Kim’s Website Design & Marketing
How to Choose Your Ideal Web Designer or Web Design Company in Australia for Your Project
How to choose an ideal web designer in Australia for your project is a matter of vital importance to which you must dedicate time and effort; The success of your business will depend on it!
Naturally, you want to know how to choose a web designer so that your website is attractive and productive but, given the large number of offers and services, making the best decision will seem like a difficult task.
But don’t worry then, to guide you and make sure you are right when choosing a designer for your future website, here we explain what are the aspects that you should take into account.
“Following these tips, you will choose the best web design company in Australia, or a Freelance web designer, to develop your future website.”
Let’s read on!
1. Make a list of your web design, business and sales goals and objectives
The search for the ideal web designer in Australia begins with having clear ideas about what your website will do. In other words, beyond an attractive design, which is still important, it is necessary that your website be an excellent tool for your business.
Ask yourself about the exact characteristics that your website should have. Some examples of questions that you should honestly answer are the following:
- How will you generate leads and sales for your business?
- Will it integrate a CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot …)?
- Will it have an automated marketing tool incorporated, such as Pardot or Marketo?
- Will you have an email marketing platform like Mailchimp?
- Can payments or donations be made through the web, including those made by subscriptions?
- Will users be able to fill in contact or subscription forms on the website?
Answering questions similar to those posed will help you to be clear about the objectives of your web page and thus to be more precise in the way of choosing a web designer.
2. Put it in a brief
The brief is a detailed presentation of your web project. In this presentation, you must place all the ideas related to the design, functionality and objectives that your website will have.
Keep in mind that a forward-looking and quality Freelance web designer, agency or studio should ask you to fill out a detailed questionnaire about your website. It would not be a request for a quote but rather a way to organize ideas.
3. Define your technology needs
Technology is an essential part of your website and therefore it is important to be clear in answering questions such as:
- What does your website need to work? Web server, programming language, etc.
- Will it be a corporate website or a marketing website?
- How important are the visual part and the technical part?
The answers to these questions are the key when choosing a web designer, as there are those who have specialized more in the visual part, offering simple web programming, while others are more experts in advanced web programming, offering some simpler creative design services. You will have to be aware of which one suits you best.
4. Define your design needs
When we talk about design, we refer to the aesthetic part. In this case, ask yourself questions such as:
- How do you want your page to look?
- What do you want to convey to the visitor just by seeing it?
It is really difficult to make the web designer see the impressions you have in mind, but if it is an experienced professional, they will be able to specify what you really want.
However, it is convenient that you look for a way to put those feelings and ideas on paper, because this way you will be closer to making yourself understood by the web designer you choose and obtaining what you really want.
Some keys that you can consider are the following:
- Draw a picture of what the page would look like.
- Show the web pages you would like it to look like and express what you like about each of them, and what you don’t.
- Describe what you would not like the page to have.
5. Define your business needs
In this part, the key questions revolve around how useful your page will have for your company. Specifically, the idea is to know:
- What product or service do you sell?
- What is the sales process of your company?
- What are your needs and goals as a company?
- What role will your website fulfil to meet those needs and achieve those goals?
Through the answers given, you will be able to be clear, among other things, if your website will serve to give real benefits to your company, either to your client portfolio or if it will attract new potential clients.
6. Determine the budget for your website
If it is a corporate website, the most common is that you have a fixed fund or budget for its development of it.
If you have a fixed budget for the development of the website, I recommend you indicate to the web studio or Freelance web designer that you choose that you have up to 90% of said amount. Why? Well, because I recommend that you reserve the remaining 10% for any contingency that arises; that need will most likely arise later.
To allocate this budget, whether it is a corporate page or an advertising page for a new project or similar, I must warn you of an important detail: most agencies or web studios do not publish the prices of their services.
In estimating the budget, you must consider the following conditions:
- If it is a new website, that is, it will be created from scratch, the budget will increase because it will require more work and time. Modifying an existing web page usually requires less time and budget.
- The price is reduced if you choose to work with standard web content managers (CMS) like WordPress. Well, the price of the design and development of the page in WordPress is cheaper. Therefore, if you need a custom CMS or based on HTML code, the price will increase.
