Independent digital studio · since 2016
Choosing the right agency is the decision that most influences the success of a website, an online store or a digital strategy. This guide walks you through it step by step: from preparing the brief to comparing quotes, with a scorecard ready to use.
MBMarco BagiacchiFounder of Nalu and web developer
A digital project lasts months and its effects years. The site you build will be the first contact with many of your future customers; the online store will be a shop open day and night; your communication strategy will shape how the market sees you. Entrusting all this to the wrong people is costly: in money, in time and in lost opportunities.
And yet many companies choose their agency almost at random: the first name found on Google, the lowest quote, a friend's recommendation, the flashiest portfolio. These are understandable criteria, but not enough. The good news is that choosing well doesn't take technical skills: it takes a method.
In this guide you'll find a seven-step process, the questions to ask, the signs to watch and a scorecard to compare proposals objectively.
You're not buying a website. You're choosing who to build it with, and who to grow it with.
Before contacting any agency, spend an hour writing down what you want to achieve. You don't need a technical document: clear answers to a few questions are enough. It will help you explain the project, get more precise proposals and, above all, compare them.
Giving a budget range doesn't put you at a disadvantage: it lets the agency propose the best solution for that amount, instead of a quote built on guesses. Serious agencies don't "pad" a proposal to reach your budget.
There's no need to contact ten agencies: three or four well-chosen candidates are enough for a meaningful comparison. Here's where to find them.
At this stage you can already shortlist by looking at the agency's own site: is it clear, fast, polished? Does it explain how they work? If an agency doesn't look after its own site, it's unlikely to look after yours.
A portfolio is an agency's calling card, but it needs reading carefully. Work that looks good isn't necessarily work that's effective.
| Look | Question to ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Variety | Has the agency worked on projects similar to yours in goals or complexity? |
| Problems solved | Does each project explain what the problem was and how it was tackled? |
| Results | Are there concrete results, told in an honest, verifiable way? |
| Real quality | Are the portfolio sites online, fast, and do they work well on smartphones? |
| Consistency | Does each project have its own personality, or do they all look the same? |
| Current affairs | Is the work recent? |
Open two or three sites from the portfolio on your phone and try using them like a customer: find a piece of information, fill in a form, look for a product. In five minutes you'll learn more than any presentation would tell you.
Be wary of portfolios made only of images, with no links to real projects, and of case studies full of impressive numbers that can't be verified.
The first conversation is the most revealing moment. Even more than the answers you get, what counts is how the agency approaches your project.
Here are the questions we suggest asking every candidate agency. Using the same questions for all of them makes the answers comparable.
Don't be afraid to ask questions that seem basic: a good partner is used to explaining their work to people outside the trade, and the clarity of the answers is already a hint of what working together will be like.
Take notes during every call. After a few days the answers tend to blur together, and your notes become invaluable for the comparison.
The quotes come in, and the prices differ, sometimes a lot. Before looking at the total, check what's inside.
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Description of the work | Pages, features, content: you know exactly what you get. |
| Phases and timeline | You know when each step will happen and what's needed from you. |
| People involved | You know who's working on it and with what skills. |
| Revisions included | You avoid unexpected extra costs. |
| SEO and migration | Protect your visibility on Google. |
| Training | You'll be able to update the site yourself. |
| Post-launch support | You know what's included and what the rest costs. |
| Ownership | Domain, code and content in your name. |
| Payment terms | Clear timelines and procedures. |
Price differences almost always depend on what's included: custom design or an adapted theme, copy written for you or provided by you, full SEO or none, support included or not. Putting the quotes in a table, line by line, makes the real comparison obvious.
Read alsoHow much does a website cost: the price guide↗To choose objectively, give each candidate a score from 1 to 5 on a few criteria, with a different weight depending on how important they are to you. Here's a sample scorecard to adapt to your project.
| Criterion | Weight | What to assess |
|---|---|---|
| Understanding of the project | 25% | Did they understand your goals and problems? Did they ask the right questions? |
| Skills | 20% | Does it have the skills needed: strategy, design, development, content, SEO? |
| Portfolio and results | 15% | Similar work, well done, with verifiable results. |
| Clarity of the proposal | 15% | Detailed quote, clear timelines and responsibilities. |
| Price | 15% | Ratio between cost and the real content of the proposal. |
| Post-launch support | 10% | Maintenance, support, evolution. |
Multiply each score by its weight and add up the results. The candidate with the highest score isn't always the one who impressed you most at the first meeting, and that's exactly the value of the scorecard: it helps you separate impressions from facts.
If two candidates come out very close, choose the one you feel most comfortable working with. A project lasts months: the quality of the relationship matters.
Online reviews are a valuable source, but they need reading with a critical eye. A high score alone says little: what counts is what the reviews describe, when they were written and how the agency responds.
Look for reviews that describe the project, the timeline, the relationship with the team and the results achieved. They're far more useful than generic comments. Look at how they're spread over time: lots of reviews bunched into a few days can be an unnatural sign. And read the negative reviews carefully, especially the replies: an agency that answers calmly, owns its mistakes and offers solutions tells you a lot about how it handles problems.
The most reliable way to get to know an agency is to talk to one of its clients. Ask the agency to put you in touch with one or two companies it has worked with recently, ideally on projects similar to yours. A serious partner has no problem doing that.
