Which is the best web design company in Kenya?

Web design in Kenya has come to an era where everybody can easily access web design services as web designers are literally everywhere. Although this ease of finding a web design agency or a web designer may seem like a convenience, it has its downsides which include the difficulty of choosing the right agency. With so many web design companies in Nairobi, Nakuru, and other areas, it becomes extremely difficult to choose one company. The process of choosing a web agency is not an easy. Web sites represent the face of the business or organization, business websites play a critical role in creating the first impression. It is important that you make the right decision as this decision will eventually impact on the competitiveness and performance of the business. But this leaves us with the question, How do you choose the right web design company? Which is the best web design company in Kenya? The objective of this article is to help you make the right decisions, avoid the common pitfalls and thus single out the best web design company. Process of identifying the best web design agency Web design in Kenya is a field that has attracted so many players leading to a large number of web developers, especially in the major cities. This large number of web designers is composed of both the experienced web design experts and the wannabes ( who also consider themselves “web gurus”). Making a slight mistake can lead you to choose these wannabes, and this results in wastage of money, time and probably tarnishing the image of your business. I will highlight some of the things you need to watch out to avoid this pitfall. Finding Kenya web experts does not mean heading to Google and searching for “the best web design company in Kenya” or “top web design companies in Kenya,” it goes beyond a simple search on the search engines. The results might lead you to make hasty decisions that might cost you a lot. Kenya web experts are those agencies that have the skills, the technical knowledge and a track record of doing what they claim to do, not the company listed in number one position. Almost every web developer or will claim to be Kenya’s or Nairobi’s best but don’t be fooled by mere words. Choosing a web developer is a process that requires you to analyze several characteristics of the developer or the design agency. So how exactly are you supposed to choose? Well, here are seven factors to consider when selecting a design company:

1. Technology used by the agency

Does the agency keep up to date with the latest design trends? Which technology will they use to develop your website? This is one of the most important factors you need to consider; you don’t want to hire an agency which develops websites that look so 90’s. Your website is your business’s or organization’s face and a site that appears as if it was developed in the year 2000 does not help you representing your brand or business. Also, if the agency can only develop WordPress sites, run while you still have a chance, I’m not saying WordPress is evil, it just happens there are better technologies today. Wordpress sites may feel cheap and easy to manage at first, but in the long run, there are more disadvantages that arise, you can read more from this article . Consider going for agencies that use robust, stable and most recent technologies like Node, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Express, Django among others. The advantage of these technologies is that you can integrate them with some of the best front-end frameworks like Angular 2, React and Vue js. In simple language this means these technologies creates sites that offer an excellent experience to your customers, your site feels modern, more powerful, easy to integrate with mobile apps, and more importantly they help your website grow and accommodate more functionality in future. Any agency that claims to Kenya’s best web design company should be equipped with more than one technology, preferably more than four web development languages/scripts. Other core skills every web design agency should have include:

Responsive design or mobile friendly design.
Design skills which should include color, perspective, spacing and animation among others.
Extensive understanding of UI design.

2. Experience

How much experience does the agency have? You should never hire a web design agency that has an experience of less than 6 months. Most of the time, the wannabes will learn web design for a period of one or two months and think they are ready to handle a real world project but this couldn’t be far from the truth. A web designer should learn web design for at least an year before undertaking a sensitive project like an e-commerce website. Always prefer an agency or a person who have an excellent track record, this way you are confident they can accomplish what they claim.

3. Agency Reputation

Searching for web designers in Nairobi or in Kenya and choosing one from first 10 search engine result is not enough. You have to do more searching about the agency and know what previous customers have to say about the agency. Reach out to one of the previous clients, or look for reviews on the web and see what agency client’s have to say about the services they received. Some agencies lack the capacity to deliver the high-performance websites and software they promise their clients, and in such scenario, the clients end up losing a lot of money and time. Always go for an agency that has a good image and a number of satisfied customers.

4. They should rank well on search engines

You should not solely rely on search engines, but they can point you in the right direction. The agency should also have a marketing department. The ultimate goal of having a website is to increase your business reach and offer better services to your clients, but this is not possible if your target customers can’t find your website easily. To know how easy it will be for customers to find your websites try searching for different queries like “web design companies in Nairobi”, “Web designers in Nakuru”, “web design in Kenya” , “SEO agencies in Nairobi”, and other queries, then see where the agency rank. If the agency rank on the first page and probably second page in a few queries it means they can also make your website more visible and easily accessible to customers and help in reaching the target markets. Unless you want to hire a different marketing agency in Nairobi to help you optimize your website for search engines, you should hire a firm that is knowledgeable when it comes to search engine optimization and digital marketing strategies.

5. Customer support

Will the company offer support when you need it? It is important you choose a web design company that provides reliable, fast and cost-effective support on an ongoing basis. When choosing a web designer, choose one that you can rely on in the long-term. You will constantly need support, few updates and changes in different areas, hence choose an agency that will be there to provide these services as you need them.

6. Range of services offered by the agency

Can you get all your web related services from the agency? If you own a website you know, there are other services that are closely tied to this process such as webmails, domain registration, web hosting among others. It is easy to manage your website from a central location, find an agency that will offer all these services.

7. Location

Always go local, it is better to deal with a web designer you can meet for consultancy among other services. Hiring an overseas agency could present issues as early as the first day your website goes live. Hiring a local web design company means you can meet the developer and explain your business goals, to ensure your business objectives are reflected in the design. There are many Competent IT companies in Kenya; therefore, you don’t have a solid reason to hire overseas companies. These seven factors will guide you to choose the right agency; you can also check the questions you should ask a web design agency before hiring them, and also the things to look for when choosing the best agency. This article might not have answered the question, which is the best web design company in Kenya but it guides you toward figuring out the top web design agencies in Kenya and choosing the best one as different individuals will have varying needs which are handled better by one agency than others. These guidelines will help not only in identifying the best web design companies, but you can also use these factors to choose the right ICT company when searching for IT services.