Choosing the best website design agency
In today’s digital world, businesses across countless industries rely on innovative user-friendly web design to accomplish their goals. As a result, web design companies are in high demand. Consumer and audience demographics have created a need for companies around the globe to have an online presence. However, it can be difficult to know which website design in Singapore companies or freelancers in the market provides the best support.
Fortunately, there are ways for business owners in Singapore to find the web design agencies best suited for their specific needs. Several agencies on the market work well with certain types of websites, while others offer high quality work regardless of the client. Whether you’re in need of a revamped brand identity or more modern website functionality, many companies in this specialized field are ready and willing to provide their services. It’s up to us to find which of these companies are the best choices.
Know your primary business objective
When choosing the best course of action for your website, it is essential to clearly identify your main objectives. What are you trying to accomplish with a new website design? Before choosing a company, businesses need to know how their targets can be defined. Is it a large audience? Are you hoping for increased conversion? Do you need to generate more sales? Or are you simply hoping to create a detailed resource to present corporate information? Finding the purpose of your website project is a very important first step. Answering these questions will help guide any business owner in the right direction.
Establish a budget for web design improvements
Whether your website is being designed for ecommerce, brand marketing, or corporate purposes, you need to have a budget in mind. The size and financial resources of your business will influence your selection of a website design agency. Providing 75% to 90% of your total budget to the companies you connect with during your search will allow you to remain flexible. Ask about their services that fit into your 75% to 90% range, and you’ll find out about options which can save you money in the long run. If the spending range isn’t enough to accomplish your goals, the agency may offer more services for an additional fee – which may still fit within your budget.
A few budgeting tips for website projects:
- Remember that building a new website from scratch will likely cost more than improving an existing one.
- Websites created through less complex platforms such as WordPress are typically cheaper, while custom content management system (CMS) or Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) code based websites tend to be more expensive.
- Web design agency costs usually depend on the complexity of your project, as well as the completion timeline.
Compare pricing and fees of different agencies
Many web design agencies in Singapore do not list exact prices online because they are calculated on a case-by-case basis. However, once you are able to gather pricing information from potential vendors, be sure to do your research before rushing to a final decision. Lower prices do not always correlate to lower quality work. Instead, these prices usually reflect the manner in which the work is completed – and sometimes these methods aren’t the ones you need. Getting pricing details from multiple agencies can take some time, but it is worthwhile.
The best web design companies work well when clients provide them with information on the project while requesting a service quote. Details and clear objectives for the project are extremely helpful at this stage. Cheaper agencies and freelancers may be able to provide pricing quotes without knowing all the details, but this tends to be a sign of rushed services focused more on speed than quality.
Ask these questions to get accurate pricing information from web design agencies:
- How much does it cost for them to make unscheduled website updates?
- How does the payment process work? Is it a one-time fee, on a monthly basis, or hourly pay?
- How many design revisions are allowed? Is there a limited number?
Research the web agency or freelancer and their past clients
Any experienced agency should be well-versed not only in content and coding, but more visual aspects of website building such as graphic design and colours. High quality web agencies should have an assortment of previous clients too – in turn, meaning that their portfolio of work should be diverse. Look for a company that has done work not just in your industry, but for others as well. A variety of past projects could demonstrate the careful consideration that a web design company puts into its work.
Understand the task allocation of your website design project
Throughout all web design projects small and large, communication between client and vendor is a requirement. The allocation of tasks needs to be clear, and you need to know which people are responsible for completing specific objectives. Ensure that you gather all of the essential information from the agency – including the names and contact details of the managers, assistants, administrators, and specialists who will be leading your project. Consistent communication between you and all parties involved with will make the work much easier to complete.
Some best practices:
- Ensure that the agency you consider has an in-house team that works together.
- Confirm the presence of a partner company and/or external freelancers before getting into the project, and verify that all involved groups have worked together in the past.
We advise collaboration with web design teams that genuinely care about bringing your ideas to life. The best agencies will offer useful feedback, and will be clear in their requests from you as a client. You should also consider the size of the company before selecting them for your project, as responsibilities and tasks can begin to mount as the work progresses. For a large web project, a design “agency” of 1 or 2 individuals may not suffice.
Regarding timelines, remember to find out how your project fits into their schedule as well – considering the fact that they may be working simultaneously with other clients. Finding a diverse group of readily available specialists could be beyond your budget, but having more hands on deck could lead to a better finished product.
Consider customer support needs and content management systems
Good agencies will have online systems in place to address your needs in a timely manner. Measures need to be put in place to correct errors when they arise, and the best website design companies recognize this fact. Some of these companies may offer to implement CMS that allow you to make direct changes in the future, after the project is completed. These tools make it easy for businesses to edit text, images, videos, and other media on their own. They allow for quick and easy page creation as well.
However, we suggest ensuring that the agency you select will be there to provide support if and when you have questions. No matter how simple the layout may seem, it is very important to have professionals in your corner – just to be on the safe side if website crashes or glitches occur. If you’re not interested in making web updates on your own – don’t worry, some agencies will have capacity to do the work on a continuous basis. Of course, this would mean that you would have to provide continuous payments too.
Clearly identify your website hosting service
In any website design project, it’s also very important to know which hosting service will be used. If you have an existing website, some agencies may insist on hosting it themselves or moving to another service they’re more familiar with. Be sure to ask questions before the project starts, and not after it’s too late. After all, you are paying for a service. You should know what sort of website hosting the costs cover.
Outline criteria and implement project deadlines
This general principle is especially relevant when it comes to web design projects done with external vendors. Schedules and deadlines keep groups and individuals on task. Established criteria help to visualize the desired results. Using these tools to guide the project along benefit everyone involved. If the web design company you select is consistently ahead of schedule, you’ve made a good choice. If they’re developing a bad habit of falling behind, maybe it’s time to reconsider.
From a quality standpoint, coming up with the key deliverables of the project will contribute to a healthy client-vendor relationship as well. Try to find out details such as the number of visitors that can be on your website simultaneously, how web maintenance will work, and how your website will function on mobile platforms.
Accomplishing website goals can be a painstaking but worthwhile endeavour. Try to find a web agency willing to work collaboratively every step of the way. You are paying to execute your goals and your vision, and this means that you should be an active participant during the process – even if you’re simply reviewing work. There are many steps involved, and these projects usually consist of months of back-and-forth revisions as the final picture begins to take shape, meaning that exact timelines are hard to predict. However, timetables formulated around smaller tasks can still provide you with a general sense of a company’s pace.
Conclusion
Do you require a full-fledged web design agency, or just specialized freelancers? That depends on your project, your short-term and long-term goals, your budget, and timeline. Cheap designs may work for small websites, but more vast enterprises will take more work, and money. Find an approach that works best for you.
Remember: always ask your questions – the best web design companies will always try their best to provide honest answers.