5 Killer questions to ask before hiring a web designer

5 Killer questions to ask before hiring a web designer 1

“Don’t get tricked”

QUESTION 1: DO YOU USE SUBSCRIPTION OR PROJECTBASED FEE MODEL?

Some vendors use subscription to ensure you keep paying them perpetually. Once you stop making these monthly payments (i.e. unsubscribe), you no longer own the site. In this way, you don’t own the site but is merely renting it from the web design company. These monthly costs stack up and in total, for outweighs the one-time payment model. Want out? Sure – you can stop the monthly subscriptions, but you will no longer own the site. 

With us, you’ll take full ownership of the website. Even after the website’s done, you can come and talk to us if you wish to upgrade or change your website. From initial discussion to the final payment, our whole workflow is 100% transparent and open to you.

QUESTION 2 : DO YOU USE WORDPRESS OR CUSTOM CMS?

Some companies build websites using techniques (complex custom CMS) that makes it difficult or impossible for others to further edit or make enhancements to the website. This means that even though you might want to change provider, you can’t – you will always have to return to the same web designer / developer for changes to your site. 

We use WordPress, which offers flexibility, meaning that others can also make changes to our final products in the case where you want to handover the work to someone else.

“Templates = cheating”

QUESTION 3: DO YOU USE 100% CUSTOM DESIGN? SHOW US SOME EXAMPLES.  

Many web design agencies use a pre-purchased themes / standard templates to create your website. This means higher volumes and lower production cost for them. But for the clients, this means a website like a million others i.e. a generic-looking website that does “wow” and does’t sell. 

Clients deserve more.

That is why all of our websites are 100% custom designed. All elements are customised to your business identity and unique sales or corporate message.

While it is becoming industry standard to treat website as “commodities”, here at Yes! we treat your website as valuable assets 

“Lousy SEO will undermine your site”

QUESTION 4 : DO YOU KNOW YOUR SEO?

What use is a beautiful website if no one is there to see it? A website beautifully designed but lacking in SEO considerations will undoubtedly end up on the bottom of the google search ranking. Website and SEO goes hand in hand : which keywords to use, where to put the keywords and titles, which metatag to use and how often to use it? These are free services that we help you do when as part of our web design & development service. In addition, we offer free SEO audit for all finished website, which you can follow-through with advanced SEO service options (i.e. take your site up to no.1 ranking). 

A note on SEO : Beware – a lot of companies practice black or grey SEO, employing techniques such as keyword stuffing, content scraping, or article spinning i.e shortcuts. While these deliver near-term ranking boosts, they are detrimental to your long-term ranking and often result in your website being penalized by search engines. We employ organic techniques to boost your ranking – although these require more effort vs. shortcuts, they deliver long-term results. Read our article : 5 Killer Questions to Ask an SEO “Expert”.

“Content is king”

QUESTION 5 : WHAT VALUE CAN YOU ADD ON CONTENT?

Website content is as important or more important than design. Designs do not sell on its own, but only act to visualize and deliver your message. First and foremost message itself needs to be clear and compelling. Websites that marry content and design deliver results – websites that don’t fail. Most web design companies do not understand this.

At Yes, we do – we know what types of messages and content work and what type don’t – our web design & development services encompass advice on what type of content to use, which keywords to use, whether your message concise enough, how to structure your messages in user-friendly way and achieve natural flow and minimal friction etc. We are not only artists and web geeks, but also great marketers, branding experts and SEO experts who know how to deliver your sales or corporate message power and clarity. 

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