
2. Cost- Package vs. Custom- Cost is an important factor in determining what company to use to build your website. The term “you get what you pay for” is as accurate as it gets for websites, but that doesn’t mean that you have to build custom. Products like integritive’s STAXX™ website allow for a professional design within a modular framework to lower costs for small businesses while still providing unique designs specific to the client’s needs.
3. Reviews & Referrals- Reading reviews on Google +, Facebook and Yelp help to give insight to a company’s customer service as well as their process and project delivery. Testimonials on a website might be biased to the business but third party reviews can show both the good and bad. Just keep in mind that customer reviews can also be biased, so read more than one!
4. More Than Just a Skeleton Team- Having a full service agency doesn’t just mean that there are more people to quickly complete a project. It also means that creative collaboration is happening across multiple departments. This kind of collaboration means that a website has ideas and strategy from not just a design or development perspective but also from marketing and content editors to make sure the site is well rounded and achieving the customer’s goals.
5. A Strategy That Measures Results- Every step of a project should start by asking the question “what do we want to achieve with this?” This helps to guarantee that the end project isn’t just something pretty or informational but also delivers measurable results for the client.
6. Extra Services- While you might not need them in the beginning, somewhere down the line during your project you might find that you don’t have time to write website content or you need new photos, etc. Picking a company that can offer all these services to you ensures that you can focus on what’s most important to you, your business. Leave the other work to your website partner.
7. Ongoing Maintenance & Support- Even if you plan to update and make all the content changes to your website yourself, picking a company that offers ongoing services and maintenance will guarantee that you have a support system when you need it if anything goes wrong or you need help.

Using these 7 tips when deciding on a web design and development firm will help to differentiate between a winning website you love and a big headache you regret!