How to Hire a Web Development Agency: From Brief to Launch

“We need enquiries from office managers looking for air conditioning maintenance” gives an agency more direction than “we need a modern website”.

Copy this brief and answer in plain language:

• Business: what do you sell, and which service takes priority?
• Customer: who decides to buy, and what concerns them?
• Main action: should visitors call, enquire, book or do something else?
• Evidence: which genuine projects, reviews, photos and facts can you share?
• Content: what exists, what is missing, and who will prepare it?
• Workflow: who receives enquiries and follows them up?
• Constraints: which languages, integrations, budget limits and launch date matter?
• Approvals: who makes decisions and consolidates feedback?

The page count can wait. Your answers will help the agency propose an appropriate format and scope.

Ask the agency to walk through a portfolio example: the business problem, its exact contribution, its structural decisions and how it checked the work.

Then ask who will manage your project, how you will review progress and how changes are handled after a stage is approved. Useful answers describe a process you can understand.

Also discuss who will update copy, photos or products and how. The process should suit how often changes are needed and who can make them.

“Full service” or “turnkey” should refer to an agreed set of deliverables. Neither phrase tells you whether copywriting, translation, photography, content migration or third-party setup is included.

Record the pages, languages and functions; content responsibilities; revision process; acceptance criteria; launch work; and handover requirements. Identify what belongs in a later phase.

Agree on how additional requests will be assessed. Fixing a broken form and adding a new calculator are different kinds of work. Use our guide to what determines website cost when comparing proposals.

Interim reviews help you understand which decisions you are approving and what depends on them. At XEVOR, we set a date to demonstrate the result after agreeing the requirements. The launch date also accounts for content, checks and revisions.

Consolidate feedback into one list with the page, problem and expected result. This helps resolve conflicting comments and distinguish corrections from new requests.

Copy and photography affect the design. Leaving them until the last day can mean approved layouts no longer fit the offer.

For each service, prepare the outcome, scope, limitations, common questions and next step. Use genuine reviews and case studies. If you do not have them yet, explain your process, introduce the team and answer customers’ practical concerns.

Keep a content list with an owner and status for each item. For a multilingual website, decide who will write and review every language version. If Google will be an acquisition channel, consider preparing your website for search before finalising the page structure.

Consider a fictional air conditioning maintenance company seeking office enquiries. This illustrative example is not an XEVOR case study. Initially, it requests a homepage, gallery and contacts.

Further discussion reveals that customers need to know the service area, supported equipment and how to arrange a visit. Those answers shape the service page. The enquiry form asks for contact details and a short description of the premises.

Acceptance is concrete: a mobile visitor finds the service, understands the conditions, submits an enquiry and sees confirmation. The responsible manager receives the message. That journey can be tested before launch.

Request a preview address and complete the main journey on a phone and computer. Test with real content, not placeholders.

• Are the offer and intended audience clear?
• Do menus, buttons, phone numbers and links work?
• Does a test enquiry reach the right person?
• Are error and success messages understandable?
• Can you complete the form with a keyboard and see the active field?
• Is any text cut off, or does the page scroll sideways unexpectedly?
• Is it clear who will make the agreed content changes and how?

Agree which outstanding issues must be resolved before publication. Repeat the enquiry test after launch to confirm it works on your main domain.

Handover includes the ability to manage the website. Check whose accounts hold the domain, hosting and connected services, and which permissions your team receives. Record the agreed terms for using the code, design and third-party materials in the project documents.

Ask for the agreed content update process, a list of recurring service charges and an explanation of backups and recovery. If source code is part of the handover, confirm repository access and setup instructions.

Agree on where to report problems, which support is included and who will handle future changes.

Planning a business website? Tell XEVOR about your project: your business, priority service and the action you want visitors to take.