Working with agencies
Make sure you own the web accounts
When someone sets up a website for you, they may create several accounts. These could include:
- A web hosting account to buy your domain name and your hosting;
- A Google account so you can use Google Analytics on your site;
- An Adobe account so you can use a font from Adobe Fonts on your site;
- An account with a theme or plug-in provider (for WordPress, for example).
If this is the case, make sure the accounts are under your name, and that you have full access to them.
Sometimes an agency will say, “We’ll set everything up and look after it for you”, which sounds helpful. The problem is, if you become unhappy with them, then you have no access to the accounts for your own site. It can be difficult to move to another provider.
Beware of “bespoke”
Some agencies offer bespoke solutions. “Bespoke” can have two meanings:
- The agency select standard components from a well-known system like WordPress or Drupal. For example, they may select the most appropriate plugins for WordPress to suit your needs. This type of “bespoke” is fine because plugins for systems like this are usually well-tested and documented.
- The agency provide their own in-house system, which has not been thoroughly tested by a community around the world, and is not publicly documented. This is not so good. It means you rely entirely on the company to update and run your website.
Case study: emigrating developers
I once worked on a large custom-built site at a university. One day the company who built the site had a bust-up. One of the partners, the only one who knew how our system worked, emigrated to New Zealand. Development on the site slowed, and the site had to be moved (at great expense) to another system.
Lesson: make sure you choose a well-documented system that is used by a lot of people. This means you will be able to find another agency to help you if you become unhappy with your current agency. This will be much more difficult with a bespoke system. If the agency adds some customisation to the system, make sure it is well documented.
Get a system that suits you, not the agency
Some agencies prefer one particular system, like WordPress, Drupal or Next.js. This is understandable because it takes a long time to master a particular technology. However, this system might not suit your needs. Ask them why their particular choice is right for you, and what alternatives there are.
Also, talk to other agencies to see what system they would choose and why. Remember, the system they choose can have a big impact on the running costs of the site. Ask how much the site will cost per year to run.
The elephant analogy
A friend who went into sales told me this analogy about creating dependency on products. In the old days, he said, when elephants were in circuses, the elephant trainer would chain young elephants to a thick stake in the ground. The elephant would pull all it could, but couldn’t get away.
Gradually it learned not to bother pulling the chain. By the time the elephants were adults you could chain them to a stout tent peg, and they wouldn’t walk away.
My friend said, “This is what you need to do to your customers: chain them mentally and emotionally to your product, so it doesn’t cross their mind to walk away.”
Google has done this for web searching, for example, and Adobe Photoshop for image editing. You don’t need either. You can walk away and use an alternative.
In web development, some companies enchain people by promoting their software as encapsulating “modern best practices” or “modern web development”. Best practices are not software, and “modern” is not necessarily good, otherwise we’d be celebrating species loss and catastrophic weather events.
What’s most important is to choose a system that suits your needs. You don’t need to chain yourself to the same tent peg as others.
Make sure they are aware of legal requirements
It’s surprising how many agencies are not aware of legal requirements, especially when it comes to accessibility. Typical accessibility problems are low contrast between text and background, animations that start automatically and that the user can’t stop, and pages you can’t navigate with the Tab key.
Keep it easy to move systems
If you find the system you have too inflexible, too expensive or too difficult to use, you might want to change systems. Ask your agency how easy it would be to move from the system they would recommend. Can you export your content in a format that you can import into another system? This is especially important if your site is large.
Find feedback about the system recommended
If the agency recommends a particular system then ask colleagues, friends and family if they have ever used this system. You can also look online for reviews, but they may not be as trustworthy.
One thing to bear in mind is that open source solutions like WordPress and Drupal can be configured differently. Just because one site on a system is hard to edit, it doesn’t mean that another site on the same system will be the same.
In proprietary system like Wix, SquareSpace and Webflow, though, the systems are more standardised.