Today we’re going to give you the top five questions you should ask when getting a new website. Loads of people, like you, are working on getting new websites for their company every single day.
The website design and development industry is massive as the need for websites isn’t going away any time soon.
Social media and DIY sites like SquareSpace, GoDaddy, Wix, and many more took some of the need away from Web Designers & Developers, BUT Google and other search engines still prefer a business to have a website to be certain they are showing the most up-to-date information to anyone using their platforms.
Why does this matter to you and the questions you should ask when getting a new website?
Because your website needs to be:
- found by Google
- have accurate and up-to-date information
- be accessible and easy to use on mobile devices like your iPhone or Galaxy S8
Answers to these 5 questions will help you know if the agency or web designer is right for you OR not.
If you’d like to get your website built by Get Quirked! schedule a call today OR just call now: 623-748-4782
Contents
1. Do you do a competitor analysis before starting on the design?
Knowing who your competition is and how they are attracting an audience to their website is crucial before starting a new website project.
At Get Quirked, we do this before every project so we know how we can set you up for success in both the short-term and long-term against your competition.
Some agencies will use this as an upsell to get you to spend a bit more with them while others don’t do it at all.
We feel you should have this information prior to starting any work because it can change the content strategy, the lead generation strategy, and even how potential customers interact with YOUR website.
2. Will we be able to edit or add new content to the website regularly?
This question is very important and should be asked in the reverse as part of the discovery phase by your website design or development agency.
For local businesses, adding new content on a regular basis… at least once a month… is crucial to helping you get found by more potential customers and even your existing customers.
Unless your website is YourCompanyName.com (which is should be, by the way), not everyone will know what to type into their web browser when they need to find you.
This typically means they are going to Google, Bing, Facebook, or Yelp to find you online.
If you’re not able to add new content to your website search engines will start to lose interest in you over time.
There is one rule to keep in mind with search engines… they want accurate and recent information to provide to their users.
Search engines like Google want accurate and recent information to provide to their users.
This is why it’s crucial to be able to add new or edit existing content on your website.
3. Will you provide hosting for our website?
Many local business owners think that they should be the one responsible for getting a hosting account… which why so many end up with craptastic hosting companies.
If your agency does NOT provide hosting, that’s totally fine as many see it as a burden to their business and do not want to manage that aspect of the engagement.
Here are hosting companies that offer great products and great service & support, that we love:
If your agency DOES provide hosting there are a few more questions you should ask.
- What is your support response-time?
- Do you keep your servers updated?
- What is the expected uptime for your hosting?
“Uptime” is the time when your website can be accessed by people typing the URL into a browser. Typical uptime is 99.6%, but many hosting companies are touting 99.8% or even 99.9% uptime… this is excellent!
4. What is the process like to work with you?
This question sets you up for success to know exactly what you need to do and provide as well as what your agency will provide to you and for you.
I can’t speak for all other agencies here so I’ll just focus on what our process is like.
Here’s what you can expect when you get a new website thru Get Quirked:
- 2, 1 hour long discovery sessions | in person or via video call
- 2-4 weeks to complete your competitor analysis & your starting SEO plan
- Deliverables: Competitor Analysis document & SEO Plan document
- 2 weeks for first visual draft & mockup, request for revisions
- 2 weeks for revisions implementations
- 2-3 months for final design & development site (testing site so we aren’t editing live)
- 1, 1 hour long project review session | in person or via video call
- 1 week after review session (pending no final revisions) website goes live
That’s it. 8 steps to your success website projects on a timeline of 2-4 months from start to finish.
We like to keep it simple so you can keep it simple. You should know exactly what to expect before you pay anyone for a new website.
5. What do you provide after the website goes live?
Yep, another set of expectations. Again, this is something you should have outlined for you at the very least.
Again, here’s our post-live website list of what to expect:
- Monthly maintenance for core code and any specific 3rd party tools we implement
- Monthly SEO & Analytics update report to show you how people are getting to your website
- Conversions report, depending on what your goals are for people using your site.
- 24/7 support, barring typical US based holidays
This should, if they are looking to build the relationship with you, lead into a conversation about providing you even more value…
Search engine optimization, sales or marketing funnels, custom emails like name@yourbusinessname.com, and so on.
These are typically up-sells and are an additional cost, but highly valuable so pay attention.
In conclusion
We’ve given you 5 questions you should ask when getting a new website in hopes that you are better prepared to have a conversation with whomever you choose to create something for you.
For all you that skipped the whole article and made it here, here’s the list again:
- Do you do a competitor analysis before starting on the design?
- Will we be able to edit or add new content to the website regularly?
- Will you provide hosting for our website?
- What is the process like to work with you?
- What do you provide after the website goes live?
As always, if you’d like to learn more about getting your website built by Get Quirked! schedule a call today OR just call now: 623-748-4782
