You have a lot of choices when it comes to choosing a partner agency for your web design or development project. Here are some things to consider before making your selection:

What are their core services?

An agency that has the ability to complete all aspects of your project is going to be more qualified to give you the best solutions and the results you want.

• Do they offer comprehensive design, development and support services that are up to industry standards?
• Have they had experience with web projects that require complex problem solving or customization skills and advanced coding capabilities?
• Are they able to develop mobile applications that are consistent with your other marketing platforms?

What is their reputation?

You should be confident that you can trust your partner team to produce the best results for your project.

• What types of clients have they worked with in the past?
• What were the results of these client projects?
• Do they have ongoing working relationships ?

How do they measure results?

Your website is a marketing channel that should be used to foster overall business growth and boost your brand’s ROI. It requires time, money and resources. To be certain that your investment has a tangible effect on your business, you should have a full understanding of how a partner agency has increased the market value of their clients in the past.

• How do they measure their results?
• Are their results published and verified?

What are their credentials or qualifications?

You want to be sure that the partner agency you choose is made up of respected professionals in the industry.

• Are their team members published in the media, or recognized as thought leaders?
• Are they authorized to work for government agencies? Do they have other credentials demonstrating other areas of expertise?
• Have they developed any special applications or worked on any outstanding projects?

How do they work?

You want to be sure that the company culture and work ethic is a good match with your organization.

• Are they a fully staffed professional team or do they outsource projects?
• Is the team passionate about the work they do? Are the team members skilled and trustworthy?

What kind of process do they have in place to ensure projects don’t go over-budget or time?

A mismanaged project can lead to poor budget management and missed deadlines.

• A common reason for cost overruns is unplanned project changes. How does this company define project scope up front and track project changes?
• Do they complete a Discovery process prior to the design and/or development stages of your project?
  • Not all development agencies use a Discovery phase, but they should. Beyond projects with very simple objectives, a designer or developer couldn’t possibly understand your business well enough to give accurate estimates without a detailed analysis. Most project managers would agree that if the requirements are identified early on in the project cycle, this would result in reducing the project schedule and/or budget. It also results in project deliverables suitably meeting the business user and technology requirements. Reworking and fixing errors adds unnecessary time, cost and avoidable headache to your project. Read more about why a Discovery phase is so important to your website project.

What is the company size and structure?

No matter what size company you decide to work with, it’s important that you know what you’re up against.

• What is their methodology for website planning and execution? Does their process make sense for your project?
• Do they have a ‘Go To’ person who will take accountability for the success of your project?
• Do you feel confident that the company can continue to provide your business with similar levels of service in future phases of growth?

How do they staff individual projects?

A proper web team consists of a skilled project manager and professional team, made up of information architects, web designers, developers, quality assurance engineers, and online marketing specialists.

• How many team members will be working on your project?
• Are they proactive in leading your project, or will they count on you to set the pace?
• What does the communication plan look like? How often will they send you updates?
• Who will take accountability for your project

What does their standard QA and support plan look like?

Quality assurance is an important step in the website development process. After your site has been built, it should be put through a rigorous testing process.

• Will they test the design, layout and functionality of your site?
• Do they conduct load testing to make sure that any load-related issues are fixed?
• Do they conduct user acceptance testing prior to the launch of your new site? During this phase, your site should be placed on a production server where only internal audiences have access. Content testing of the site is critical as there will inevitably be issues that need to be addressed before the site goes live. A broken link or misspelled word may seem like trivial mistakes, but they can greatly undermine the credibility of your website
• Do they provide support after site launch?

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We hope this information helps you to select the partner that best suits your needs. We invite you to contact Sanmita with your website or CMS needs and any further questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you!