Ok, you web developers and designers are going to be offended that this is under the “advertising and marketing” section of this site but the fact of the matter is that a lot of business types don’t understand how separate and different advertising and marketing is from web development and design. And the fact of the matter is that a lot of web developers don’t understand how important advertising and marketing are to what they do. In fact, that’s what inspired me to write this.
It all started in 2004 when my firm was invited to submit a proposal for a new website to an architectural firm in Salt Lake City, Utah.
We were told the site would include a content management system in addition to the new design. We submitted a proposal, but as it turns out we didn’t win the job. The reason we were given was that the firm we were competing against had already built a website for an architect and had some tools/systems already in place that could be brought to bear on this new project.
We politely thanked them for letting us bid on the project and that was the end of it. Now, more than a year later, I was reminded of this bid we had submitted and decided to check out the website to see how it turned out. Here are some of my initial observations:
1. Better than what they had before, but…
2. Poor overall design. Obviously designed by an amateur designer, but more likely designed by a programmer as evidenced by use of drop shadows on text, tan/blue color scheme, too many fonts and font sizes, using default blue on links, gray text on gray photo background causing illegibility, etc.
3. No thought taken for search engine optimization (i.e. lack of text, no keywords in title tag, no meta tags, use of frames).
4. Poor HTML coding and lack of HTML/CSS standards.
5. Poor usability design (use of frames).
6. Use of niche technology (Cold Fusion) resulting in potentially higher maintenance costs due to relatively small numbers of CF programmers available.
It’s not a horrible website by any stretch, but it’s not impressive either. It’s just there.
Granted, I can’t comment on what the content management system looks like or how it works because I can’t see it. But based on what I can see on the front-end and my experience seeing other competitors’ systems, I would guess that what we could have provided would have been competitive at least, and probably superior.
For my firm’s part, if we truly had better technology and design but didn’t win the job, that’s our fault for not selling ourselves as well as we should have. But that’s not the point of this post. The point is that as a client, you don’t want to hire the company that sells themselves the best, you want to hire the company that will produce the best product (all other things being equal). Here are some tips on how to find the best web development / design firms and then judge between them. Bear in mind that this is targeted towards the client that needs a comprehensive solution including web design, development, and marketing, and not just one of those services by itself.
1. Use Google. Any web development / design firm today should be at least somewhat experience with search engine optimization and marketing. Not all firms listed in Google are good firms, but any good firm should be listed in Google somewhere within the top 20 results of a regional search (i.e. “utah web design“).
2. Compare portfolios. Sometimes we have potential clients who can’t tell the difference between our portfolio and a competitor’s, even though I would consider our competitor’s portfolio to be about five levels below ours. I figure if a client can’t tell the difference then maybe they shouldn’t pay us twice as much as they would have to pay our competitor. But if you can tell the difference then you should be looking.
3. Read the site content. Look for press releases, white papers, newsletters, and other detail. Get a feel for what this firm is really about and whether they can handle your project.
4. Look at the client list. Big name clients don’t necessarily mean the firm is high-quality (I’ve seen plenty of bad work coming from large, expensive firms), but no big name clients at all will tell you something. Either the firm is new, or they’ve never pulled off a project for a larger client. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t choose them (they might still be able to do awesome work), but if nothing else it’s information for you to consider.
These first four steps can be done without contacting any firm. Next are tips for contacting and talking to the firms.
5. Contact 5-10 firms. What you don’t want is to only have two firms that respond, because both of them might be low-quality firms, and if you’re not savvy you might not know. You want at least two good firms in the mix.
6. Have a prepared RFP. That stands for “request for proposal” as in you are requesting the firms to provide you with a proposal. If you look around on Google you can find RFPs and instructions on how to create them. You don’t necessarily need to follow them, and if you follow them to the letter you’ll show firms that you don’t really know what you’re doing. But at a minimum an RFP for the basic website should explain what you want in general terms, list a few websites that are similar to what you’re looking for, list any specific functionality you need in as much detail as is possible/reasonable, and state the timeline you need it in. It doesn’t hurt to have some plain language in there as well that clearly states things.
7. Ask for references and contact them. Once I was looking a some software and called one of the 20 references they gave me. The reference proceeded to tell me what a pain the software was to use and gave me a half hour’s earful of specifics. Needless to say I didn’t buy the stuff and I’m glad I called.
8. Ask to meet the people who will actually work on your project. Otherwise the firm might be selling you something they don’t have and then scrambling to get it done after landing the job. Sure, I’ve done it myself, and that’s part of why I’m putting it here.
9. Have at least one meeting at the firm’s offices. A firm’s office says something about who they are and what they can do. While a firm run from someone’s home is not necessarily worse than a firm in a big, shiny, expensive office, it can’t hurt to compare.