7. Search and analyse studios and web designers
Having made your list of objectives, needs and budget, it is time to start looking for a design studio or Freelance web designer from which you can assess their experience, work culture and client portfolio. To do this, you must ask for a Web design budget.
Where? Remember that in another article I told you places to search and find job offers and Web projects for Freelance. This is where companies and web designers look for potential clients and this is where you should advertise your job offer.
Although for mutual convenience it is better to have agencies, studios or web designers located near your area of influence, you should bear in mind that now technology has reduced distances, a decision that undoubtedly influences the prices and costs of the Freelance Web designer and their budgets.
8. Visit the web pages of the web design companies and web designers
There are many professionals in the sector spending several hours a day looking for and getting clients and web design projects. Therefore, once your offer is published on any of these platforms, it won’t be long before the experts in the design and development of Web pages will take their time to send their budget for Web design.
When choosing a web designer there are three aspects that you should assess so that your choice is the most successful:
- Experience: Research about the time they have been working, as well as the experience they have in developing web pages in your business area.
- Work culture: Try to check if they have qualified staff, if they offer post-service support and, very importantly, if they have a work methodology to develop web pages like the one you need.
- Client portfolio: The portfolio is not only an indicator of the experience the web designer has, but it will also help you assess the quality of the services they provide.
What better way to assess the experience and quality of the work of the web designer of your choice than through their own website.
There is no justification for a web designer passionate about his work not to have a web page with a good design style or at least updated, attractive, functional and accessible.
It is important that you do this check on all devices, as this will tell you how detailed the web designer is in his work.
Regardless of whether you view it on a computer, tablet, or mobile phone, the website of an agency, studio or web designer should provide a good browsing experience and be fully functional.
9. Contact each web designer directly
It is a conversation where there will be many questions because a company (agency or Web studio) or Freelance Web designer) with experience and knowledgeable about your work as a web designer will question you in detail to know precisely what you need on your page.
On your part, of course, there must also be many questions, to which the web designer must answer with patience and professionalism, otherwise, it is very likely that it is not the web designer you are looking for and you should choose.
10. Ask for prices, fees and additional charges
Generally, web design companies in Australia and web designers do not publish the prices of their services on their websites, so it may take you some time to obtain this information. Although you can discover them roughly in another article where I guide professionals on how much they should charge to design and create a web page.
In many cases, you will find service packages that may include a part of what you want and, by asking for an individual price by mail or telephone, they will prefer that you contact them directly to inform them of your project.
To have an estimate of the cost of designing your website, with a specific company or web designer, you should contact them directly and ask them about the prices, rates and charges of:
- Complete development of the website
- Web hosting service and web domain registration
- Unscheduled updates
- Unscheduled reviews
- Hourly, monthly or project rates
- Number of reviews at no cost
When you find out about the prices you should take into account that a low price does not necessarily mean poor quality or vice versa, that the one who charges the most is the most professional. Here the price can vary for different reasons.
11. Compare the information
There are many aspects that you can compare for each of the agencies or design studios that you initially selected, for example, prices, the number of reviews, CMS they offer, services …
In the case of prices, try to compare by evaluating the amount regarding the offer, experience and quality, this will help you have a better perspective to choose the web designer and not reject a proposal just because it is of a very low price.
12. Value your client portfolio
The information provided by the clients of an agency or web studio is essential to know what to expect from them since the experience and professionalism of an established web studio is measured through the number of clients and the quality of their designs.
It is essential that the agency, studio or Freelancer you contact shows you a wide variety of the designs that they have developed and for whom. This represents a strong endorsement.
Viewing a web studio’s jobs will also help you determine how much experience they have and whether your expectations are within the scope of their services.
At this point, you should choose a web designer who offers a portfolio with addresses and emails of their clients to ask for references.
13. Read testimonials and comments online
Reviewing testimonials and comments online is an excellent aid in choosing the ideal web designer.
Congratulations, praise or criticism about the service provided, especially if they refer to someone within the agency’s work team, provide a key point from which you can make a good decision when choosing a web designer.
14. Consider the customer retention rate
Formally established web design companies in Australia measure their customer retention rate, and the best ones boast about it, indicating that it is close to 90%. In any case, a rate above 60% is considered good.
Be wary of companies and web designers that do not offer you this information, as this may indicate that for some reason a large number of clients give up continuing with them.
