Questions

The Important Questions To Ask Any Agency
(Including Us)

Why Are These Important?

There are a lot of Digital Agencies out there, and there's plenty of variation in specialisation, quality and very importantly, the way the agency will work with you.

We believe it's important for you to know upfront exactly what to expect, and to ask each of the following questions. We've also answered the questions, so you'll know upfront what you can expect working with us (Hint: It's awesome!)


1

Do I own what you build for us?

Any work that is developed for your project is owned exclusively by you.

If there are components we've built previously, are available open source, or can be purchased by third party developers which will reduce the cost of your project, but that you won't own, then we'll discuss the use of these components and any IP ramifications with you beforehand.


2

Which CMS/framework will you be using

This varies from project to project, however there are a few options that we find ourselves using more than others.

Type Our Choice Why
General Web Development CakePHP, Bootstrap, MySQL This combination allows for rapid development of web apps that are fast and look great. Being a popular PHP framework it also makes sites easier to maintain down the track.
Content Sites Wordpress One of the most popular CMS platforms in existence, Wordpress can do an enormous amount and can be a great option for simple websites.
eCommerce Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Prestashop Each eCommerce CMS has its own pros and cons. We use each of these differently depending on the requirements. These might be scale, flexibility, multistore, POS, mobile apps, etc.
Mobile Applications Native We will generally build native applications. While we are familiar with the cross-compilers, we prefer to build natively as we've tended to find better performance and less likely to hit certain hardware limitations.
Augmented Reality Kudan, ARToolkit, Sketchup Again, whether we use Kudan or ARToolkit varies from project to project and whether you need dynamic markers, markerless tracking, etc.

3

Have you built a digital product like this before?

One of the perks of working with us is that we've build such a wide range of technologies. So while your exact site may be unique, there a good chance we've worked with the underlying consdierations and technologies many times before.


4

What ongoing costs should I expect?

Any ongoing costs will be clearly laid out in the proposal, especially if there are ongoing license or hosting fees that you'll need to sign-off.


5

What are your charges for service and support?

We'll include options for ongoing hosting, maintenance and "interim-CTO tech coverage" in our proposal, as relevant to your project. These are typically optional, so you can either take your completed project with you, or pick and choose the ongoing support you need.


6

Can you also help me market my website or app?

We can provide a complete range of search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM, eg: AdWords) packages to help drive quality traffic to your site.

We also have partners who can provide all the above the line advertising you may want, including TV, radio, billboard and print.


7

Can I meet with the people who do the work?

Sure thing, the coffees are on us!

If we are utilising our network for any part of the project, you're also welcome to meet them or connect over our team communication tool, Slack.


8

How long should I expect the project to take?

A project outline will be formed during the early stages of your project, including key deliverables and timeframes.

We take the view that the client should always be able to vary the project as needed, so if there are changes you'd like to make, whether due to a change of mind or new market conditions, we'll just let you know the time/cost impacts of those variations.


9

Do you build mobile & tablet friendly websites?

Yes - We always build adaptable sites that will work on anything from a big screen TV to phone.


10

What's in it for the sales person?

We don't have dedicated sales people at Honed Digital and there's no compensation for team members bringing on new clients, and fees do not have any bonuses or finders fees built into them.