Portfolios are a great way of checking out what a genuine web design company is really producing for real businesses.
It is easy for a web design company to put together a super, shiny, snazzy web site which looks great, but do investigate on their portfolio page (often worded as other work we have done or something similar) to see if their work for their customers is as good as they suggest.
A good web design company will clearly show you their web sites that they have completed for their customers and importantly they will provide links to these web sites that they have designed for business clients and not just images of these sites. If they don’t or make it difficult to do this you may want to be suspicious.
If a web design company is only displaying a few completed web sites in their portfolio you should also be suspicious as this might indicate that they are only showing their more successful work and hiding other designs that their business customers are less happy with.
As you look through a web design companies portfolio ask yourself if there does seem to be lots of different styles of sites offering services to a range of businesses and something that you like for your own business. And while you are there do check out some sites in detail and investigate if links and other functions work properly.
Importantly, do check that the web design company really has built the site. Some companies list work they have done as web design when it clearly it isn’t, such as providing business cards or logos or even social media promotions in their portfolios and some other less scrupulous companies just list web sites in their portfolio (or something reading like a portfolio) when they haven’t even been involved. One of the best ways to check which company designed a site is to scroll down to the bottom of the site in the footer and read and click who did it.
You may also want to consider the customer base of the web sites in the web designers’ portfolio. Most businesses like to meet their web designers and if they are local they will be able to meet up. We do.
Almost finally, it is worth noting that if your business is based in Hull or even Yorkshire that it will get a quick Google advantage by being on our portfolio page.
Finally, if you are a business and are looking at a decent portfolio, like ours, and you see a web site you like why not just contact them (our sites will always have an easy way of contacting the company) and ask them if they like their web design company.
Please take a few moments to look at Our Portfolio.