15. Ask who will be in charge of the design of your page
In agencies or web studios, a project is usually assigned to a project manager or administrator. It is important that you meet this person and that he or she takes responsibility to you for the progress of your Web project.
Being able to contact a single person within the work team will help you avoid excuses or delays in achieving the objectives set within your project.
Being attended by a single person will also help you to ask all the questions and concerns that are generated, update the information about the progress in the work or discuss a topic, if necessary.
16. Ask for customer support during the development
In the case that you choose a web designer, it may happen that the contact person is not available at some point. It is logical, it is about a person, not a robot! Therefore, it is prudent that in that case, you have someone who can provide support when the first person is not available.
It is important that the web studio you hire has an online post-service attention system, so if something unforeseen occurs with your page, you can contact them to correct the errors.
Consider both web designers who offer to configure the CMS tools so that you can make changes to your website yourself, as well as those who offer you the services of a web designer, programmer or developer to carry out these changes.
17. Discuss the web design process
For the design of your business website to go well, make sure you:
- Know the process or work methodology that the web designer will apply (we go through our specific methodology so there are no ambiguous processes for you).
- Provide photos and content for the website in advance (we can arrange this on your behalf).
- Hire a content writer in advance if necessary (we can assist with this process).
18. Ask who can update your website
It is essential that you know the update policies of your website that the company or web designer you hire manages, in this way you will not have any problem knowing what changes you can make yourself, after configuring the CMS by the web designer, or if it is, he who takes care of all or part of the updates.
You must ensure that your website does not stagnate once it is active. Therefore, your goals and those of the web designer you choose should be:
- Keep it well positioned in Google.
- That the number of visits increases.
- That visitors stay on the page for longer and longer.
- Keep users coming back.
- That there are conversions (for example, subscriptions, comments, sales …).
To achieve all these objectives, it is necessary that you make sure that the web designer, studio or web design studio will supervise and take care of your web page, if they will take care of updates and broken links, and if so, you should know what the cost will be additional of these services.
19. Find out if they are going to relocate your website
You must anticipate whether the website that the company or web designer you have hired will design will work well with the hosting service you have chosen for it.
If not, you have the following options:
- Choose to host it themselves on their Web servers. In that case ask for a price before!
- Hire another web hosting company that you consider appropriate for your project and company.
- Avoid moving your page to another hosting and contact the hosting company to adapt to your new web page needs.
20. Establish work criteria and delivery deadlines
In order to be sure that your web page will be ready in the indicated time, it is necessary that you establish the work criteria and the objectives to be achieved in a certain term.
Try to be quite specific with the criteria you set, for example:
- The quality level of the page
- The devices on which it will be seen
- The number of visitors you will receive
- The launch date of the page
- Maintenance schedule frequency
21. Request a contract and development plan
A written and signed Web contract that establishes conditions such as costs, responsibilities, intellectual property rights, among others, will help avoid uncomfortable positions for both you and the contracted web studio. It is vital to know how to make a good contract for the design and development of a website.
Likewise, a project plan that explains the expectations, responsibilities and deadlines to be covered will serve to avoid delays and discussions around certain issues, for example, who is responsible for a certain task and when to do it.
It is also very convenient that you make sure to send a polite rejection to all those web designers who were not chosen. This will avoid inconvenience and misunderstandings on both sides.
22. Follow up and clear communication
Even choosing a highly recommended web designer is not feasible if you do not have clear and specific information. Therefore, be sure to provide all the necessary information to help you make the best decisions.
Quick and accurate feedback throughout the project is key to avoiding interruptions and waste of time, effort and money, both by the web designer of your choice and for you.
We hope that all these tips and keys will help you choose the right designer for your future company website.
Although designing your business website involves many steps, it is a process that does not necessarily have to be cumbersome, frustrating, or full of unknowns. The fundamental key is to be clear about what you want and what you need.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is a lot of information to consider so allow us to help you through it. Call me, Kim, or my team on 0450 871 934 and let’s have a friendly, laid back, no-obligation discussion.
Why not? There is nothing to lose, but a lot of clarity to gain.
Call us today.
In the meantime, good luck in your business ventures! We wish you all the success in your endeavours.
Take care and thanks for reading.
Kindest Regards,
Kim
Kim’s Websites & Marketing