by You’ve decided that it’s best to work with a web design agency for your website.
You’ve probably already tried to create your own site, work with a freelancer, or at least learned about the work required to create a site.
There are many entrepreneurs who try to create their own websites or find the cheapest solution, before turning to an agency. However, if for those entrepreneurs the creation of sites is not the basic activity, then the whole process will take longer and the end result will be questionable.
Therefore, it is recommended to turn to specialists who deal with this every day: create websites.
Most of the time, the cheapest solution becomes, in the medium and long term, the most expensive.
Suppose you’ve already taken the big step and contacted a web design agency. After the first discussion, you got an offer from them that you are thinking of accepting.
How do you proceed? Here are some tips that can help you have a successful collaboration.
Rules in communicating with a web design agency
Rule no. 1: establishing the rules of communication
At the beginning of each collaboration, it should be discussed how the communication will unfold during it.
Although there are few cases where this happens, we believe that the communication process should come from the agency. If not, I suggest you discuss this in order to agree on the best method of communication.
For example, communication rules may include the following:
- Frequency of online or physical meetings
- Means of communication used for technical information about the project (email, Google Drive, Skype, etc.)
- Means of communication used for one-off short discussions (telephone, Skype, email, etc.)
- Frequency of discussions with the project manager within the agency (daily, weekly, monthly)
If these aspects are firmly defined from the very beginning, there is a better chance that the communication will proceed smoothly and that each party involved will know exactly what to do.
Rule no. 2: website brief
Any website is based on a brief that is usually provided by the customer (by you).
This brief is a document with all the information the agency needs to create the design and functionality of the site.
This document usually contains a series of customer questions from the agency.
Here are some examples:
- This is a presentation site or online store
- How many pages will the site have?
- What information each page will contain
- Choose the brand rules of the company, in terms of design
- What is the target audience of the website
- Find/What is the ultimate goal of each conversion page (leads, sales, etc.)
- What are the points of interaction with the readers of the site (contact forms, blog comment area)
- What special features do you want to integrate into the site (photo/video galleries, event calendar, interactive grid tests, special forms, etc.)
Rule no. 3: checking the status of the works
During the development of the site, you may be impatient. It may happen that you want to contact the agency sooner than the deadline given by them, to ask them what stage they are in and to ask them to show you what they have worked on so far.
If this happens, it means that you risk violating the rules of communication that were originally established. However, such a gesture can also mean that you do not trust that the agency will complete the proposed tasks on time.
Therefore, it is recommended that before starting the project, after the agency has had time to analyze the brief, to establish together a series of determining points of the development of the project, in which the agency will show you what worked.
These points can be:
- Time to complete homepage design
- Time to complete the design of a product/service page
- It’s time to dump her and move on
- Time to complete and successfully test each special function
- Complete the entire site design
- Time to add content to all news pages
- Time to add blog completion (if articles published on the old blog have been imported)
These are just a few examples, but you can set the right time together based on the specifics of your site and the agency’s willingness to go through each step.
Rule no. 4: feedback and retouching
Feedback is very important in the process of communicating with a web design agency.
However, it must be communicated shortly after each decisive moment in the development process. Otherwise, the development deadline for the next steps will be delayed by the number of days the agency waits for feedback.
Feedback must also be provided in its entirety in a single step. It should not be divided into multiple discussions, meetings, and emails. It is recommended that, after each decisive moment in which the agency shows you what worked, to write down absolutely all your observations and send them using a single means of communication.
In other words, it is better to postpone the project by one day, during which time you write down all your comments and send feedback than to postpone by several days if you submit the feedback in stages.
Rule no. 5: what has been approved should not be changed
A very important problem with communicating with a web design agency occurs when the client does not know exactly what he wants his site to look like or what functions it has.
This must be established from the outset, based on the brief referred to in rule no. 2.
In addition, it is therefore important to provide feedback and approval at every crucial moment in the creation of your site.
If this does not happen, you run the risk of getting a site that you don’t like, that doesn’t fit your needs and needs to be modified. As you know, any changes to a section of the site that have already been approved will incur additional development time and even extra costs.
That’s why it’s very important to determine exactly what you want from your website right from the start, even before contacting a web design agency.
Rule no. 6: add content
An essential aspect of creating any site is its popularity with content.
There are many web design agencies that do not include this in the development price and this task is the responsibility of the client.
This rule needs to be established from the beginning with the agency: will they add content or will you add it?
By the content of a site, we refer to any material that populates its pages: text, pictures, infographics, videos, Powerpoint presentations, eBooks, newsletter subscription text, map with office/offices, etc.
If it is difficult for you to get acquainted with the platform on which your site is made, we recommend that you leave the addition of content to the agency.
Even if you do not add all content to the site, it is very important that you familiarize yourself with the administration panel of your site so that you can modify the existing content whenever needed.
Bonus: choosing the right web design agency
We hope that all of the above tips will help you communicate effectively with the future web design agency of your choice.
If you haven’t already taken the important step, here are some bonus tips on how to decide which web design agency to choose:
- Have a portfolio of active sites: Your portfolio is a valuable experience, and the sites in your portfolio should meet the quality standards you expect from your future site.
- Keep up to date with web design and online marketing news: even if you haven’t been able to participate in a discussion with an agency representative yet, you can tell by the way they present themselves on their own website and blog if the agency’s specialists are up to date with the news and have relevant experience in the field. If your site and blog have been out of date for a few months, we suggest you think about them before you go.
- To listen to your ideas and respect them from the first design option: the agency that can adapt to your needs, that listens to you and that takes into account what you want is the right one for you.
- To present your financial offer in a transparent way, without hidden costs or additions along the way: the agency that communicates to you from the beginning all the costs involved but also other additional costs that may appear prove transparency and credibility.
- Offer to help you with maintenance: the easiest way is to work long-term with the agency that created your site for any changes and updates, so you don’t have to change the agency after the site is complete.
Now that you have all this information in mind, we believe that all you have to do is set out in detail what you want the site you want to look like and get started.
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