In my time running tenders etc., I'd say the biggest advice is your website is only a small part of the tender-decision process. Much more interested in the actual tender submission and any subsequent meetings.

Agree with Rob and Andrew's points, but also add to keep it up to date. I've seen many websites with latest news from months or even years before.

Adrian



-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rob Cawston
Sent: maandag 23 januari 2017 11:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Engaging a web design agency

Hi all,

Agree with a lot of Andrew's points below. Having run numerous tenders over the years I've seen a lot of agency websites - and receive a lot of emails out of the blue inviting me for a coffee and a chat.

Overall, I'm looking for:

- a quick overview of who you are - where? how big?
- examples of previous work with focus on what the project was and the outcomes
- any specialisms or areas of focus: what do you care about in particular? What do you offer?
- clear contact info with the best way to get in touch (I never like filling out online forms and would always rather email a person direct rather than a generic email address).

Possible things to avoid:

- Any "wackaging" - the Innocent Smoothy-style copy trying to be everyone's friend
- Overly detailed team pages with your favourite movies :)
- Too much fancy stuff on your own site or any obvious errors. Keep it simple but do it well.

Finally, I am rarely browsing round looking for potential fits for shortlists. More often than not I will be following up a recommendation or come to a company because of work I have seen them do elsewhere.


Best,

Rob Cawston
Interim Head of Digital Media

National Museums Scotland
Chambers Street
Edinburgh EH1 1JF
t: +44 (0)131 247 4064
m: +44 (0)7919 188289
e: [log in to unmask]
www.nms.ac.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Andrew Lewis
Sent: 23 January 2017 09:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Engaging a web design agency

A great topic - I'd love to hear what people think about this. It would be good for suppliers to get some feedback too. No-one ever really wants to waste anyone's time, so any contributions welcome.
Keep points generic everyone - if you have good or bad experiences, the learning points for others are what we need here, not any promos or shaming :).

For my part, I've looked at a lot of design agency sites during tender selections in the past and I have to say, they vary a lot.
Occasionally one or two I've seen over the years have been rather shockingly bad adverts for a design company.

Here is a summary of my thoughts on what works and what doesn't

- Make it easy to get the gist quickly - When you have to look through more than a hundred agency websites, any that don't expose the basic info easily are a pain and you might lose some seekers if they can't see what you do at a glance

- While it is good to see what an agency can do, doing too much fancy stuff on the home page of your website gets irritating when you have to look at lots in one review session. A good sense of your brand is fine, but any sort of splash intro is a no-no for me - It is much better to have a showreel area well signposted.

- Case study section is handy. "Brands we work with" is OK, but case study summaries that show what actually happened is more likely to get serious attention (e.g. many many people have BBC on their client list, but the extent of work can vary from massive partnerships to tiny web ads)

- info about the type of work you specialise in and the team resources you have are all good (so if you have specific technology you use or you specialise in small budget works etc)

- contact info with clues about who is best contact for what work (especially if you are a bigger agency)

Above all, museum peeps do want to treat suppliers as partners, so the simpler it is to find the info, the easier it is and the more likely to get an appropriate contact.

Hope this is actually useful :)

Andrew

Andrew Lewis | Data and Insights Architect | Technology Solutions | Natural History Museum | Cromwell Road | London | SW7 5BD Tel: 020 7942 6134 | Email:[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tony Crockford
Sent: 21 January 2017 17:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Engaging a web design agency

Hello all,

Can I ask a few questions from the other side of the fence? I’m revamping our website and since we’re working with museum clients I wondered:

1. what’s the first thing you look for on an agency site?

2. what’s the one thing that instantly puts you off?

3. what would be the thing that helped put the agency on your short list for your next project?


We tell all our clients to define their market and write their story first, so when it comes to re-designing our own site I should do the same, the first step is to define our target person and it makes sense to ask...

Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions you may have.

Tony.

--
Development Director
Xebit Ltd.
http://www.xebit.net

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