You’ve got really big goals for 2024 — and your business website is critical to driving the traffic, leads, and sales you need to grow and thrive in the coming year.
And now, as you’re sitting in a sales call with a web design agency, you hear something that quickens your pulse:
You’re thrilled. You were expecting the process to take months. Thirty days sounds amazing!
But then, doubt starts to creep in. You hear that little voice in your head asking the question you didn’t want to ask yourself, "Is this too good to be true?"
Is the offer too good to be true?
After all, if most agencies’ estimates for a website redesign are measured in months, and one is measured in days, that’s a pretty big difference. Any time there’s an outlier that sits that far away from everyone else, it’s going to prompt a lot of questions.
The first and most obvious question is the one you've already asked yourself: Is it simply too good to be true? A website is a huge investment, and you’re likely worried that corners are going to get cut when you’re traveling at break-neck speed.
The second question is this: Are there limits to what can get done in such a short time frame, even with a full team?
I mean, if a construction company said they could build my entire custom-designed house in 10 days, starting with a blank plot of ground, I’d have doubts — no matter how big their team was. My foremost concerns would be centered around two issues:
- Are we rushing through the custom design process? Is the house still custom to my needs, or is it picked out of a template gallery? How well does the designer really understand my family and our needs in such a short time?
- Are there parts of construction that simply can’t be sped up? Concrete has to set, paint has to dry. There are some things that just take time — and having a team of more people can’t speed them up.
If you’re in the market for a website redesign and are considering an agency that's promising an ultra-quick turnaround solution, here are some questions you should be asking (according to a development and design expert) to know if the offer is actually too good to be true.
Full disclosure: We design and build websites
IMPACT’s web team designs and builds websites for companies all over the world. We employ brilliant strategists, designers, developers, and project managers who see these projects to completion — all in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
We believe rushing through a redesign process is foolhardy. It takes time to understand a business and its customers — and then design the site they need. Then, after the site goes live, an agency should monitor traffic and perform A/B tests to see which options perform best.
This process, known as 'growth-driven design', is advocated by HubSpot because it yields an objectively better website.
Too often in the past we had seen companies pay top dollar for a shiny new site — only to find six or eight months after launch that it didn't deliver any ROI. Then, they’d have to go back to their agency and pay more money (or start over with someone new) in order to get the site that they really needed all along.
Needless to say, you don’t want this to happen to you.
So, what should you be asking of a sounds-too-good-to-be-true website redesign deal?
How can you evaluate the lofty promises of an agency? How can you be sure you’re getting your money’s worth? Vin Gaeta is director of web services at IMPACT, and he has more than a dozen years of project management and development experience.
According to Vin, here’s what to ask as you determine whether an accelerated website redesign is a good fit for you.
1. What to ask: What level of strategy can I actually expect in 30 days?
Why it’s a concern
Your website is the greatest marketing and sales asset your business has. Just as you wouldn’t launch a marketing campaign or redesign your sales process without a strategy, your website builder needs to take into account your business, your industry, your customers, SEO, site structure, and much more.
At IMPACT, we spend five weeks developing a website strategy for our clients that’s based on user data, market research, tech specifications, keyword analysis, client feedback, and more.
A 30-day build invariably makes the planning stage alarmingly short. Will a few days of planning be sufficient to lay the groundwork for years to come? How well will the agency get to know your products or services? Your industry? Your customers? Your business goals?
Bottom line
You don't want to find yourself with a brand new website that doesn’t meet your business’s needs in a few months because it’s built on a hasty or incomplete strategy.
2. What to ask: How customized will the website be?
Why it’s a concern
This is the reason you’re working with an agency in the first place. You need a site that’s built for your business, your services, your users. You want to be able to stand out in your industry — not have a version of what your competitors have. So, with a 30-day timeline, can your website actually be custom-built?
If the website isn’t customized to your needs (or that customization is limited) it might, in turn, limit what you get out of the whole redesign process.
If you’d be happy with a template-based approach, there are going to be cheaper options for you.
Bottom line
You don’t want to get stuck paying custom-level prices for template-level results.
3. What to ask: Will I need a developer to update it?
Why it’s a concern
We all know your website isn’t something you can set and forget. You’ll need to update it frequently as your offerings change. At the most basic, you’ll want to add to your blog, introduce new team members, and update product pages.
You’ll likely also want to regularly update your website to make sure it’s providing the best experience for your users. This means building landing pages, refreshing the copy on your pages, and more.
Will you need a developer to do these things, or can marketers without a coding background suffice?
Bottom line
If you’re not ready to expand your team with a dedicated in-house website specialist, make sure you will have the control you need with your new site.
4. What to ask: Our organization needs a very large site. Can the agency still deliver?
Why it’s a concern
Most custom websites IMPACT builds are over 500 pages. Some are over 1000. The more pages, of course, the more work it takes to build the site.
With a 30-day build, you want to make sure the entirety of your site can get built in that time, even if the site is large. And if the project runs long, how does that affect cost?
Bottom line
You need to know that their team can handle your needs.
5. What to ask: So, what if the project runs long?
Why it’s a concern
We’ve built hundreds of sites in the past ten years. We’ve found that it takes a lot of time and research to estimate exactly how big a project is and how long it will take. What makes a project run long? There might be additional site sections that the client overlooks at first, or content creation takes longer than anticipated.
If your project runs over 30 days, are you responsible for paying a retainer or other fees? Does the team move on to the next project, leaving you with a skeleton crew or worse?
Knowing how common delays are, you’ll want to be sure about the contingency plan.
Bottom line
Sometimes projects run long. Make sure you know what happens on day 31.
6. What to ask: Can the agency really guarantee that all the necessary content gets done on time?
Why it’s a concern
We’ve found that content is often an unforeseen hold-up for web projects. Clients can easily underestimate just how time-consuming and difficult it is to write the content that makes their homepage, about us pages, and service pages come alive, even in the age of AI.
On your website, you need the language to be just right, and rushing through content production never ends well. After all, content is the soul of your business.
If the agency is promising to handle content creation, how can you be certain that all content will perfectly align with your company’s voice and tone?
We believe that outsiders struggle to convey the essence of a business that they’re just getting to know. If outsourced content already tends to miss the mark, adding break-neck speed would only exacerbate the problem.
Bottom line
Your website copy needs to be pitch perfect, and this takes time.
Buyer beware: If it sounds too good to be true, make sure to ask questions
In any facet of business, there are always going to be companies who will offer to do something faster or cheaper, promising to trim the fat and deliver a better experience to customers. When agencies vie with each other to best serve clients, those clients win. Competition pushes development, efficiency, and innovation.
But not every new offer is worth it. When a deal simply sounds too good to be true, it’s a wise move to start kicking the tires and figuring out all you can about the offer before you plunk down your payment.
If an agency is offering to redesign your website in 30 days — and this timeline is a drastic outlier from what you’ve heard elsewhere — start asking questions and speaking to past clients to make sure the process will work for your business’s goals.
You’ll need that website to serve you well for years to come.
While a quick fix is certainly attractive, make sure you’re not going to get rushed through the steps that truly make your website the critical sales and marketing asset it should be.
Author: jbecker@impactbnd.com (John Becker)
* This article was originally published here
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