Corporate website design services

Write requirements, not just a brief

A corporate brief describes goals; requirements describe what the site must do and meet. Separating mandatory requirements, such as accessibility level, security practices and editing roles, from desirable features makes proposals comparable and prevents essentials being traded away for visual polish.

Include how content will be migrated, who will write new content, how many people will edit the site and what support you expect after launch. These are the areas where proposals differ most.

Evaluation criteria to weigh

Matching provider size to your needs

Large agencies bring teams and broad services; independent specialists bring direct communication and lower overheads. Neither is automatically better. The right fit depends on the size of the site, how much ongoing work is planned and how many people on your side need to be involved.

LetGetGrow is run by an independent specialist. That suits corporate sites with a focused scope and a clear decision-making group. For very large programmes needing many concurrent specialists, a larger team may suit better, and we will say so.

Questions for shortlisted providers

Security expectations

Corporate websites are attractive targets simply because they are prominent. Expect a provider to explain how software is kept updated, how admin access is limited and protected, how backups are taken and restored, and who responds if something goes wrong.

Ask for these arrangements in writing. They matter more over the life of the site than any visual feature.

Warning signs in proposals

• No accessibility commitment

  Accessibility mentioned vaguely or not at all.

• Content assumed

  Proposals that ignore who writes and migrates content.

• Proprietary lock-in

  Platforms only the provider can maintain.

Reducing risk with a discovery phase

For larger corporate projects, a paid discovery phase before the main contract reduces risk on both sides. It produces the content inventory, audience routes, governance model and a refined estimate. If the relationship does not work, you keep the outputs and can take them to another provider.

Discovery also tests how well a provider understands your organisation, which is hard to judge from a proposal alone.

Checking a provider's track record

Ask to see live sites a provider has worked on, with their role on each stated clearly. Visit them on a phone, use the keyboard to move around and look at pages beyond the homepage, such as a careers listing or a long article. How these ordinary pages behave says more about quality than a polished homepage.