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Tips for Business Owners: How to Find a Website Developer

by Natasha L. Web Designer

Having the right kind of website can make or break a business in today's competitive online environment. However, most small business owners are not technically proficient to create their own websites from scratch. What they have to do instead is hire third-party developers and designers to do the work for them.


Such services are widely available across the web, but the results you are liable to get tend to vary. Some developers go above and beyond to ensure that the product you are getting is up to current standards, whereas others will try to sell you something they cobbled-together in an afternoon. For a small business owner, the second scenario can be quite devastating – without a functioning website, your means of interacting with customers and clients will effectively become nil.


To avoid having to deal with the fallout of having a barely-functioning website, you need to take steps to ensure that what you're getting is what you paid for. In other words, you have to make an effort to find a suitable web developer. To help you with this task, I have prepared a list of tips that you should follow while you search.




Evaluate Your Website Needs

Before you start browsing website development agency listings, you first need to be clear on what you're looking from a website. Some businesses simply want to host their essential service-related information online. Others will want to update their site from time to time with new information, for example by adding new products to their web-store. Others yet might be planning on having frequent content updates in the form of blog posts, customer testimonials, etc.


Being clear on how you plan to use your site is going to be of great help once you start reaching out to prospective developers. It will allow them to zero in on the kind of functionality your site ought to have, which will reduce the risk of you receiving something other than what you asked for.


Take a Look at Online Reviews

Once you have settled on the kind of website you need, it is time to take a look at what's on offer on the web developer market. However, you will find pretty quickly that there are more options than you can reasonably hope to check out in a single lifetime. To narrow down your search, you should eliminate developer companies that have no reviews online.


As a small business owner, you really don't want to take your chances with a company that has no known affiliates. Next, you should look at those that do have some form of customer feedback associated with them. The number of reviews is usually a better indicator of what you can expect from a developer, than the grades given.


Ask About Technical Details

When communicating with a prospective developer, be sure to inquire about the technical details of the work you will have them perform. This step is crucial for determining whether a developer is up to the task you've set before them. The point here is not to go into specific implementations, but rather to screen out so-called "copy-paste" developers, i.e. people who just re-purpose other people's code without doing any work themselves.


A good web developer should at the very least have a working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and he should ideally also be acquainted with PHP, MySQL, and jQuery. If the developer in question is hesitant to go into specifics, you should continue with your search elsewhere.


Request a Portfolio

Having the technical knowledge to create a website is not the same as being good at it in practice. So before you get impressed by someone's credentials, be sure to ask for a portfolio of their previous work. The best way to test a website is by simply using it as intended, so be sure to visit any and all sites from the portfolio.

When doing so, pay less attention to the design, and more to functionality. A site that loads slowly is probably not well-made under the hood, and neither is one that has trouble registering your input. Needless to say, if a developer refuses to provide a portfolio, this is usually a sign that his work is below-par if it exists at all.


Inquire About Supplementary Services

It takes more to create a website than just writing code. Depending on your business needs, you might want to look for a developer that offers some of these additional services as well. Search engine optimization is an important aspect of every modern website and having your developer lay the groundwork for it can make things much easier down the line.


CMS integration is another feature that you might need, depending on whether you plan on expanding your site on your own. Graphical design can also be outsourced to multi-talented developers as well, in order to ensure that your site looks as well as it functions. Finally, every website needs to be periodically maintained for security reasons, and some developers will offer to do this work for you.


Be On The Lookout For Communication Red Flags

As a final note, I've decided to give you a rundown on some major red flags that might come up during your interactions with a developer. These are a good indication that something is not quite right with your developer of choice, but as always, pay attention to context, and trust your own judgment.


If a developer tells you that they will send you some kind of supplementary material, but fail to follow through, this is a signal that they are not taking you seriously. If they use vague or ambiguous language when responding to your queries, this probably means that they are trying to pull a fast one on you. Finally, if there is too much downtime between their replies, this usually indicates that they won't be treating you as a priority client.



Conclusion

Choosing the right website developer for your small business can often be an arduous task. To make the matter less painful, be sure to follow the tips which we have outlined above. They will go a long way towards improving your odds at finding a developer that suits your needs.



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About Natasha L. Freshman   Web Designer

5 connections, 0 recommendations, 21 honor points.
Joined APSense since, May 28th, 2018, From New York, United States.

Created on Jul 28th 2018 07:29. Viewed 570 times.

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