10. Have a budget in mind and be up front about it. Not telling a firm how much you’re willing to pay wastes your time as well as the firm’s. You can save hours by telling them “this is what we want and this is how much we’re willing to pay for it”. Otherwise you’ll go through meetings and proposal preparation for two weeks only to find out that the bid is three times what you’re able to pay. Better to find this out at the beginning and either change your budget, the project, or which firms will be submitting proposals.
11. Choose technology wisely. For websites that are database driven, the most popular combinations of technologies are either Linux/PHP/MySQL or Windows/.NET/SQL Server. You can probably build just as good of a system with Cold Fusion or Java, but the fact of the matter is that there are more PHP or .NET programmers out there then there are Java and CF programmers, and there is nothing I’ve seen that shows me that Java or CF are better than PHP or .NET. If you’re not already tied into Java or CF I would search for firms that program in PHP or .NET or both.
12. Beware the firm that can do it all. This is pretty much what happened to the architectural firm I mentioned at the beginning. The competitor we lost to, as far as I know, does some great back-end work. That is, they’re good at programming. But their skills at design, usability, standards-based HTML, and search engine optimization are virtually non-existent. I’m not trying to be insulting, it’s just a fact.
“But Josh, isn’t that what you’re always touting about MWI, that you can do it all?” Yes, and if you ask me to prove it I can. I’m not saying stay away from any firm that says they can do it all, I’m saying be very suspicious and make them prove it to you.
It’s the same as finding a web programmer who says they can design well. I’m not saying they don’t exist, but they are very rare.
13. It’s fair to ask for design concepts as part of the proposal, if…you’re big enough to justify it. Many firms prefer not to provide design concepts during the proposal stage. This is because 1) it’s a lot of work with no guarantee of compensation, and 2) they know it won’t be their best work. Good firms do a lot of research and interviewing of the client before starting to design, and that generally isn’t possible during the proposal process. However, if your project is reasonably large ($30K+) or you are a well-known company that any firm would like to have in their portfolio, most firms will give in and provide concepts.
If I were a client, I would ask politely whether a firm would be willing to provide one or two design concepts. I would not necessarily discount a firm that refuses. A firm might refuse because they have enough business coming in the door that they’re not desperate for your business, and the reason they have that business coming in the door might be because they’re a good firm.
Some clients offer to pay for concepts, and even a token amount of $1-2K to the 2-3 firms you like best can often produce better results.
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Once you’ve received proposals from multiple firms, here are some more tips:
14. Ask questions about difference in price. Generally you get what you pay for. If one firm’s price is twice as much as another, they may just be a more expensive firm, but they may also be providing twice as much value. Find out what you’re getting for the price before making any decisions.
15. Don’t ask for large price breaks. Getting the price lower by cutting out work is fair and acceptable. Trying to get a deal can backfire on a client. Remember that firms have to make money, just like your company. A firm that pays more attention to a client that is paying $50/hour vs. a client that is paying $125/hr (all other things being equal) isn’t very smart. I don’t think those types of firms are very common either. If you are the highest-paying client, that’s a virtual guarantee that your project will be the most important project for that firm. Talking them down on price might result in your project being lowered on the priority list as well.
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These are just a few tips. I’m sure there are plenty more out there. But if you just follow these you’ll get somewhere and you probably won’t end up with the better-than-the-old-site-but-still-not-impressive site the aforementioned architectural firm did.
Josh,
I really like your tips and can tell they obviously come from experience. I only disagree with the bias present. Of course, since you are the CEO of MWI, naturally you will be biased in favor of an established firm, not to far removed from its start-up origins. But, I think, inadvertently, you skewed the tone of the tips too much, so that whoever reads them will lean towards established firms from the start, and so not give a fair ,or one at all, to smaller design firms. MWI began as a small company in the small town of Provo, UT by a kid probably recently graduated from BYU. So, I feel that whenever a searching-for-a-web-developer-firm is looking for a design firm, they really don’t have to exclude the small firms working out of their homes. Some of the best work, such as MWI’s in the beginning, may come from these homes. You mentioned this, but I think you did so to satisfy your conscience, knowing these were your same exact roots. I understood the tone to be, “a firm run from somebody’s house is not necessarily worse, but really for the most part they can’t compete with us.”
Again, I really liked your comments. It is a very helpful blog. I just know that some very, very talented designers are involved in small, out-of-the-house design studios. Almost every design studio in Utah began in the same way. I would go to them first, find out if they can hack the work, and then proceed from there. If the hunt is successful, I get a sweet deal with awesome work. They focus on me, because I am by necessity very important to them, and their work is superb, with a great price, because that is their real advantage at this stage. If I need print media, I will look at Fluid Studio, because they have low overhead and great designers, but at the same time a smaller, unknown design firm can do the same work. In the design world, ideas and creativity dominate. Thus, a small guy can topple the big dogs.
Thanks again for the blog.
Peace