When you are running a small business, choosing the best web designer or design agency can be a difficult decision.
At the same time, however, choosing the right candidate is a crucial strategic decision for your business and making the wrong one can lead to many problems further down the line.
The foundation of any modern business is its website and a bad one can very easily drive away potential customers or clients, sometimes for good. When you’re looking for a suitable design agency, you need to pick one which is going to make you stand out high above your competitors.
This is exactly why you need to choose the best website designers in Birmingham to do the job for you, and that is exactly what you get with Globalgraphics Web Design, Birmingham’s leading design agency.
The Importance of Staying Local: Choosing Birmingham Web Designers
There are many options out there for you when it comes to choosing a web designer or design agency, however, remaining local is always going to be your best option.
The internet affords you as a business owner many great opportunities to work with people from all over the globe and, whilst this is a good thing, there are certain aspects of your business which are better handled by local professionals – designing and deploying your new website is one of these things.
Globalgraphics Web Design has over a two decades’ worth of experience serving local Birmingham businesses. With our unrivaled knowledge of the local market, we are capable of building strong, modern and responsive websites catered to the local area.
We are often recognised as one of the very best web designers in Birmingham and have collaborated with thousands of clients over the years.
By having a website which is catered to the local Birmingham market, especially if your business has a strong local presence, you put yourself in a strong position and are more likely to secure your status as an industry-leading local business.
3 Tips to Help You Choose the Best Web Designers in Birmingham
Still not convinced or want to explore your options? Here are a few tips to help you out with choosing the best Birmingham-based web designers.
1.Think about what you need
No one web design agency is the same; we all work differently, produce work which follows a specific style and offer a varying range of services. Before you can begin to narrow down potential agencies, you need to have a think about what you need.
Some design agencies will only offer one-off web design services which is great if you have a basic understanding of key programming languages and can maintain your site. On the other hand, however, if you will not be able to go it alone after your website is finished then you would benefit more from working with an agency which offers ongoing services such as maintenance, customer support and consultancy.
At Globalgraphics, we have a large team of dedicated professionals who specialise in everything from web design and web development to content management, and we are able to provide a comprehensive range of services to meet any and all website-related needs.
2. Create a Design Brief
This doesn’t need to be anything fancy, however, you should be as thorough and detailed as possible. By creating a comprehensive design brief, you are not only able to decide on a design agency to work with easier, but hit the ground running with them, too.
By knowing what you want and creating a decent brief which outlines the specifics of your needs, desires and expectations, you avoid potential delays and get the ball rolling with your project straight away. When preparing a brief, take time to do a proper job of it and try to include the following –
- Examples of websites and designs which you like and would like to be incorporated into your own. Any good agency will be able to take these examples, develop an understanding for your tastes and then provide you with an end-product which exceeds your expectations.
- Examples of functionality and elements which you must have included on your website such as live customer support.
- Which colour schemes or styles you would like incorporated into the overall visual design of your website. Prefer minimalism to uses of bold colours and design elements? Outline this in your brief!
- Want to go the extra mile? Create or have created a mock design of what you would like your website to look like. This massively helps design agencies produce something to your specification and reduces the need for lengthy revisions.
3. Look at portfolios and work samples
Most serious web design agencies will have a comprehensive portfolio on their websites which proudly display their latest clients and work examples. If they don’t then it is always worth asking; an agency unwilling to provide examples of their previous work raises a major red flag!
Design agencies often include a vast range of different projects in their portfolios. You should take time to explore these thoroughly and visit the live versions of these websites to see exactly how they stack up against your expectations and needs. Critically analyse portfolio pieces to determine whether their in-house styles fit your design brief.
On the Globalgraphics website we have an extensive work portfolio displaying the work we have done for our previous clients, including big names such as Xerox, NHS Birmingham, Walsall and Coventry, RGIS, Craven Dunnill, FASSI and more!
It does not matter how big or small your business is, which industry you operate in or how much capital you have behind you, deciding on a design agency to create you a suitable website is never easy.
There are plenty of considerations which must be considered when it comes to deciding between different candidates, and there’s enough legwork to be done before you even begin approaching them. By adopting a pragmatic approach and knowing what you want, you will avoid delays to what is already a long process.
