Oh no! Its happened again. Another victim of a web design company who promised the world and failed to deliver. It came to me from a lady who filled out the form on our site this morning:
"I am interested in a redesign of my website. My site is due to be complete and delivered this week. My current web firm has been a nightmare. It has been five months and they cannot seem to correct several database errors. I am looking for an honest and dedicated web firm to redesign and update my site once I take delivery from this firm."
Do you know how many times a month I get emails and calls that sound like this? Too many! I think this is a really good indicator of how some web design industry people are taking advantage of their non-technical customers or have so much growth they can't keep up with the work. It also seems that the companies who are really at the disadvantage of being ripped-off like this are the ones that don't do their homework or don't understand technology.
I'm not saying that all 21,000,000 designers in Atlanta (that result is from doing a search on Google for "Atlanta Web Design") are bad, but the ones that are doing this are making it hard for those of us who have our client's best interest at heart. It takes much longer now to gain a client's trust than it did when I started 8 years ago. Its also harder to work with client's who have had bad experiences because they don't trust your advice, even though they know its good. They just don't want to take that chance again.
The good news is that this really helps my customers appreciate how we work with them once we do gain their trust. Bottom line is that there are a few indicators that you can look for that will point to what your experience will be like in the future with a web design firm or any company for that matter.
For those who are reading this and still looking for a good design firm and need some guidelines, here's what to look for in your next web design group:
- Experience--this counts for a lot. Ask how long the company has been in business. How many clients do they have? Do they feel comfortable if you ask them if you can call one or two clients on their portfolio? Make sure that the breadth of their experience is wide and they can handle many web design languages such as HTML, XHTML, XML, etc. Also, if you are asking them to do search engine submission (SEO) or database development, make sure they can show you solid examples of each.
- A long client retention rate. What is the average number of years clients have been working with them? If their clients have been with them more than 2 years, chances are the company is an active participant in the relationship and is still helping their clients solve problems as they come up. One of the biggest complaints I've heard recently is, "Our web designer stopped calling us back." That's a sure sign of a designer who a) is afraid to engage with the client because they can't fix the problem or b) is so busy working with higher revenue clients that they are ignoring their calls from small clients thinking they are a waste of time. My heart especially goes out to people who experience the latter and I try even harder to help them when they come to my doorstep. A client should NEVER feel like they are wasting their vendor's time.
- Live examples of their work posted on their site. If there aren't any examples or they ask you to call them first, go to the next web designer on your list and forget them. I've actually seen a few web designers who had examples of work on their portfolio that were all broken links. Make sure those links are live sites that have been doing business for a long time.
- If they claim to be able to do search engine submission, make them prove it. Can they take you to Google and have you put in keywords and show their client(s) coming up on the first page? Make sure they aren't giving you company names to search like Brown Reporting and then have you search "Brown Reporting." Most likely, that company will come up first because of the name, but very few people are searching for the company name, especially if they haven't heard of them before. They are searching "atlanta court reporters" which is the service this company provides. (Brown Reporting is number 4 in the organic listings on Google and, proudly, a client of mine who has been with us for 5 years and we just finished doing our 5th site for them. Talk about client retention!)
- Does their ecommerce shopping cart really work? If you're shopping for a web design firm to help you sell on the web, make sure you try out one or two of their ecommerce sites. Go buy something! How was the experience? Would you come back to that site and shop again? If not, then the site they build for you probably won't be much better.
- Make sure they practice what they preach. In other words, how is their own site doing on the web? Did you find it at the top of the engines? Is it clear and concise? I don't really believe in the story of the shoemaker with no shoes when it comes to web designers. If their own site doesn't deliver the goods, their client's sites probably don't either.
I could go on and on, but I'll save more information for future posts. The bottom line is, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Don't just pick a firm because you like the way their sites look. Interrogate the salesperson you talk to on the phone--mercilessly! (If its the CEO like me answering, all the better--heh, heh, heh...) I promise you that if they keep their head during the question and answer part of your conversation and give you clear answers, they most likely are a reputable company. Make sure you don't hear hesitation about anything--voices say a lot more than words. Then book a face-to-face appointment if possible Follow your gut and use your newfound knowledge to make your next web design experience the best it can be!
Now, excuse me...I've got to go call the lady with the database problem...
Ok, this is ridiculous. I'm up at 5:00 AM waiting for the new Firefox update. Here are the Top 10 Reasons I Love Firefox:
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