Like choosing your mechanic, if you’re not familiar with the nitty gritty details, choosing a partner company to move forward with for an online strategy is extremely tricky. We are not all internet professionals, so here are some tips that you can consider to make a more accurate decision.
Make Sure THEY listen
No one knows your business better than you. Make sure the company listens to your needs. Don’t accept a plug and play solution that one size fits all. A good partner needs to be able to understand, as best possible, how you work. This way when they do propose a solution it can be tailored to your needs.
Longevity
How long has the company been around for, where did they start from, and what is the plan. Even though the internet evolves at rapid pace, company stability means they have seen a lot and they have changed a lot to accommodate technology.
Try to evaluate longevity properly
Many years of experience should be backed up with quality clientele, success stories and evolving technology/products. Ask about the CMS, the technology used and even if you don’t clearly understand this, you can use uncle google to find out more. Usually you will get the right answers.
Make sure YOU listen
If you have evaluated the first 3 tips above, hear what the company’s ideas are and understand that you have a common goal. Even though you know your business well, evolving online is not the same as offline. Experience of the online market is vital to your long-term strategy.
Always go dynamic
Anything else is not a solution, it’s a problem. If you are building a new site or revamping your existing site, make sure you will receive a CMS or CRM to control your information. A static site is only useful for certain farfetched scenarios, a two-month landing page perhaps or a form campaign that will be obsolete in a month or 2. This step is extremely important for e-commerce and anything static should be dismissed immediately.
Designing responsive and dynamic
No design should get approved without these 2 requirements ticked. If a design is not considered for responsiveness then throw it away and start from scratch. A design should accommodate every screen size on every device. Even though its logical that certain requirements just cannot meet such demands always prefer to sacrifice design creativity for responsiveness and keep it dynamic, as it will pay off in the long run.
This thing called PRICE
I have left this last deliberately as I think the order of considering price should always be evaluated after all the above. Don’t get me wrong, price is an important factor but only if you have ticked the above boxes. Avoid getting into the trap that the cheapest solution is the best. If your company can afford it, don’t sacrifice quality for price.
TEST the waters before you dive in
Even though I always say that quality comes at a price, I recommend that you do your research properly before spending away. If you are not sure that the online audience is there, or if you are questioning whether your product can sell online, or even if this is your first attempt, then there are always easier solutions to assess your strategy. Start off small and gradually grow.
Alex Constanti
MD Ideaseven