We need quite a basic website built, but what are some of the features you would describe as essential?

Introduction

Here’s the thing, when various companies contact web designers, sometimes the only factor influencing who they choose, well is sometimes price.

But should this be the way you find the web design agency you need? Well, we would say no- and you’re going to think, well sure, you’re going to say that, you want to charge more?

Well, no, here’s the thing, its brilliant getting a good deal, that’s to say, everyone, regardless of company size doesn’t want to overpay, yet, if the websites well flawed, in that the main menu design is poor, the mobile design is rubbish, in that purchasing items, is difficult, as it doesn’t allow products to be sorted, well, what happens then is often a redesign is needed, which often means hiring more web developers, taking up more time, and yes, you guessed it, you might have wished you didn’t jump in head first, into the first deal, and instead figured out what you needed your web design company to deliver.

Now, don’t get us wrong, every website we think should be well-built for each business, yet what each business needs is different, so this article most definitely is not going to mention everything that a company needs, as often every company will need something different, yet, in terms of some of the more basic things each business will need, well, this article will mention some of the things each company will often need, when hiring a web developer, yet, with that said, you should book an appointment with a web designer, as often its best to sit together, you and the web developers, and make sure in a meeting, that all the functionality your business needs, such as sorting items on an e-commerce site, well, we think its best to meet with the web developers to discuss, as what each business needs, is different.

So, here are some of the things, your business may require, when having a basic website built here in Cardiff:

Fast hosting

Whether you’re having a basic website built, or a really intricate e-commerce website, that’s going to require a large team of PHP web developers to build, what’s important regardless, is that your company has a website built, where the website has fast hosting.

If you don’t invest in good quality website hosting, and the company website is slow, the companies bounce rate, could become very high, so this means that the bounce rate, could sometimes negatively impact seo, as any good seo agency will tell you, it’s a good idea, to lower the bounce rate for your business if you can.

Local web designers

Often, some companies think that having a CMS website built is a one-off-process, in that, its built and the web designer is not then needed, however, we think, this is rarely the case at all, often what’s needed is an ongoing relationship with the web developers, as often edits are needed.

For instance, staff members may change, so the staff profiles need to be removed, the NAP, that’s the name, address, phone may change, or let’s say a new service needs to be added, so as you can see, often a company website rarely stays the same for long, often it needs to be edit, so you should find a web developer that you don’t just want to work with now, but an agency you can work with over the long run, which can offer you a good affordable service.

Think about page layout

It’s all well and good asking say six web developers for a quote, then just opting for cheapest, but sometimes, the business owner will realise, they have opted for say a 10-page CMS website, but this isn’t enough, often the company has to pay for extra pages, to be added to the CMS, so before you hire a web developer, you should think about creating a site-map, so that you have a good idea, for when say your WordPress site is built, how the page-layout should be.

Affordable website edits

It’s all well and good hiring the cheapest web design company you can find, yet then find, there’s loads with the website that still needs to be done, that falls outside of the original quote, and now you need to find a PHP web developer, to work on an hourly rate to build a new company website, if the changes needed are vast, so for example in excess of hundred hours needed by a PHP web developer, well, you can see things might get expensive. So always have the website your company needs built in the first instance, by making sure you have a breakdown of the quote, and make sure everything you need, is in the quote, and will be included.

Dashboard

It’s all well and good getting a cheap deal, but what if the CMS is not a well-known brand, it’s a CMS the web design company have built, its basic, its not easy to use, and functionality, such as even being allowed to add a blog-post is impossible, so do make sure whichever web developer you hire, you pick a CMS which is well-known, has an easy to use Dashboard. As the alternative might be a CMS which is low-quality, doesn’t allow you to make edits, and you may wish you have opted for a better-quality CMS.

Affordable hosting and domain name renewal

Lets say your basic website is cheap, its as cheap as chips, yet the monthly or yearly hosting costs, well, there not something you have given a great deal of thought about, well, what could happen, is over the life of your companies website, the hosting costs are great, so you do have to think about this, and ask your web designers in Cardiff, how must is hosting? How much is domain renewal? Is it affordable to your business?

Secure

The website should be secure.

Features

Does the website have all of the features your company needs, for example have the PHP web developers coded the e-commerce website so items can be sorted by whether they are in stock or not?

If not, what happens when someone purchases an item, then your supplier says it will take at least  3 weeks to get the items into your warehouse? So, all of these things need to be thought about, therefore rushing in to a deal with a web design company which states they will build an ecommerce website, for a low price, this may well be a waste of time, as what you need instead is a quality site.

Content marketing

Does the quote include to write the text, often it will not, and sometimes the agency will have copywriters.

Now, this is something to think about, so before you hire any web design business in Cardiff, Wales, do think about, who’s writing the text? If there’s thousands of words to be written, a lot of product descriptions to write, who will do all of this work? Therefore you may wish to hire an agency, that has web developers, but also copywriters, so that they build the site, say if its an e-commerce website, then the copywriters can work with the web developers, so that the text is written by the agency- you may find, that as a business owner, this saves you time?

Mobile design, responsive or AMP?

Okay, so all your quotes are in, you have your inbox open, and your ready to choose an agency, but one thing to think about is this, has the company included in the quote, a fee for designing the mobile version of the website?

Is this included? For example, is the website responsive, is it ready to work on smartphones, such as on Android phones, and I-phones, if not, then you may need to ask for another quote, as most businesses now need a mobile version of the site designed as well.

A good quality CMS

Don’t just opt for any CMS that the web developer says you should have, choose a CMS which is right for your company, which you as the business owners, find easy to use.

If you need a quote for web design, why not call us?