WebMuggle

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: My name is Helen Potter. I am the owner and founder of WebMuggle

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Audacious, driven, honest, creative, capable

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: Every person who visits a website has a unique agenda. But they also have one universal question: "What can these people do for me?" Your web presence is so much more than just your digital footprint. It's your voice in the wilderness, communicating your credibility – or lack of it – and inviting dialogue – or not. So make your website relevant. Make it persuasive. Make it accessible.

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: We all work from home - I have a very nice office that inspires me.

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: My team are all freelancers. We have a good rapport with each other and enjoy working in a supportive environment.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: I come from a marketing / website owner background. I understand what clients need because I used to be one!

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: Social networking

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: We start by really getting under the skin of your business - what you want to achieve, how you want to do it, who your clients are, what makes them tick. Without knowing these things, your site can be the most technically advanced and the most well designed, but it won't make a difference to your business. We develop sketches to show you how the site will be laid out. Once you are happy with those, we start building a prototype to show you how it interacts with visitors, whilst producing design concepts. These dovetail into a full HTML prototype which shows you exactly how your site looks and behaves, including how it displays on mobiles and tablets. This process is completely iterative; we do not limit our clients to a number of revisions. Once we are both happy with the prototype, we put your choice of CMS in place so that you can edit your site, and add any additional functionality you need.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Taking time to understand client requirements and explain how they will be met without using jargon.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: Clients that are demanding of design brilliance and technical wow factors are just what we want!

Q: If a client was trying to decide between a shortlist of web design companies, how would you recommend they go about selecting the right one for them?
A: Go with your gut instinct. You will be spending quite a bit of time communicating with these people, so make sure they are on your wavelength. Check out their portfolio to see what kind of work they have done in the past.

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: As the UK's first choice of web design company for independent retailers and professional business services.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: In retail, I think the internet will become everyone's high street, and the successful physical stores will also have a national presence online. As social media becomes more crowded, I think there will be more and more of a drive towards creating interactive websites that serve as a platform for business owners to access useful information and avoid all the hype and hard sell that is seen on social media.

Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: PC

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: I get so many Harry Potter jokes....

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Spend some time before you even start talking to a web designer working out what your business goals are and how your website can support them.