9 Reasons Why We’re Not The Web Design Agency For You!
You’re starting a new business. Congratulations! This is an exciting time, full of possibility and potential. But there’s a lot to think about and do to get your business off the ground. One of the most important things you need to do is create a website. But where do you start? How do you know which web agency is right for you and your business?
In this article, we will cover:
Knowing Your Target Audience
I believe you spent much time thinking about your target audience. What are they like? What are their hobbies? What kind of lifestyle do they lead?
But there’s one thing business owners don’t often do…Think about whom they don’t want to work with.
The same thing does apply to finding an agency to work with; It’s very important to know if you and the agency are a good fit for the project before you sign any documents to avoid later problems.
At Dephlex Creatives, we believe we are not the right fit for everyone. We want to help you create a beautiful and functional website that meets your specific needs—but we’re not going to try to force a square peg into a round hole.
Thinking about whom you don’t want to work with is a powerful exercise.
We’re not talking about the people everyone would hate to work with. You know, those who never pay on time (if ever) or make ridiculous demands at 2 am. Nobody wants that!
No, we’re talking about people who aren’t the right fit for your business. These aren’t bad people; they’re just not right for you. And equally, you might not be suitable for them.
9 Reasons Why You Should Not Hire Us To Build Your Website
You’re probably here because you want to hire us to build your website. We would love to work with you, but before you make this important decision, here are our 9 reasons why we’re not the web design agency for you!
1. You Want a ‘Yes Man/Woman’
Knowing what you want and having someone to instruct you to get you what you want without asking questions or trying to contribute to your ideas isn’t bad, but that is just not how we work at Dephlex creatives.
Yes, some people do have a clear idea in mind of what they want, and they need someone to build their website for them, which isn’t bad, but we’re not the right fit.
We do like to get more involved when it comes to our client’s success.
Our passion is working with businesses and advising them throughout the project. We will say if we think something won’t work or could be done better. We’d feel we were doing a disservice to our clients if we didn’t.
We will also advise you on everything from website copy to content marketing. Even if this doesn’t directly impact what we’re working on.
2. You Need Someone to ‘Code it Up.’
Most of the time, potential clients have already contacted different agencies to design or build their website pages, so they need someone to add finishing touches or make a few changes.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. This isn’t something we do at Dephlex Creatives. You might wonder why we do not do that, so let me explain why.
We don’t do this because we design websites in a particular way. We don’t just consider how they look; we also have to think about the user journey, SEO, and how easy it is to navigate. In short, we do have a process we follow in designing a website for our clients.
Some designers won’t factor this in, and we would never build a website unless we were 100% sure it could generate leads and sales.
Connecting with our clients on a project is very important to us. These processes we have in place help us understand the ins and out of our client’s business and also help us know if we are a good fit or not—for instance, the discovery step is fun because, during this step, we facilitate strategic planning session which helps us learn your business, understand your users, define your brand, prioritize your goals and help you succeed online. The discovery will be made in person or through Zoom since we are a remote company.
After understanding and framing the problem to be solved, the Discovery phase begins to architect a high-level solution rooted in customer insight that looks to solve customer needs.
We use this step to look through the client’s lens to find insights that will make a compelling proposition – what are ‘the things that will most positively impact customers to make them think, act or feel differently? The Discovery Session helps uncover the Strategy that will govern the design.
This may sound selfish to some people I know, but if this weren’t part of the project, we just wouldn’t have as much fun. During this period, we bond and create a connection with our clients and also work hand in hand.
3. You Want Someone to Manage Every Bit of Your Website
Working with clients who are hands-on on their projects or website is something we enjoy. Some people would want to dump all the workload on the agency working on their website to figure things out, being content, posting blogs, and whatnot. All they want is the end products. Many web design agencies make money from charging their clients for minor website edits. This could be like changing your phone number or adding a blog post.
We have no interest in making money out of updating your phone number. We give you full access to your site, and the more you can do, the better.
After building the website and giving the client full access to it, we have a series of training sections we take them through for them to know how to make some basic changes and update their blog post. But we’re always available to make changes beyond our client’s skill set.
Dephlex Creatives isn’t a fit for clients who want to be completely hands-off with their website and need us to do everything for them.
4. You Want Someone Local to Meet Face-To-Face
We get it; we do. There’s particular security in meeting with someone local at their office before you hand over the big bucks. But sorry, that’s not what we do.
We can’t meet everyone face-to-face before we take on a project; we’re a small team and do not have the time to meet everyone we work with.
Working remotely allows us to work with people all over the world, and one thing is for sure, we can’t travel all over the world to meet all potential clients face to face before we work with them. All that is needed to be done is a simple video call, and I believe we’re good to go.
