When it comes to getting a new website you’re never going to be short of options (the last few networking events I’ve been to you couldn’t walk very far without bumping into someone doing websites!); there’s plenty of people that do it (including us!), so how do you choose and is there really any difference between them all?
Whilst much attention is, and should, be given to other sites that they’ve built (a sure-fire way of checking if they’re going to create something visually inspiring for you), there are actually plenty of other things to think about when selecting your designer or agency.
When you consider that the site is going to be with you for four or five years, it’s a decision you want to get right, so here’s how we go about a few of the areas you’ll need to be asking about…

Your domain – you control it

So we often come across clients that are coming to use our services, only to find out that their current website designer owns their domain name. You’d not let us register your deeds if you owned land, you’d not put your mortgage in our name, and nor should you have your domain in somebody else’s.
Whilst we can move the domain into your name, you are at the mercy of someone else, and when you think that your domain name is an important part of your intellectual property as a business, you’ll not be surprised when we say that all of our client domains are registered in their own names, and not ours.
If you’re coming to us as a client we’ll arrange for your domain to be moved over into your name and away from your current designer. That way you’ll always be in control – we’ll just look after the technical bits and bobs for you.

Your hosting – we don’t make money on it

What will often happen is that you’ll go to a designer and they’ll offer to host the site for you. By doing that they’re probably making a margin on it; they’ll pay their supplier £5 and then charge the client £10. We’ve never been too interested in making £5 a month from our clients, so all of them have their hosting in their own name, and they pay directly to the supplier of the hosting.
This way they’re free from us making any money from it – and they’ll likely save £100 a year whilst having exactly the same hosting.
Not a bad saving by any means!

Monthly fees – we don’t do them

I met with a local business a couple of weeks ago (we’ll be building their new site over the next few weeks). He said that before speaking to us he had met with another designer. The cost they quoted for building the site was actually half of ours, but once it had been finished they insisted on a long monthly contract, meaning that the total cost came in several thousand pounds more than our own over the lifetime of the site.
I don’t like monthly fees or charging people when we’re not really working for them; for that reason we’re really upfront about our costs – when you come to us you’ll pay for the site and that’s it. If occasionally you want us to do work on it, or make additions and changes then it’s only charged if it takes us a few hours to do. That means our clients get great value when it comes to websites; I don’t think people paying a monthly fee tend to get that too often as the cost escalates over time.

Time frames – we move quickly

When you get a site from MiHi you’ll find that we’re quick and we’re good. Easy to say that but if in doubt please take a look at our testimonials or feel free to have a chat with any of our clients; we always want you to feel like we’re on top of things, and that your site is always top of our list.

Our work comes from word of mouth (and Twitter)

We’ve had more than 75 enquiries in the first two months of this year; most of that does come from word of mouth and some of our clients are so complimentary of our services, they’re almost like a supplementary marketing team! (Thanks if you’re reading this!!). We think there’s no better recommendation of how we handle things than their glowing reviews, so if you’re looking for a site please do have a read or even have a chat with them – they’re a friendly bunch and all brilliant at what they do!
If you’d like to talk to us about a project then give us a call on 01566 232323 or take a look at our recent work for a feel of what we can create.