This page used to carry a list of fifteen agencies with ratings and prices. We could not verify those details, so we replaced the list with something more useful: how to judge digital marketing agencies yourself. Use it on every agency you consider, including us.
Start with your goal
Before you talk to anyone, write one sentence about what you need. For example:
- "A website that brings us enquiries from businesses in the Copperbelt."
- "An online shop that takes mobile money, with delivery in Lusaka."
- "More bookings for our clinic from people searching nearby."
- "Someone to run our Facebook and Instagram every week."
The goal decides the agency. A team that makes beautiful adverts may not be the team that builds a booking system, and the reverse.
Six things to check before you talk money
1. Work you can open yourself
Ask for live websites and campaigns they made, and open them on your own phone. Do the pages load quickly? Do the forms and buttons work? Ask which parts the agency did itself. Screenshots are easy to borrow; a working site is not.
2. A business you can verify
Look for a registered business name you can check with PACRA, a physical address, a phone that is answered, and an email address on the agency's own domain. An agency that cannot show who it is will be hard to find when something breaks.
3. Who owns what
Agree, in writing, that your business owns:
- the domain, registered in your business's name,
- the content: your text, photos and logo,
- access: your own login to the website and your accounts,
- the advertising accounts, which should be yours, with the agency added as a manager.
Ask what happens if you leave. You should be able to take your domain, content and accounts with you.
4. A written quote that lists everything
A good quote spells out the pages and features, who provides the words and photos, the domain and email, hosting, how many rounds of changes are included, what happens after launch, and what renews each year and at what price. A single number on WhatsApp is not a quote.
5. What happens after launch
Websites need updates, renewals and the occasional fix. Ask who does that, how quickly they answer, and what it costs. Many disappointments start the week after launch.
6. How they report
Ask what numbers they will show you each month. Enquiries, bookings and sales tell you more than likes and impressions. A good agency talks about results you can count.
Warning signs
- A guaranteed first place on Google. Google itself says: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" (Google Search Central).
- Rankings, awards and client numbers you cannot check.
- Reviews you cannot trace to a real business or person.
- A price with nothing written down, or a low price that grows with every question.
- Your domain registered in the agency's name.
- Pressure to pay today.
Questions to ask digital marketing agencies
- Which of your projects is most like ours, and can I open it now?
- Who will actually do the work, and who do I call when something is wrong?
- Whose name will the domain be registered in?
- Do I get my own login to the website?
- What exactly does the price include, and what renews each year?
- How many rounds of changes are included?
- How long will it take, and what do you need from us to keep to that?
- What happens after launch, and what does support cost?
- What will you report to us each month?
- If we part ways, what do we take with us?
Local or international?
A local agency knows how Zambian customers buy: mobile money, WhatsApp, ZRA Smart Invoice, PACRA. It works in your time zone and can meet you. An international agency may bring specialist skills. Either way, the checks above matter more than the address.
What should it cost?
No honest price list fits every business, which is why a single "average price" is misleading. What moves the price is the size of the job, whether the words and photos exist, the features (selling, bookings, quotes), and what continues after launch: hosting, renewals and support. Get two or three written quotes for the same scope and compare them line by line. Our pricing page explains how we quote.
Ask us the same questions
We would rather earn your trust with things you can check. Open our work, where concept sites are labelled as concepts. Read our registered details on our about page. See how we price. Then ask us the ten questions above: talk to us.
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