Have you ever tried shopping for a web design firm? It’s weirdly stressful, not unlike trying to help your kid get ready for their school picture day. If you make them wear something awful or have them get a bad haircut, it will be forever immortalized in year books and class photos, and your kid will probably never really let it go (though, they may be willing to share it on the internet as an adult and give strangers a good laugh). Having a bad website isn’t nearly as permanent as a bad school picture, but it’s still something that is to avoid. Finding a good web design firm is kind of like hiring a personal stylist for your kid so that they always look good for picture day. Okay, it’s not that over-the-top and is arguably more necessary, but you get the idea. 

The point is, you want to find a good web design firm when making or updating your business’s website, because it is a common way that people first come into contact with your company and brand. You will want it to look good, reflect who you are as a company, and (an often looked over aspect) work in an intuitive way. This is where we, Avant8, come into the picture. We are experts on all things digital marketing, especially web design. Though we do want to continue tooting our own horn and shamelessly tell you who great our company is, we also want to be fair. So here are some tips on how to weed out potential web design firms (and how Avant8 stands up to this scrutiny): 

• First things first, check out their website. How does it look? Do all of the links work? Does it list what services they have. This may all seem like an obvious thing to do, but what a web design company’s website looks like says a lot about who they are. If they can barely pull themselves together to make and keep up their own site, how can you have confidence in what they will do for your site? You’re already on our site, so this step is basically done. Now you just need to explore it. We’re pretty pleased with it, so we’re sure you’ll like it. 
• While you’re on the web design firm’s site, you need to look for their portfolio. In theory, they should have examples of what they have done for other companies in the past. This way you know that even if their site isn’t quite to your taste, they may have done other sites that do appeal to you. Check out these sites in real time (they should have active links or URLs for you to check out). If the sites they’ve worked on aren’t up any more or have changed, there are a few questions to ask. When did they design this site? If it was a while ago, why don’t they have more recent work listed? If it was recent, why did the client change their site? These are all things that you need to be on the look out for. Avant8, of course, has a portfolio that we’re very proud of. Take a look. 
• While looking at the portfolio, you’ll want to consider the kind of companies that they’ve worked with. Does it look like they specialize in a particular industry? If so, does your business fall into that industry? Or does it look like they work with a number of different kinds of companies? In all reality, neither option is better than the other. If you find a firm that focuses on your industry, then you may feel more comfortable, because they will likely already be familiar with your needs. If you find a firm that works within several different industries, their showing that they have versatility and will be able to adapt to your needs. We’re partial to the versatile companies, but that’s mainly because we are one. We’ve worked with all kinds of companies and have enjoyed it! So, Avant8 can no doubt give you a website that is well suited for your company. 
• After you’ve checked out a company’s site and decided that you want to move forward with them, you’ll likely start out with some meetings and consultations before you even sign a contract with them. At this point, you’re going to want to have some questions ready. One good one is how involved they will allow you to be. You may not want to be involved at all, or you may want a hand in most aspects of the design. The thing you have to look for is a company that will come to you with ideas but will also listen to and consider yours. It’s your business and it needs to reflect who you are, but if you are unfamiliar with how web design works, then figuring out what you want in your site can be intimidating. At Avant8, we have good working relationships with our clients. We will help you fill in the blanks where you’re not sure what you want and will make sure your site is what it needs to be. 

If you’re a Utah-based company, you’ve no doubt noticed there are a lot of web design firms here. So, picking one will feel like a lot. Hopefully, our little guide has given you an idea of what to look for. To be perfectly honest, we’re also hoping that you’ve seen how we’re a pretty awesome web design company in Salt Lake City. We check every box on this list. Okay, maybe this list is a little biased towards that, but these really are things that will help you find a good web design firm in Utah. But there’s a reason that we have a bright pink color scheme; we stand out, and we want to help you do that too.