Small businesses are the driving force of San Diego’s economy, representing more than 70,000 businesses (approximately 92 percent of all businesses in the City) and about half of San Diego’s job growth since 1991. When it comes to web design options for small business budgets, San Diego small businesses have very few options.
Bop Design recognized this lack of options over three years ago when the principals started the firm focused solely on small business. Bop Design wants to be known as the web design firm for small business. With the high number of small businesses in San Diego and the dire need for small business web design resources, Bop Design and the San Diego business community seem to be a perfect match.
So when it comes to web design as a San Diego small business, what are some items a business owner or marketing director needs to think about? Here are some helpful questions to pose when you search for “San Diego web design”-
- Style Match? Make sure you like their style. It’s simple but many people forget to look at an agency’s portfolio and determine if the agency’s style is aligned with their company.
- Process? Many creatives (especially ones who focus on small business) are not process-oriented. Make sure they have a defined web design process that starts with a creative discovery process then leads to web design/concepting followed by web development. Ask to review their process document or sample project schedule before moving forward.
- References? As with any business relationship, it’s critical to ask for references to current or former clients. Call a few of them. Make sure the projects are similar to yours. Industry experience is not critical but make sure that they are in the same B2B or B2C realm.
- Payment Options? Never pay a web designer in-full, up-front. With small businesses, it’s all about cash flow and you want to spread payments out as much as you can. See if you can split payments into four and do not pay the final invoice until you are at the website upload stage.
- Marketing Background? Determine the marketing background of the agency. You don’t want web designers who have no marketing background and really only have an art education. Listen to the questions they ask about your business and your desired website. You can tell if they have a marketing background by the questions they pose. Are they asking about your ideal customer, industry segments, unique value proposition, etc?
There are many great web design firms in San Diego. Unfortunately there are also many disorganized freelancers who pose as web design firms and really have no marketing background or project management skills. Bop Design is here to be a resource for San Diego small businesses. Bop Design is a San Diego web design firm passionate about helping grow businesses in the San Diego region.
