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Redesigning your site can be the perfect way to stay competitive in today’s market. However, working with a web design agency can help to guarantee your brand presence. In an area like Washington D.C., selecting an agency that will best suit your needs is essential. Finding the best agency can be an overwhelming task, but we have collected a few valuable tools to help you find them.

Key Steps

1. Ensure you have clear and precise goals.
2. Have specific expectations for the agency.
3. Assure that your content is a priority.
4. Realistically create goals and methods for measuring success.
5. Confirm that the agency communicates effectively with you.

Goals

To set clear and precise goals, you must ask yourself specific questions before even meeting with an agency. Discuss with your stakeholders to ensure that the purpose for creating the site is clearly defined. As simple as it may seem, you must know why you are doing a redesign. Defining the purpose of your redesign can consist of your marketing goals, improvements you will accomplish, and measurements for achieving success. In order to ask for assistance on a redesign, knowing exactly what you want is necessary. Wasting time and money because you were not properly prepared is the last thing you want to happen.

Expectations

Enter into your redesign with clear intentions for the agency.  If you have your goals laid out, you can strategize what you will need from the designers in order to achieve your expectations. Asking questions about what is specifically going to be provided is necessary. Making sure both you and the agency have a clear idea of the creative and technical timeline will ease the redesign process.

Content

You’ve heard it a million times: content is king. Ensure that both your company and the agency make content a priority going into a redesign. The agency you choose should be able to understand how your audience will interact with the content. Perfecting your content will ensure you are communicating the right message to your audience. Getting carried away with the aesthetics of your site can be easy to do but is only beneficial when accompanied by great content.

Measurements

In a redesign process you must have goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Goals are useless unless you have a way to measure your success. Have your goals prepared before meeting with agencies. Formulating measurable goals will allow you to monitor your progress and determine whether a design is performing effectively or not. Being realistic about these goals can be challenging. For example, setting goals like “receive more web traffic”, or “appear on the top of a Google search”, are great aspirations, but they are not measurable and useful goals. Instead measure your goals with objectives like “improve brand awareness within a specific online audience”, or “generate X amount of positive leads”. Setting these smaller, more specific goals will help to achieve a grander overall objective.

Communication

Communication is key, especially when working with third parties. If an agency you are in contact with is slow to respond, passive, and unprofessional, they are definitely not the right fit for you. You want an agency that will be respectful of your time, responsive and adjust accordingly. Run with your instincts on this one, if you’re feeling irritated now, the odds of their communications improving for the rest of your project are very low.

Ensuring that your company is prepared to proceed and that your methods and tactics match up with an agency’s, will prepare you to select the best agency. WDG has worked on countless redesigns over the years, so offering advice from our observations and experiences will help you in the process of selecting the right agency for your redesign.  Contact us to find out more about what WDG can help you with in your redesign!