A ten-minute phone call and a few targeted questions are enough to get information no presentation can give.
The last question is the most important. A confident "yes" is worth more than any case study.
Some agencies work for a single industry, others for very different clients. Both choices have advantages. A specialized agency already knows the typical problems of your market and its language; a versatile agency brings ideas and solutions from other industries, which can make the difference in a market where everyone communicates the same way.
More than the industry, what counts is experience with problems similar to yours: an online store with a complex catalog, a B2B company that has to explain technical services, a professional who wants to be found in a specific area. Ask the agency to show you projects that tackled comparable challenges, even in different industries.
Many people assess an agency only on the build phase, but the longest part of the relationship starts after launch. A website needs updates, security, small fixes, new pages; an online store needs continuous optimization; a strategy needs measurement and adjustments.
Ask right away how support works: who you contact when something goes wrong, how fast a request is handled, what maintenance includes and what the rest costs. An agency with a clear plan for the post-launch phase shows it's thinking about your project in the long run, not just about delivery.
The serviceMaintenance and support after launch↗One of the most important differences between agencies doesn't show in the portfolio: it's the ability to think about the project, not just execute it. Some agencies build exactly what you ask; others help you understand what you really need, even when it's different from what you had in mind.
A strategic partner asks why you want certain features, suggests simpler alternatives when complexity isn't needed, points out opportunities you hadn't considered, and tells you frankly when an idea risks not working. It's value that costs little and returns a lot, because it stops you investing in what doesn't bring results.
Always ask them to describe the work process, phase by phase. An agency with a clear method can explain what happens at each stage, when your input will be needed and how decisions are made. An agency without a method improvises, and improvisation is paid for in delays and misunderstandings.
A good process usually includes an initial analysis, defining structure and content, designing the main pages before the rest, development, testing and launch, with shared review points. It shouldn't be rigid: it should be clear.
Another useful sign is how the agency talks about prices. Some publish starting prices on their site, others prefer not to. It isn't a deciding criterion in itself, but transparency on costs says a lot about a partner's approach.
An agency that clearly explains what the price depends on, which items are included and which recurring costs you'll face after launch is treating you as a partner, not a client to win over. On the other hand, prices that change a lot from one conversation to the next, or items that only appear once the project is under way, are a warning sign. On our side, we publish the starting prices of every service for exactly this reason: so you can get your bearings before you even talk to us.
Some signs should make you think hard before signing.
While searching you'll come across very different players: large agencies, small studios, freelancers, networks of professionals. Each has strengths and limits, and the choice depends on the type of project.
In short: a freelancer suits simple or highly specialist projects; an agency suits complex projects that need many coordinated skills; a network of professionals tries to combine different skills with a direct relationship, a single contact and no heavy overhead. We cover it in detail in the dedicated guide.
Learn moreWeb agency or freelancer: how to choose without regrets↗Many people prefer an agency in their own city, so they can meet in person. It's an understandable preference, but today it's rarely decisive. Most digital projects run through calls, shared documents and collaboration tools, and work perfectly well remotely.
Choosing only among nearby agencies narrows your options a lot. Better to choose the partner best suited to the project, and arrange in-person meetings when they're really needed: a kick-off workshop, a photo shoot, an important presentation.
Before signing, check that the contract or the accepted quote includes a few essential elements.
Once you've chosen the agency, the project's success also depends on you. Here's how to help it go well.
Name one person who can make decisions and gather internal feedback.
Prepare copy, photos and materials as soon as possible: they're the main cause of delays.
When you give feedback, explain why: it helps the agency understand what to change.
You've chosen professionals: give them room to propose solutions.
Agree at the start how you'll measure success.
Following these steps takes a few more hours than choosing on impulse, but it's time that pays for itself many times over. The right partner doesn't just hand you a website: they help you make it work, today and in the years to come.
Let's meetAbout us: our method and our network↗The questions we're asked most often on this topic. If yours isn't here, write to us.
Look at real, verifiable work, read the reviews, assess how clear the quote is and watch how they approach your project in the first call: a reliable agency asks questions before proposing solutions.
Three or four are enough for a meaningful comparison. More makes the comparison scattered; fewer doesn't give you an adequate benchmark.
Yes, at least as a rough range. It lets you receive realistic, comparable proposals, built on what you can really invest.
Description of the work, phases and timeline, people involved, revisions, SEO, training, post-launch support, ownership of domain and content, payment terms.
Not necessarily. Digital projects work well remotely too: the quality of the partner and the communication matters more than proximity.
Put them in a table line by line: pages, design, copy, SEO, revisions, support, ownership. The price difference is often explained by what one includes and the other doesn't.
With a method, two or three weeks are enough: preparing the brief, first calls, receiving and comparing quotes.
From a few hundred to tens of thousands of euros: the figures you find online are so different they tell you nothing. This guide explains what the price depends on, what different types of website cost and how to read a quote without surprises.
For many freelancers and small businesses a showcase website is the smartest choice: a few pages, done well, that present who you are and bring in inquiries. Here's how much it costs, what it should include and how to tell whether it's what you need.
It's one of the first questions anyone asks when they need a website, an online store or a campaign. There's no answer that's right for everyone: there's the right choice for your project. Here's how to find it, with the pros and cons of each route.
Tell us about your project: the assistant prepares the brief in two minutes, then a person from the team replies. No automatic quotes.
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