In today’s marketplace, you need something beyond the digital presence to capitalize on more opportunities and captivate customers. If you don’t have a professional and interactive website, you can be sure it will be hard to recoup your investment.
Many businesses aren’t sure what a good website actually needs. Fast loading, analytics tracking, mobile readiness, a CMS, strong security, and SEO-friendliness are a few of the features that extend your brand’s reach.
To make sure your website has all these components, you should leave your website development to a professional web development company.
Have you heard stories of companies that hired a web agency to develop their site and got a substandard website? Or what about the people who hired a friend or relative to build the site for free, with disastrous consequences.
The quality of your website can make or break your business growth - it may facilitate or hinder progress. Making a wrong choice when selecting a web development company can be fatal.
Here are 10 pointers to help you choose the right web development company
1. How well do they understand your business requirements?
Start by examining how they approach your requirements. Get their client list and check the solutions they have delivered in the past. Their solutions should be customized according to each client’s business.
Do their solutions all look the same? Did they examine the clients’ target audience or randomly built templated websites? Did they have intelligent designs that reflect the brand or just common trendy designs?
An experienced web development company puts itself in your shoes and offers solutions that meet your needs, brand, goals, and audience.
2. Look for Specific Cultural Fit
“The internal brand culture will show you how the business will work with you. If they care about their own culture, they’ll care about the clients’ as well”
– Bas van den Beld, a digital marketing strategist.
Cultural similarities and differences between you and your web development company determine the success & failure of the project. Examine how their culture, personality, and pace match your own. Ensure that the agency follows agile development culture, which can respond immediately to unexpected changes via constant information sharing and interaction mechanisms. Also, ask the technology partners about their tactics to adapt to evolving technologies and trends.
3. How do they Communicate & Collaborate?
The communication skills of a web development agency are a vital aspect. If there are any gaps in the communication process, your project can go haywire. Before signing the contract, contact the vendor and assess their communication culture with the following questions:
- Is their communication and collaboration process on par with yours?
- Will the team be available on multiple communication channels like phone, e-mail, Skype, etc.?
- Who will be the point of contact for your concerns, queries, feedback, etc.?
- What would be the response time for your queries?
Get the benefits of hiring companies with good communication strategies, here.
4. Go beyond Back-end Development
In addition to coding and programming, various processes are involved in web development. Shortlist companies that possess demonstrable experience in both developing and designing responsive websites. Device friendliness is a vital feature as almost 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices.
If you want something more than just a website developed, it is better to find a company that offers more services along with web development. These can range from mobile app development, automation to QA support. Keeping all the teams under the same roof not only guarantees a cohesive approach, but also an enhanced turnaround time & communication.
5. Ask for references and work samples
Partnering with a web development company is a big decision; consider the reviews of those who have already undergone the process with the agency. Feedback from clients who have worked with them previously provides more visibility. So, reach out to their clients and discuss their experiences with project management, availability, deadlines, responsiveness and more. Also, go through the work samples they have showcased and scribble down what you like and don’t like.
6. Evaluate their team expertise
Evaluate their development experience and ability over certain skill sets. Their team should be skilled across a wide range of disciplines. They should be well versed in front-end & back-end, web development best practices, algorithms, databases and different architectures.
A good web development company typically has a broad knowledge of the industry, with a few specialized talents. Beyond the web developers and graphical designers, they should have solution architects, QA engineers, scrum masters, and team leads, just to name a few.
7. Total up the budget
You should stay away from companies that offer you an estimate that is twice or half as much as what others are offering.
It is vital to ask the company what is included in the development cost. Some agencies might add services and tools, which require extra investments. Discuss how they influence your project functionality. What you need is a website with user-friendliness as its core element. Don’t waste your money on other flashy elements, which add unnecessary cost.
Also, ask for their hourly rate and whether they can make any concessions.
8. Can the company afford the trial period?
If a company has good references and seems genuine but you’re still unsure, ask for a trial period for two or three weeks. You can assign a certain part of the project and see how they are handling it and if that works for you.
During the trial period, you should observe their work to decide whether it’s worth proceeding with the contract or not.
9. Analyze their web hosting service
It’s important to understand whether they are providing a virtual hosting platform or dedicated hosting platform service. Virtual hosting is perfect for web hosting and handles considerable spikes in traffic very easily. Unlike dedicated web hosting, you do not need to purchase, maintain or rent any hardware. Also, ask for:
- How often do they back up the site?
- How long are backups retained?
- How much processing power does the hosting platform offer?
- What is the assured uptime?
10. Who owns the site when it is developed?
IP ownership is worth considering. Make sure they will provide 100 percent ownership of your site to you when it is developed. Also, sign NDAs with the company and employees who will work for you. Commonly, many agencies work simultaneously with many clients in the same industry. There is a chance that the same code, idea, and the design might be reused on another website. The company should keep your intellectual property safe.
Read further about how to protect your Intellectual Property!
Bringing all together
Looking for these special qualities in web development companies may take more effort and time before you decide on the right one. However, finding an experienced and reliable service partner will help you meet your business needs and make your business grow further.
Get their portfolios, references and use the data to make the right hiring decisions. Deal fairly with them when negotiating payment, terms, and the contract.
