A web agency is primarily an agency specialising in maintenance, website creation, and digital marketing. It is capable of providing your business with all the advice and solutions necessary to develop your online presence.
There are many web agencies offering different services to help you grow your business online. If you wish to gain more visibility and traffic, this article will help you make the right choice.
1. Look at the Agency’s Website
For me, this is the essential first step that makes it easy to gauge the agency’s capabilities. Of course, the saying goes that the cobbler’s children always go barefoot, but say what you will — if the agency’s website is a disaster and its design is outdated, your chances of finding the right company are slim. I very often notice that web agencies’ own sites are better than their clients’, so think carefully before contacting them if their artistic vision does not appeal to you. Because ultimately, design will play a decisive role in converting and retaining your visitors.
Want to see what a beautiful site looks like?
Check out our article on the most beautiful websites!
2. Is the Agency’s Website Ranked on Google?
A beautiful website is important, but if your site is not visible on Google when users search for the services you offer, your site serves little purpose. If you found an agency’s site through paid advertisements that allow it to appear on Google’s first page, it is likely that the developers know nothing about SEO. Believe me if you want to find an agency that knows how to position your site on the first page. Google alone generates 3x more visits than all social networks combined. Moreover, the user is already qualified — they are actively searching for your services. Above all, do not neglect this factor when developing your business.
Calling on an Agency for a Website Redesign
This is a necessary aside. If you wish to call on an agency for the redesign of your website, be extremely vigilant about their natural SEO capabilities. If your site is already positioned on Google and generates organic traffic, a redesign can just as easily reposition your brand for the future or bring it to rock bottom.
3. Is the Agency Recognised?
Does the agency have reviews on Google? On Trustpilot? Do not hesitate to search the agency’s name on Google along with “reviews” to check feedback on this web agency. This is also a very good indicator. But there are others: is it recognised by its peers? Do the media talk about it? Etc.
Overall, if you already follow all these criteria to the letter when choosing your web agency, that is more than enough.
Expert Tip
The best advice I can give you is not to — what am I saying — absolutely not choose your agency based on price differences alone! We are not living in a fairy tale: if a web agency offers you a site for €500, even if their marketing is well-packaged and enticing, Father Christmas does not exist! A working website for under €1,000 does not exist. Sorry…
Price reflects the experience of the people within the agency, but also the minimum time they will spend on a project. And you have no idea what an incompetent, cheap web agency can cost you. A website is already expensive, so do not put less than €1,000 into rebuilding your site in a year just because it served no purpose or worse.
What is the cost of a website?
The Time It Takes to Create a Website
As mentioned, the price depends mainly on the time required to create a site. If the agency offers you a 48-hour turnaround to create your site, run. That is not even enough time to refine your brand voice for the web.
How Does the Agency Build Its Websites?
Analysing and/or asking how they are going to create your website is also good advice. In fact, a truly great website is not just lines of code. Normally, a good web agency will start by defining your personas with you, the voice of your brand, understanding who you are and what you sell beyond your products, and much more. A well-made website surrounds itself with these elements to be effective; it must not be built randomly and without purpose. This also applies to your digital marketing if that is what you need.
Does the Agency Do Everything Under the Sun?
Website creation, natural SEO, advertising (Google, television, social media, etc.), social media management (community manager), graphic design, mobile app development, and more. It is likely that if they can do everything, they do nothing well. A web agency specialising in 1 or 2 areas is a good sign of quality work.
It is entirely possible that they do everything correctly, but it is more risky.
Brief
Write a brief. This is very good advice for protecting yourself. Defining in writing what you want rather than doing it orally will also help the agency or service provider you work with. However, do not specify everything and allow for the creativity of whoever you employ. It is their profession; the person knows better than you the things they need to do. A brief is good, but it has its limits.
Work with createur2site
If you would like to have a website, we are here for you. Our quality criteria for website creation reflect everything I have mentioned above, and we take pride in it. Creating a well-made site that has the potential to succeed is our greatest satisfaction for every website we develop. From design to web development, marketing analysis such as personas, right through to SEO so you are visible on Google. Our values are to create websites for brands that aspire to have an effective website among the millions of competitors waiting for you.