So you have a business and want a website to showcase your products or services? Or you have an existing website which needs updating? Either way the likelihood is that you’ll be looking for a Preston Web Design Agency. However, the question is: What makes a good web design agency and what services should you be offered?

Knowledge

However creative, organized or process driven the web design agency in Preston you are looking at is, everything should always be backed up by a strong knowledge of web design, branding and development.

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More importantly there should be a deep understanding of ‘what works’ online from multiple perspectives from design and development to user behaviour and search engine optimisation.

Flair and Creativity

Whatever web platform you choose to run your website on creative flair, blended with a strong knowledge of usability and architecture, is often the corner stone for the creation of great web design.

A truly creativeweb design agency in Prestonwill be able to develop a concept that translates well across all marketing channels, which will provide you with a site or piece of marketing collateral that is unique to your business and helps to make you stand out from the rest of your sector.

This is often achieved by the agency getting to know your business and really getting to understand your brand, ethos, environments and day-to-day mechanics. With this knowledge your agency can generate design and usability that suits your business.

However, design is not a one way communication. A Preston web design agency should also be able to work with a client to develop and enhance a design to ensure that the final product or service meets and exceeds the expectations of the client.

Project Management

If your website requires a complicated build and large amounts of functionality (especially true in the case of eCommerce websites), you need to make sure that the Web design Preston you choose has significant experience in managing and delivering large projects. When carrying out initial discussions make sure that you ask any prospective web design agency the following:

– How often will you meet with the agency to discuss project progression?

– Who would your project manager be, can you meet them?

– Will you get a full project plan for delivery?

– What size projects have they dealt with previously?

– What examples of previous work can they show you on a similar scale to your project?

– Do they have a dedicated project manager?

Process

A well-managed project should follow a carefully crafted process to ensure all the important milestones are met during the build of your website. When consulting prospective web design agencies in Preston key questions to ask are “what the web development process is” and “if they have anything which can illustrate it”.

Understanding a website design agency’s process lets you grasp how organised they are, where you’ll need to be involved and important milestones which you can judge project progression against.

If your web design agency doesn’t have a clear and understandable process it’s worth asking why? Experienced agencies know the importance of having a well-defined process as it ensures the smooth running of your project and reduces the likelihood of it progressing past your estimated live date.

Online Marketing

Once you web design project is completed and the website is live your web design agency should be speaking to you about online marketing, after all what good is a website if nobody can find it?

Ideally web design and Preston SEO agency’s should tailor an online marketing strategy to your business goals using a number of different channels including pay per click, SEO (search engine optimisation), social media and email marketing to make sure they maximise the websites ability to generate converting traffic, so make sure that when you’re looking for a web design and SEO agency in Preston they offer these services.

Summary

So if you ready to take the next step and appoint a Preston Web Design agency for your project make sure you consider the following: How do they project manage? Do they have the deep knowledge and understanding of ‘what works’ online to ensure the end result is a website which converts visitors into leads or paying customers; Do they have creativity and flair to translate your ideas into industry leading design, while closely working with you to achieve something your happy with; Are they experienced in managing projects similar to yours on the same scale; Do they have a formal process for managing projects, so you can judge progression and understand where you input is required; Finally do they have the skills to market your website online once complete to drive converting traffic in the long term?

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EAOM is a full service SEO and web design agency in Preston who build businesses online using a cleaver using a mix of Web Design, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click Marketing. Working with both Blue Chip Company and start-ups they understand what it takes to get your business noticed online. For more information on EAOM‘s services please call 01772 331 830 or visit the EAOM website.

This is a sponsored guest post from EA Online Marketing. If you’re interested in advertising with Blog Preston and helping support our aim of community news you can find more details here.