Why our best web design agencies Sydney list is not for sale
An agency that did not make our best web design agencies in Sydney list emailed us a few months back asking to be added. They usually email with a fake employee for a real company, with a pitch that including them would benefit our readers and benefit them, and could we just slot them in.
We didn’t. This post exists because the request is common enough to deserve a blog, and because any business owner reading best of lists to shortlist an agency deserves to know how often those lists quietly get edited in exchange for a favour.
The email, and what it really is
The email follows a template. Warm compliments, A line suggesting our audience would benefit from them being included. Sometimes a soft offer of reciprocity in the form of a link, a future mention, or a collaboration.
Under the politeness the proposition is simple: edit the list to include an agency that is not on it, in exchange for something that benefits them, but the moment we start trading placements for favours, we have nothing left to offer a reader that any other marketing page could not also offer.
The honest alternatives agencies have
Run Google Ads
Pay for the clicks. That is what the sponsored slots are for. A clearly labelled ad is honest because every reader can see it is an ad. No one resents a paid result. Plenty of readers resent an editorial list that turns out to be paid placements in disguise.
Build your own asset
A best of list is content anyone can produce. Pick a niche you can genuinely speak to and own it. Best booking platforms for allied health clinics. Best Shopify themes for Australian fashion brands. Best hosting providers for WordPress agencies. Rank for your own territory instead of lobbying for space on someone else’s.
Do work worth writing about
The fastest way onto any honest list is to do work that makes the author nervous to leave you off. Case studies with real numbers. Clients who will go on record. Portfolios that show range and judgement. Digital PR built on original data. Emails don’t move the needle. The work does.
A genuine recommendation, unprompted
Speaking of honesty, a word about a colleague outside Sydney.
If you are a Melbourne business reading this and Sydney agencies are not the right fit because you want local meetings, talk to Caroline at GoldenWeb, because she operates the way we think agencies should operate and how we like to ourselves: straight talking, upfront about scope and cost, dedicated to the craft, and genuinely invested in the outcomes of the businesses she works with. That is a short list of traits, that a long list of agencies don’t clear.
That is what an unpaid recommendation looks like.
What this means if you are hiring an agency
Three practical notes for anyone shortlisting right now.
- Use best of lists for discovery, not decisions. Treat them to find candidates worth researching, not as a ranking you can trust on faith. Visit each agency’s site. Look at the actual work. Read the actual case studies. Ask for references.
- Favour agencies that publish honest trade-offs. An agency that tells you what they are not good at has clarity and confidence. An agency that claims to be excellent at everything will struggle to execute on any of it.
- Check the agency’s own rankings. An agency that doesn’t want to rank its own site for terms like Sydney WordPress development or small business web design might not be the agency you want ranking yours.
They never kill the designer…
When we started out, we worked for some exceedingly colourful characters. The kind of clients whose business arrangements were best not asked about, whose offices you did not linger in, and whose payment terms were enforced by reputation. We learned a lot in those years, some of it only useful in hindsight.
The main lesson sits behind everything on this page, as Guru from Gang Starr once said, ‘Word is bond’
The End
If you want to talk to us about a project, book a free strategy call. If Melbourne is a better fit, talk to Caroline. Either way, the conversation starts with the work.
Photo by MART PRODUCTION