Choosing the right WordPress web design agency is crucial for your business’s or organisation’s website. Few things are more likely to put off potential customers than a poorly designed and non-functional website, so making the correct call is vital.
As of September 2024, 43.5% of all websites are powered by WordPress. And with that comes thousands of WordPress web design agencies. With so many web design agencies available, it’s easy to rush into a decision or feel overwhelmed by the options.
In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of selecting a web design company, helping you sort the contenders from the pretenders and get the best possible result for your organisation.
Every business is unique, so breaking down your criteria into categories will help you clarify what you're looking for before shortlisting options.
Experience.
The first criterion for selecting a WordPress web design agency is experience, something Contra has in spades, with over 24 years of expertise working with WordPress.
Look for an established agency with a proven track record of designing and developing successful WordPress websites.
There are two words worth highlighting: 'proven' and ‘successful’.
Clear evidence such as an extensive portfolio and testimonials from clients should form an essential part of your decision. If this evidence doesn't exist then you can quickly move on to the next candidate.
Ask if the agency can connect you with a client. If they refuse, it's a red flag. If they agree, you can independently verify the quality of their work.
Further third-party verification can be found in any industry awards or accolades the agency has won for its work. At Contra, we pride ourselves on the work we do – and we have plenty of satisfied clients and awards to prove it!
Key questions to ask:
- How long have you been in business?
- Can you provide examples of WordPress websites you have designed in a similar industry?
- Can you provide references from past clients?
- Can you provide examples of WordPress websites you have designed with high conversion rates?
- Do you have any notable awards and achievements?
- What is your team's experience and qualifications?
Expertise.
While experience designing WordPress websites is a must, it's also highly beneficial if the agency has expertise in your sector.
This shows the agency understands your customer relationships and industry nuances, leading to a better final product.
Expertise must extend beyond industry knowledge—the agency should also have skills in the specific features and functionalities your website requires.
If your website needs e-commerce functionality, for example, you'll want to find an agency with experience in building these features into websites.
Contra has expertise in a number of different sectors including Law, Higher Education, B2B & Professional Services, Charity, Science & Research, and more.
Key questions to ask:
- Can you provide examples of websites you have designed in a similar industry?
- Have you worked with similar-sized businesses before?
- Do you have experience working with [the specific technology / platform you require]?
Communication and availability.
Having confirmed the agency's experience and expertise, ensure they can work effectively with your company.
Clear communication and availability are crucial during the website build. The agency should outline the process and timelines step-by-step, providing regular updates and meetings throughout the project.
You should be given access to a shared project management tool so you can get at-a-glance updates when you need them.
A dedicated project manager available to address your questions and concerns is essential, and Contra provides this as standard.
You should think about the longer term – for instance, what if there's an outage or an essential feature stops working at some point in the future? What if it happens in the middle of the night?
A good WordPress web design agency will provide you with an urgent email address should these occur. Equally, they should utilise website monitoring tools with alerts in the event of any issues.
If they don’t, remove them from your shortlist.
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Key questions to ask:
- What is your process for designing a website?
- Can you provide an estimated timeline for designing and launching a website?
- What project management tool(s) do you use?
- Will I have a dedicated project manager?
- What happens if my website goes down or there’s an urgent issue?
SEO and analytics.
Diving deeper into the nuts and bolts of the website, you'll need to ask a prospective agency about their SEO and analytics services.
SEO optimisation is vital to any business that wants to stand out in their sector.
A good agency will optimise your website and provide advice on improving your SEO rankings over the long term.
If you want to test how effective the SEO work of a WordPress web design agency is, then try searching for some of their other clients using keywords relevant to the industry sector. If they appear high on the list of results, then the web design agency has done their job well. Also, ask which tools they use for testing SEO performance.
As well as SEO, you'll need to know how your website is performing.
A good agency will set you up on Google Analytics 4 and develop clear website KPIs. A great agency will develop a custom Looker Studio dashboard so you can see everything you need in a visual, easily digestible report each month.
