How to find the right contractor for your company’s online presence?

Finding the right contractor for your web design and marketing needs can seem easy, but it does take some preparation to ensure things go smoothly. Before you start sourcing companies, you should already have some clear goals, define a budget range and outline your scope. Do you need a full-service partner or a specialist for each task? You also need to clarify your timeline as to keep control over the project.

1. Getting started with sourcing

Once you have clearly defined what you want, when, how much and with which kind of people, you can start hunting for the perfect partners for the task. There are mostly three places where people turn to find a firm to hire nowadays:

• Personal and professional networks: we usually know people who have been through the type of search we are going through, and they all have an experience to share. Your accounting company’s manager knows someone who did a website design for contractor miami? Perfect, let’s hear what he has to say!
• Online search: turn to Google or other platforms like TikTok or Facebook and use keywords like “B2B Saas web design company” or “e-commerce marketing specialist”, it will give you much more accurate results than “web designer”.
• Platforms: search on LinkedIn, Upwork, Clutch or Behance and browse the service providers using some searches, be accurate and enter words like contractor marketing company if you are specifically looking for this.

Once you’ve picked a few companies, check out their digital footprint. Is their website fast and good? Can you find them easily with the right keywords? Do they practice what they preach? How do they manage their social media?

2. Due diligence: take a deep look at potential agencies

After the first few checkups mentioned in the previous step, you should be able to have three or four better matches you can look into further. How do you really evaluate them, though?

Take a good look at their portfolio. Does their type of design aesthetics match your taste and needs? Do they provide case studies that can attest for real-life results? It’s better if they can claim a “40% rate conversion” than just explain they “optimized the design”. Also, do they have any work done in your industry? Familiarity with your industry would surely be a time-saver when working together.

Reviews and testimonials. Are there reviews or testimonials on their website, Google or other platforms that can attest for their work ethics and results?

Services. Do they offer the exact services you need? Think “landing page optimization” instead of “website design”, the more specific the better. Ask about their design process, does it seem to match with your expectations?

Technical assessment. Are they familiar with the platform you want to use (for example: WordPress, Shopify, Webflow,…)? Do you get to communicate directly with designer and developers, or does everything go through an account manager? What type of timeline do they propose and how often do they suggest to communicate?

3. The proposal and decision

Now is the time to ask for a proposal and to make a decision. Prepare a clear brief to your shortlist in order to compare their written proposals.

Once you receive proposals, scrutinize them thoroughly. Is it targetted to your needs or it just looks like a template with your name on it? Is the scope of work explicitly defined with deliverables? Is the pricing structure clear with no topic left open?

Ask them questions of the proposal. How do they onboard clients or handle project delays? What does their support post-launch look like?

Finally, to make your decision, assess if the seem to understand your vision and how the communication went so far. Now, you are ready to make your decision and to get started!