What you will learn: When to hire a Web design company in your area. Who should read this article: Anyone involved with hiring a Web design company.
Being Nearby: Fringe Benefit or Necessity?
When building a new website, most firms prefer to work with a Web design company in the vicinity. Sometimes being nearby is a near necessity; other times, it’s hardly necessary at all. Whether you need a Web design company nearby hinges on two things: the nature of the project and your business style.Keep Complex Projects Close to Home
If you are building a simple “billboard” website to convey your brand to people who already know who you are, a competent Web design company can meet your needs whether it’s 10 miles away or 10,000. On the other hand, if your website project involves SEO, lead generation or e-commerce — or if it has a lot of content and conversion elements — proximity becomes a priority. Here’s why:- Complex Web design projects entail lots of complex communication. Email and phone may not be adequate for every situation.
- Complex projects have long duration — many months or even a year. At some point, or at multiple points, most clients want “face time” with the Web design company for high-level strategic updates and progress reports.
- For the Web design company, the ability to get a live, in-person reaction from clients during design reveals gives them a better fix on what needs to be changed.
Does Your Firm Have the Stomach for a Long Distance Relationship?
Some firms have a very strong bias in favor of doing business locally. As far as website projects are concerned, this attitude can be a liability. Depending on where your business is, you may have a lot of capable Web design companies to choose from, or none at all. By limiting your search to local companies, you may force yourself to hire a company that cannot fully meet your needs. However, if your comfort level working with a distant partner is extremely high, you are just where you don’t want to be — on the horns of a dilemma. The best way to resolve the local versus non-local dilemma is to conduct a thorough search that scrutinizes local and non-local Web design companies. An intensive search process usually takes several weeks or months to complete, and during this time you will get a strong sense of how easy (or difficult) it will be to work with each candidate.Contact Straight North to discuss your next Web design project. Call us at 855-883-0011 or request a quote online.