Key questions to ask:
- Does SEO optimisation come as part of the web development process?
- What is your process for SEO optimising a website?
- What tools do you use to research keywords and keep track of rankings performance?
- Will you set up Google Analytics 4?
- What other tools do you use to measure website performance?
- Do you provide monthly reports of SEO and website KPIs?
Real-world example
Hudgell Solicitors came to Contra needing a warm and welcoming website that outperformed competitors in every aspect, paired with a robust SEO strategy targeting key Service Areas and Claim Types. In one year, Contra achieved a best-in-class 27.2% conversion rate and a +37 increase in average keyword ranking.
Cost and scalability.
One of the biggest potential stumbling blocks you will encounter when it comes to engaging a web design company is the cost.
Just how much should a website cost and what can you expect for that money?
You should be looking for some clear guidelines from a prospective web design agency, with all costs broken down for you at the outset.
As well as the initial outlay, you'll need to think about ongoing maintenance costs.
Consider scalability: as your business grows, will your agency be able to adjust their services accordingly? A truly scalable website can handle sudden spikes in traffic without affecting availability or performance.
The issue of scalability also pertains to how future-proof your website is.
If you need to add new features in six months or a year, you don't want to rebuild the entire site. Ensure the website is flexible enough to adapt to your changing business needs, allowing new functionality to be easily integrated with minimal cost and inconvenience.
Key questions to ask:
- What is your pricing structure for website design services?
- Are there any additional costs for things like hosting, domain registration, or ongoing maintenance?
- Will there be a contract, and if so, what is the duration and terms?
- Are there any guarantees or warranties for the work that you provide?
- How will you bill me (monthly, weekly, etc.)?
- Will we need to pay extra for the CMS?
- Will the website be designed to be easily scalable in the future?
- How do you ensure that the website will be able to handle an increase in traffic or user engagement?
- Can you provide examples of websites you have designed that have successfully scaled?
Support and maintenance.
As mentioned previously, a good WordPress web design agency shouldn't just build a website for you and then disappear into the night—they should offer ongoing help and support.
Given the fast-changing nature of online threats, security support in particular is essential (more on security considerations later). However, you also need to consider other types of support, such as technical support if something goes offline or stops working.
Having support out of hours is a must for companies that use their website as a channel through which revenue is generated; waiting until 9 am on Monday morning to get a fix could mean an entire weekend of lost business.
Even if your website isn't set up for e-commerce, though, here at Contra we will still be providing you with out-of-hours support in case something goes wrong.
Additionally, any maintenance that is required that could result in the website going offline should be planned in advance to take place at a time when it will cause minimal disruption.
Again, the agency should be able to work with you to ensure this process goes smoothly.
Key questions to ask:
- What support and maintenance packages do you offer?
- Do you offer out-of-hours support?
- How do you ensure a fast response to any website issues?
Responsiveness.
We've talked a lot already about how a good WordPress web design agency should be responsive to your needs.
Now, let's talk about a different type of responsiveness – responsive design.
The principle behind responsive design is that a website should be able to adapt to the device and screen that a visitor is using.
Content automatically adjusts to fit the screen, meaning that the user experience is of high quality no matter where or how someone accesses the site. It’s something that Contra has considerable expertise in.
A reputable web design agency will ensure mobile-friendly navigation and quick-loading images. Also, check if they use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to minimise page loading time.
Look for reassurance that your web design company will test out your website on a variety of different devices and browsers to check it works as it should.
Another good idea is to actively enable features that are particular to mobile devices, such as location-based information and click-to-call features.
Other ways in which you can ensure a good experience for people accessing the site on the move are using a mobile-specific theme, and optimising content by using shorter paragraphs, larger font sizes, headings and bullet points to make the content easier to read.
Key questions to ask:
- How will you ensure that the website remains responsive to different devices?
- Do you have any examples of mobile-first web design?
Real-world example
MetFilm School came to Contra requiring a responsive, mobile-friendly, image and video-driven website to replace their current static and uninspiring site. We showcased MetFilm’s brand and courses with engaging, conversion-focused landing pages and optimised navigation for a seamless user experience.
