Nathan Dean Limited

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Nathan Dean - Founder and Project Manager

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Innovative, Professional, Personal, Ambitious, Experienced

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: Relaxed, sometimes too much so, but in a way that means we don't get stressed when problems arise. Everything is just code, which can be resolved, sometimes it just takes a little longer to do so, but we always do.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: In a 24/7 society clients can often expect more than they would from a traditional bricks and mortar business. We receive emails over the weekend, emails at 11pm at night and have had our share of Whatsapp messages in the early hours. We strive, wherever possible, to provide a service not provided by our competitors. We want each and every client to be happy and we have no problem going that extra mile or doing things different from the norm to achieve this.

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: The majority of our work is via word-of-mouth.

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: Most communication starts via email with telephone, skype, mobile and whatsapp also used to keep in touch with our clients. We use Basecamp to manage projects which allows our clients to interact with us throughout the project lifecycle, this ensure the client is in the loop at all times which helps to keep the project on track and pick up on issues early on should they arise.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Ensuring the client is in the loop at all times. Most clients do not want to know how every aspect of a project works, that is why they are employing you, but they do want to know how the project is going and be kept up-to-date. As long as you are honest and treat them as part of the team the majority of projects will run smoothly.

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: Ultimately we are not the right design company for every client. Every client is different and requires different needs from their chosen partner, for instance, some clients prefer a company to be local so they can meet face-to-face, so a client in Manchester is unlikely to select a Kent based company, even if we are happy to travel. There is no point over promoting yourself. if it is obvious a client has specific requirements, trying to fit yourself into all of them will end up stretching you and placing strain on the relationship. As I said - We want clients to be happy, even if that means they choose another developer.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: Web, Mobile, Search and Social Media are changing all the time but becoming more and more entwined. Social media platforms such as Facebook are becoming search engines in their own right and so specialists who in the past dealt with just web design or social media management are having to become specialists in "all things internet".

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

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: I would like to provide an intelligent and in-depth response to this question, unfortunately there is nothing else to say other than it is simply my name (with Limited) on the end. :-)

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Put the visitor first. If a visitor uses a mobile to access your site will it look good? Will a visitor leave your site because it takes to long to load? Does the information on your site provide clear information in a well structured manner or is it written to try and rank on Google? Put the visitor first - EVERYTIME!!