Are you in the middle of a web re-design project? Or are you going through re-branding efforts? Maybe you’ve been tasked with coming up with some landing pages.
Then, the odds are good that you need a website designer in the San Francisco Bay area.
The problem is, they’re easy to find — too easy. How do you know that you’ve picked a reputable company? Ask these three questions before you decide to hire anyone.
1. Talk to other similar-sized companies
Reviews can be tricky; too many good or bad reviews are suspicious, as someone can manipulate what is seen by flooding the reviews with fake ones.
Asking friends and family for recommendations isn’t necessarily going to help, either, as they likely don’t fully understand the scope of the project you’re dealing with.
That said, other companies have likely gone through a similar project. And, yes, that includes your competition. You can always connect with those companies or check the bottom of the website. You’ll often find the name of the company that designed the site (and maybe even a link to their site) in small letters at the bottom of the home page.
2. Can you walk me through your design process?
What kind of platform will they use to design your site — and is it something that you or others in your company can easily use should the need arise after the project is over? Furthermore, this question gives you insight into the company or individual’s approach, how they collaborate with clients, and their attention to detail.
How fast do they respond to questions? Will they be available to help once the project is over? How long will this take? You can learn a lot by asking this simple question.
3. Talk to me about website performance and site speed
A site that’s slow to load is a site that won’t rank high. It would be best to talk to prospective designers about their strategies to optimize website performance, reduce loading times, and improve overall site speed.
Because faster loading times lead to lower bounce rates, they improve your search rankings. Hence, your designer should be up-to-date on minimizing HTTP requests, compressing images, leveraging browser caching, etc.
Contact Cyrusson for more information.