How to Choose the Right Digital Partner for Your Business

Choosing who looks after your website, your store or your advertising is one of the highest-impact decisions a small business makes. A good partner helps you grow for years. A bad one costs money, time and, sometimes, access to your own accounts.

Agency, freelancer or in-house?

A freelancer can be great for a well-defined job on a tight budget. An in-house team makes sense when there is enough daily work for full-time people. A small agency sits in between: several skills, such as design, SEO, advertising and development, without the cost of hiring each one.

Signs of a good partner

• Asks about your business before talking about tools
• Gives you a written proposal, with clear scope, timings and price
• Shows real work and results you can check
• Explains things without jargon and tells you when something is not worth it
• Sends regular reports, with what went well and what did not

Questions to ask before hiring

• Who owns the domain, the website, the ad accounts and Google Analytics?
• What happens if we want to end the partnership?
• Who will work on my project, day to day?
• How will we measure success, and how often?
• What is included in the price, and what is extra?

The most expensive mistakes

The most common mistake we see is the domain or ad accounts being registered to the previous agency. When the relationship ends, the client loses the history or cannot access their own site. Always insist that everything is in your name, with access given to the partner.

The second mistake is choosing on price alone. A cheap site that does not show up on Google or convert ends up being expensive. Compare proposals by what each one solves, not just the final figure.

A partnership, not a supplier

The best results we see come from long relationships, where the partner knows the business and suggests improvements without being asked. If you are looking for someone like that, talk to us. We reply personally, with a written proposal.