Asking The Right Questions, How To Select A Drupal Web Design Company?

Alliance  ·  January 27, 2016

When it comes to building your next custom website, what is the best way to go about selecting a Drupal web design company? As an organization seeks to create a new brand presence or is in need of redesigning an existing website, finding the right agency to do the work is essential to their overall success.

The Top 5 Questions to Ask:

1. How long has your agency been working with Drupal?

Time matters. The longer the web design agency has been working with Drupal, the more knowledge and depth their team has accumulated.

2. What Drupal-specific certificates or memberships does your company hold?

There are a number of third-party programs and external organizations that offer either memberships or endorsements. A membership or involvement with one of these organizations is a sign of the web design agency’s community involvement and interest in further development with the Drupal community.

3. Can you take me through 3 or 4 live Drupal sites?

The best test of any full-service agency is to see the live sites that the company has implemented. The reason for doing so is simple; this can show you what modules were used, the level of integration and the sophistication of the overall deployment.

4. What third party integrations have you utilized with Drupal?

Beyond social media sites, you want to hear that your interactive agency has had some experience in sophisticated integrations.

5.  How have you used Drupal to benefit search engine optimization?

Getting found online is essential for many companies and organizations, so have the interactive agency run some live Google searches of the websites they have created and see if they’ve really done anything to improve their clients’ rankings.

Questions that are less revealing:

1. Can you give me a list of references?

A web design company will only give you their most glowing recommendations.

2. Have you worked with our industry before?

Unless your organization is in a highly niche vertical, full service interactive agencies are more than capable of handling your needs. Even if they answer “yes,” that’s not enough to ensure they’re capable of handling  your project or of handling it well.

3.  Does your company have the capacity to take on a new project?

No agency will say “no,” especially when you’re dealing with a true salesperson. A better way to determine whether or not a particular company can take on a new project is to see how well they engage with your idea and project. Do they follow up? Do they offer additional advice? Did you get a proposal that addresses your specific needs quickly?

4. Is Drupal secure, scalable,  mobile-ready or robust?

A little due-diligence beforehand can go a long way and optimize the time you spend on the phone. In case you’re wondering, the answer to all four is ‘yes.’ This is a better question to ask: Is Drupal right for my organization?

For additional details on Drupal, read our Drupal 8 Review.

Alliance Interactive is a digital, web designweb development, and website maintenance agency for nonprofits, associationsb2b organizations, and more. Give us a call today at 888-222-9056 or contact us here.