Back at the beginning of the year, we pitched for a website for a potential client in Reading.
Unfortunately we were not successful. We had got down to the last two, but it in the end it had come down to price.
Now, fast forward several months and that same client has got back in touch with us.
This is a brief summary of their current position:
- Underwhelming experience
- Constantly chasing the company for updates, they won’t pick up the phone
- Unable to update content in an intuitive manner, if at all
- Regretting ever going down this route
Their most profitable time of the year, which was the deadline for the new website launching, has passed.
Obviously their website is now a headache. Time and money feel wasted and the project has ground to a halt.
Websites are an investment
It’s important to remember that websites are an investment, so spend once and invest in your business.
The only alternative is to start a low quality project which causes you headaches and leaves you with poor results before you finally have to go down the better route but with less money in your pocket.
WHERE IS THE CLIENT NOW?
We’re delighted to be working with them now. We are experts in web design and web development and we will deliver an exceptional website that will make money for their business.
We pride ourselves on being pro-active in communication and are happy to visit the client on-site.
However, it reminded us of a saying that goes “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices are forgotten”.
We cannot stress enough that websites are an investment.
As a company that prides itself as being an expert in web design and web development, we know that our clients enjoy the process of creating their new websites.
As a company, we:
- Have excellent communication skills
- Are proactive
- Deliver web design visuals that delight
- Code them into a pixel perfect highly performing SEO website that is
- Integrate that website into a highly intuitive and simple to use CMS (Content Management System)
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices are forgotten”
How to avoid being in this position
Start with looking at portfolios
One of the simplest things you can do to avoid in this position is to check out the portfolios of the web design agencies that you’re thinking of working with.
What you see there will indicate the standard of design and development that you can expect for your website.
Ask yourself ‘Is the standard of what I am looking at now in line with where I want my businesses’ online presence to be?’.
You can view our portfolio here.
Book yourself in for a meeting / demo
A website MUST be simple to use
A visually stunning website is a great start but if it’s difficult to use then that will become a point of frustraton very quickly.
Before partnering with a web design and development agency, ask for a demo of a recently built website.
Ask questions like:
- Is this simple to use?
- Is this SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) friendly?
- Will this be bespoke for my business or an off the shelf product?
We’d be happy to have you come into the office and provide not only a demo of how your website could work but also get you editing some content yourself so you can see just how easy it will be.
A simple to use website means you will publish more content and more content means better search rankings.
Ask why you should use that agency
It’s your project and you’re in control.
A great question to ask is ‘Why should we use you and not a competitor?’.
So why should you use us and not a competitor?
Take it as given that our web design and web development skills are fantastic, but why would you use us and not one of our many competitors?
Communication Skills
Clients always value our communication skills.
No chasing us for updates, we’ll be pro-active in getting in touch with you and coming to visit you.
We’ll have a ‘discovery’ meeting before a single page of your website is designed.
Your first design from us will be a single home page, so we can get your feedback on the direction of your website.
Development websites
We provide early access to your website so it doesn’t all fall in your lap the week before it’s meant to go live.
We do that via a private development site so you, and anyone else would like to access it, can see how your website is being built.
We’ll even provide early access to the CMS (Content Management System) if you require it so that you can start populating content early.
Templates are restrictive
We don’t lock you into templates.
Templates feel a bit ‘old school’ to us.
Imagine having a website that is fixed in terms of it’s layout. You’ll have to call your web design agency and dip your hand in your pocket, everytime you want to do something slightly different and that becomes frustrating and costly.
Instead, we provide you with a library of content blocks that you can piece together in any way that you see fit.
One of our clients perfectly described it as ‘Digital Lego’.
Simple and enjoyable to use and builds great websites.
Transparent Pricing
Our pricing is completely transparent, everything is broken down so you can see where your money is being spent.
You can pick and choose which parts you would like to do now and phase in other parts later down the line when you have more income.
We will actually make your project enjoyable
All of these things mean your website project will be enjoyable.
The end result will be a simple to use, powerful, SEO friendly and fantastic looking website that you’ve been involved with every step of the way.
What’s more, it will be delivered on time and on budget.
Ambitious companies like yours invest in great web design and web development
As an ambitious company, you know your website can be invaluable to you.
Investing in it is one of the best business decisions that you can make.
We are passionate about businesses generating income form their website and you are 100% better off having something of quality then a cheap website that isn’t going to generate any money for your business.
Your next website can look like any of these
