WhyWebsitesFail [#7]: The Wrong Firm Was Hired to Do the Job.

It’s a classic problem. You talk to several friends; search the web; and pretty soon, you’ve got a short list of design firms to potentially help with your website. After selecting a firm; agreeing on the price; and signing the contract, you schedule a kickoff meeting, and the project is well underway.

Then, things begin to unravel. The firm promises to deliver mockups within 2 weeks, but delivers them in 3 weeks. Then, you wonder why the designer failed to follow your instructions. Or worse, you wonder why the designer followed your instructions so closely! You ask to see a revised version— it’s an improvement, but you’re still not happy. What happened?

When hiring a design firm, you need to:

• Ask about their process— do they immediately start “decorating”, or, do they help you clarify your strategy first?;
• Look at the firms’ work and ask a lot of questions— what things in particular were they responsible for?;
• Check out team members’ profiles on LinkedIn— do they have a proven track record?;
• Determine exactly who you will be working with— is the “chemistry” good?

“WhyWebsitesFail” by Oddo Design, is a series of helpful tips intended to help entrepreneurs and marketing professionals improve the effectiveness or their marketing efforts.

Tommy Oddo is a web designer and digital artist who lives in Austin, Texas. Entrepreneurs, marketers, and in-house teams hire him to make their websites and digital products more engaging and easier to use. Follow him on: Linkedin, Quora, Twitter, and Facebook. Subscribe to future articles via RSS and/or Email.