HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT DIGITAL AGENCY

How to Select

The Right Digital Agency For Your Online Business

http://www.seofied.com

HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT DIGITAL AGENCY 2

Your website is much more than just an online billboard a website.

Brands you

Attracts new customers and clients

Serves current clients

Can bring significant direct revenue through

e-commerce

Can streamline internal processes and

increase company productivity

, Of course, that s what a great website will do for you.

A terrible website can damage your

company’s reputation, send clients

to your competitors and put your

business in a hole that it may never

be able to dig out from.


So how do you find the right digital agency for your Business?

When you first meet with a digital Agency.

It is important to go in with a strategy in

place. Asking some key questions will put

you on the right track for finding the ideal

digital agency for your project:

How do they price their services?

Do they offer a comprehensive

set of services?

What is the agency’s track record

and what are their credentials

and qualifications?

What is included in their Web

Development Agreement

(and what isn’t)?


1) Be Prepared and Define Your Goals

Before you begin interviewing digital agencies, you should have at least

a rough sense of what your goals are and what kinds of functionality

you require. Some important starting questions include:

Am I looking to attract prospects?

Am I looking to merely generate traffic (advertising-based model)?

Am I looking to generate direct revenues (e-commerce)?

Am I only looking to preserve and enhance my brand?

Am I only looking to increase the traffic of my website.


2) Define your price range This can be the most confusing part of selecting your digital agency.

If you Google ‘digital agency’, you will find agencies offering $199

websites while others offer web solutions that can run six or even seven figures.

A simple website for a hobbyist or a “basic personal site” can be created relatively

inexpensively. However, if your website is the face of your business and a place

where business is conducted, then the price can be considerably higher.

Some important pricing

questions to ask right from

the beginning include: Which of their team members will be

working on your project and what

are their qualifications?

How much time will they be

spending on your project?

Do they provide a flat project price

that corresponds to a detailed

agreement?

Does the cost of the project match

up with the agreed upon deliverables

and hourly rates?

Is there a clear procedure for billing

for extra features or work outside the

project’s initial scope?


3) When thinking of the price of a project,

You need to also think about the ROI. If a company can prove they have

a track record of a high ROI, you should think about upping your budget for the

project.


The price of a website project Is the result of many variables; the complexity of the site’s

functionality, the number of custom design elements involved; the

expertise and experience of the team performing the project and the

pricing schedule established by your web

Development team (i.e. hourly rates).

When you discuss price with a digital agency,

Make sure they spell out all of the

functionality they will be providing and

the amount of time and effort that will

be required to deliver the project. The

hourly rate of the work will be based

on the experience and expertise of the

team assigned to your project.

Lastly, evaluate the price based on what you will get out of it.

A $20,000 project that brings you no

revenue is far more expensive for your

company than a $100,000 project that

brings in a 300% ROI.

Can the digital agency point to specific

results (ROI) deliver for other clients?


Look for a digital agency that offers comprehensive web services: The best websites are the ones where design, functionality and

marketing work as one. A digital agency that has expertise in all three areas has the

ability to build you a fully integrated site from the ground up.

When one agency is responsible for design,

Another for development and a third for online marketing, you will invariably have issues

with communication, integration and implementation.

A digital agency that has the capability to handle your entire project, from planning, to design,

to development and marketing success is better qualified to do things right from the start.

Just ask:

Do they have the ability to provide comprehensive

web design, development and marketing services to

industry standards?

Have they done system integrations or customized

web projects that require excellent problem solving

skills or advanced coding capabilities?

Do they have experience developing

mobile applications?

Do they have search engine optimization expertise

and a proven track-record of achieving Page One

Google results?

Do they have copywriting abilities to create both

compelling copy for the website itself as well as

quality content for social media?

your company


Project manager, a professional team, and concrete objectives.

Your web design project should be manned by:

Information architects to plan the site

Web designers to design the user interface

Web developers to code the site

Quality assurance engineers to test it

Online marketing specialists to develop and implement an efficient online marketing strategy.

This team should work under an experienced project manager to ensure a successful outcome.

interface designer


What is the track record of their team?

Your project and that they are able to show you a return on your investment.

Before selecting a digital agency, ask about their previous track record:

What types of clients have they worked with?

What kind of results have they delivered for those clients?

Do they have hard figures to prove their results?

Do they retain their clients and have ongoing working relationships with them?

TIP: Even if your site structure

includes multiple products or services

on a single page, it is still helpful to

create separate campaigns for each

service that drives traffic to your

single landing page. This will allow

you to analyze performance of each

service and adjust your budget

accordingly.

RE

SULS


You also want to be sure. that the digital agency you are entrusting your business to are respected

professionals in their industry. Awards, credentials, and qualifications

are all indicators of a web company’s excellence and professionalism.

Are their key players recognized as industry leaders, speaking at events, or published in the media?

What is their Dun & Bradstreet rating? (D&B is a third party source monitoring client satisfaction.)

Are they authorized to work for government agencies?

Do they have other special credentials

showing other expertise?

Have they developed any special applications or done groundbreaking projects?

What industry awards and recognition have they received?


Recent press mentions are also a strong indication of a digital agency’s standing within their industry.

Do major media outlets recognize this agency as experts in their field?

Does the company receive frequent press mentions from a variety of sources?

Does the company act as an informational resource for their industry?

Is the company seen as a leader within their field?


Website Development Agreements It all comes down to this.

Your website development agreement –

Sometimes called a service level agreement or a detailed spec

sheet- is an absolutely critical document. Just by reading the

agreement, you can learn a great deal about the digital agency you

may be working with.

Are they thorough?

Do they understand my business?

Do they have the technical knowledge to build my website?

Do they have the design talent to make my site something memorable?

Do they have the capacity to complete my project in a timely and satisfactory manner?

Is the agency ethical


Crucial elements to your agreement

Terms of Engagement:

Scope of Work:

The proverbial nifty gritty of your web project. The scope of work should be detailed,

specific, and unambiguous and set in a specific time frame. It should set out the

timetable for each element of the project.

Project Time:

The best web project is doomed to failure if it is not completed in a timely manner. Lost days, weeks or months can have a crushing effect on a business’ online prospects. Make

sure that each element of the scope of work is attached to the time required to complete the work. Does the agreement lay out responsibilities of both parties, including deadlines

and deliverables?

Payment Schedule:

This is always a subject of negotiation. Developers will invariably want a large percentage of the project price to be paid in advance, while clients want to hold on to their money as long as they can. Look for a digital agency that is willing to come up with a payment schedule that makes sense for both sides.

Accountability

Any web design project demands a great deal of give-and-take between the client and the digital agency they are working with. Find out who will be the point-person at the

firm on your project. Ask how they measure success. This is a long-term relationship and

you must be sure that this is the person you want to enter into such a commitment with.

Make sure you like, trust and respect this person, because you will be interacting with

them frequently over a substantial amount of time.

Promises, Promises...

In any economy, many digital agencies will promise you the moon, just to get your business. Those promises tend to be both grand and vague.

The only thing that matters is what is promised in writing. You want to work with a company that not only lists all features and functionality in the agreement, but one willing to back it up with specific results (i.e. increased traffic, leads, conversions, milestones, etc.) In their agreement.

Speak with a Web Specialist

At SEOFIED

+91- 8763817412

And for more on selecting the Right Website Company

for your online business & other marketing guides, visit at www.seofied.com

16

Want to take your company to the next level?

www.seofied.com

News & Politics

HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT DIGITAL AGENCY