Ultimately, remote working allows us to charge a smaller amount for what people consider a ‘big agency’ website.
It’s not that we never meet clients face-to-face, but we charge extra for this (when many agencies incorporate it into the cost).
5. You need your website up ASAP.
Unfortunately, good things take time – and that includes websites. Sure, some platforms promise quick turnaround times, but more often than not, they sacrifice quality for speed. We might not be the right match if you need your website up yesterday.
I remember this client needed a website in three days, which is impossible; not that we can’t build a website in 3 days, but we know it would not deliver you a great return on your investment.
We do have a well-detailed process we follow, starting from the Compatibility Call, Planning, Onboarding, Discovery, Defining (Strategy), Design, Development, Deployment, Evaluation(AfterGlow), and finally, the Project Case Study. All these processes require time and dedication, and much communication with you.
Unfortunately, we can’t do it super quick, and again, if we did, we’d feel like we were doing you a disservice.
But there are agencies out there who do have super-fast turnaround times, and if you have your heart set on a launch date in two weeks, it might be best to try them!
6. You want unlimited revisions.
We always aim to please our clients with our work; however, we also understand that revisions are sometimes necessary to get the final product right. Some Client revisions can quickly turn into a pit of quicksand. The harder you work, the deeper you sink. Before long, you wish for a swift, painless death instead of the slow suffocation you are experiencing.
We usually ask clients if a client has any design ideas in mind when designing a logo for them, which most of them don’t. There was this client we worked with around august 2019, we sponsored an event for small businesses, and part of the package was to create a unique logo and identification for her business. We did ask her if she had any concept in mind for her logo, but she said no. Generally, during the brainstorming process, we come up with three different concept sketches for our client to choose from. After choosing, we went ahead to create digital designs and finally presented the final product to her. She loved it but needed a few changes here and there, which is normal, but this is where everything gets interesting. After about 6 to 7 revisions, she came back with her logo sketch, saying that’s what she wanted. Sounds crazy, right? After weeks of getting you a logo that suits your brand, the revisions, and all the stress, you come back wanting a new logo. We knew from the jump that she wasn’t a good fit since she didn’t want to follow our design process, but we let those red flags slide and see where that got us.
That being said, we only offer unlimited revisions within reason. If you make too many revision requests, we may need to end our working relationship to serve our other clients better.
7. You Expect the Website Will Do All the Work
You have the mistaken belief that a website is all you need to start an online business. Your website is not going to do all the work itself. You can’t rely on it for everything.
We can only do so much. We can build beautiful websites with conversions and SEO in mind, but if you’re not prepared to invest your time in growing your website, then it won’t work.
SEO is an important part of any digital marketing strategy, and it’s important to understand that it takes time and effort to see results. Likewise, social media, email marketing, and other digital marketing efforts require time, dedication, and resources. There are so many things you can do to drive traffic to your website and increase conversions. Throughout the project, we’ll help you with this and give you all our knowledge. But ultimately, it comes down to you.
The success of your website is a partnership between us. If you expect the website to do all the work, we’re not the company for you.
8. You Want a Big Agency
We are four awesome people currently working in this business. We work with some amazing people who help make our clients’ websites the best they can be, BUT, we are still a small team.
We don’t have a big corporate office with many dozens of people working on different things, but we’re proud to be small.
Being a small agency allows us to focus on a few crucial things and deliver better results for our clients, rather than just being a jack of all trades. And our results speak for themselves in our case studies.
9. You want it cheap, just shopping around for the lowest price
We believe that if you hire a web designer, it is because you value design and quality. We often come across people who want a cheap designer who can just put together something fast for a few hundred bucks.
Our websites are not cheap. They start at $950 – 3k and sometimes go up to $15k or more, depending on the features and complexity of the project.
So if your budget is less than that or if you are just shopping around for the lowest quote possible, we can’t work with you. It’s not that we are mean, it’s just that we value your business and we can’t make our websites any cheaper because it would compromise the quality and impact on your business too.
What does this mean for you?
If you fit into one of the categories above, we hope you’re not offended! We do mean it when we say it’s not you. It’s us! We just want to ensure we work with the right people and can help you get the most out of your investment. Happy clients make us happy, and we’ve learned the hard way by working with people who aren’t the right fit.
Summary
While we would love to work with everyone who comes our way, unfortunately, that’s just not possible! We want you to take your time and find the right partner for you and your business. We hope this blog post has helped give some clarity as to whether or not we would be the right company for you and your website project! If you decide that we don‘t fit what you‘re looking for, that‘s okay! We wish you the best of luck in your search.
As always, feel free to contact us by emailing at hello@dephlexcreatives.com. If you have any questions.