Security.
An unsecured website can be disastrous for your business. If customer data is compromised or stolen, it can lead to legal issues and very unhappy customers.
To prevent this, ensure your web design agency understands cybersecurity and can implement best practices to keep your website secure.
It's not just the site itself that needs to be secured, but all the software necessary for running the site smoothly. Sucuri, one of the leading WordPress firewall plugins, found that 72.7% of WordPress site infections were caused by malware, with unauthorised backdoor access and SEO spam accounting for 69.6% and 46.7% of hacks, respectively.
You'll need to be sure that your hosting provider offers security features such as firewalls, intrusion detection, and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) protection. Your Content Management System (CMS), plugins and themes will also need to be updated and patched when necessary.
Also, it's a good idea to use an SSL certificate, which will encrypt the data transmitted between a visitor's browser and your website. This will protect their personal information such as credit card numbers and login credentials from being intercepted by hackers.
We've already mentioned Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) – which distribute your website's content across multiple servers – for improving page loading times, but they can also help protect against DDoS attacks.
Other features that you should be aware of include Web Application Firewalls (WAFs), which protect against common web-based attacks, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
But One common way bad actors access a website is by using the login credentials of authorised users.
Therefore, it's essential to limit the number of people who have access to your website's backend and only give access to those who need it.
Make sure they regularly change their password and also consider two-factor authentication (2FA) as a further security measure.
If the worst should happen, then you'll be kicking yourself if you don't have a backup of your website. Contra can help you with all of these considerations, as well as regularly backing up your files and database to ensure that you can restore your website in case of an emergency.
Key questions to ask:
- How do you ensure website security?
- How do you handle website disaster recovery?
- How do you handle website backups?
Design.
A WordPress web design agency should have a good understanding of web design principles so that your website is not only functional but also visually appealing.
At Contra, we understand how important it is that the look, feel and content of a website reflect the brand.
There are various ways of communicating this to customers.
Firstly, presenting a site with a consistent design and layout throughout shows that the business is well-organised and trustworthy.
Ease-of-use is also key—visitors should be able to navigate the site easily, and a good web design agency will be able to guarantee a perfect user experience (UX).
Content hierarchy goes hand-in-hand with consistency and ease of use. A clear structure and well-organised content prove that your brand is serious about its customers.
Your website should be easy to read and understand. This clarity should also stretch to visitors who might have accessibility needs, so your web design agency should ensure the site meets web accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 2.2.
Other visual aspects such as the branding and colour scheme should reflect the values of your business—ask your web design agency to talk you through these considerations and look for examples of how they've achieved this for other companies.
Finally, your website needs to have clear calls to action for the user. One aspect of this could involve encouraging user engagement and interaction.
For example, expandable forms within thought leadership content, or chatbots that ask visitors if they have any questions or would like a product demo.
Key questions to ask:
- Can you demonstrate the latest design trends and technologies?
- What design software do you use?
- How will you ensure that the design supports the goals and objectives of the website?
- How do you ensure that a website is mobile-friendly?
- How many design revisions do you typically offer?
- How do you ensure website accessibility?
- Will you be providing me with mockups or wireframes before starting the project?
- Will you provide a design style guide or branding guidelines for the website?
Real-world example
Everyone's Energy came to Contra requiring a beautifully designed, modern, SEO-optimised website to reflect their forward-thinking solar energy services. We developed a fresh brand identity, incorporating a bright, friendly colour scheme into a consistent and reassuring design. The site saw a 100% increase in new users YoY and won a Digital Impact Award for ‘Best Use of Digital in the Energy & Utilities Sector’.
Need a WordPress web design agency?
Contra has over 24 years of experience developing WordPress websites for leading organisations including The University of Oxford, The University of Cambridge, The Royal Society, Judge & Priestley, Hudgell Solicitors, MetFilm School, NFTS, and many more.
Let us know your next project and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours to discuss.
