Introduction:
Have you watched the trailer of Avengers Endgame that released in December 2018, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo? Well, how is it related to the questions to ask a Web Development Company?
There is a strong connection between a film director’s stunt for movie trailers and a Web Development Company designing a website.
What is that?
Film directors release trailers in advance to create curiosity around their movie. Similarly, websites that web development companies build play a significant role to arouse eagerness in potential customers/existing customers to engage with the business services.
A film director may have serious questions to answer before he/she starts a film and releases the trailer. Similarly, as a business owner, you may have to ask some essential questions before getting your website built.
It’s time we jump into the topic and find out those pressing questions to ask web development companies before you get your website built.
Also read: 12 Months – 12 Ways to Make Your Website Attractive in 2019
QUESTIONS YOU ASK A WEB DEVELOPMENT COMPANY BEFORE GETTING YOUR WEBSITE built
Each company may have different requirements for their website which can turn out to be the questions they would want to ask before they choose the web development company. Well, we cannot exactly tell that one specific size which fits all businesses, when it comes to building a website.
Here, we are dealing with questions that a typical business owner will have in their mind. Different questions could arise within a business owner’s mind before he/she assigns task to a web development company; they are as follows:
1. What are the track record details of the company?
A web development company’s track record details are the most essential factors to consider before you assign your task to them.
i. Experience of the web development company to design websites for your industry:
A web development company that works for the industry you are involved in will be of great help to you if you wish to entrust them with the task of building your official website.
A web development company that can understand your industry can provide valuable insight into your website development process. It comes in handy while personalizing your sites according to your target audience.
ii. Testimonials of the website and the portfolio of past projects:
Testimonials are the review of the site owners that the web development company works for from the beginning till the present date. Also, you need to review the past projects of the company and verify their on-field performances of the project. It offers valuable insight into the goodwill of the web development company you will be checking.
Also, have a count of the projects it is working on presently.
2. How do your requirements match with the company’s portfolio?
It is the question that arises in you when you are checking the track record of the company. You must check whether your requirements match with the company’s portfolio because you must have a website your brand needs. Moreover, you must finalize the scope of the project.
There are two essential aspects of aligning your requirements and the company’s portfolio.
i. Owners of domain and hosting:
Check if you can register the domain or host under your personal or company name. Also, check whether you can switch companies or change account owners with the domain and hosting services of the web development company. You must be clear of their core services and additional paid services.
ii. Other services from the web development company:
You must check if the company is an all-in-one development company or a graphic design firm. It will be of great help if you check the social media services, logo design services and so on.
In a more technical sense, you must check if the web development company is a design-build or a self-performing or a mix of both. Just keep yourself informed on what parts of website design and development are done in-house.
3. What are the techniques and standards followed by the company?
Web development companies have different project development models- a spiral model, waterfall model, prototype model, a hybrid model, agile model and so on. Most web development companies use agile development models. The agile model provides the project status, reviews and regular updates to the client. It is projected owner-friendly.
4. What are the company’s standards of coding?
Web development companies build websites on certain web building platforms. These platforms have varying standards and syntax of coding. Web development companies use W3C as the standard for web designing. There are other standards like PrestaShop for PrestaShop CMS and so on.
Your web development company must have web developers who are hyper-fluent in coding for website development. All the customer requires is an industry expert in coding.
Check if the company follows CSS, XHTML or ECMA scripts.
5. How does the company fare in customer support services?
If you wish to know the average Turnaround Time (TAT) of the company, then you must inquire about it’s customer support services. You can analyze the quality of after support services of a company. The customer support services determine the reviews of present users and development of future users.
6. What is the status of the company’s certification and licensing?
The standards checked by the licensing authorities while registering the company is crucial. You should make a licensing check to verify if the web development company ticks all the checkboxes of the required standards.
7. What is the speed of the company’s website?
In this era, where things happen at the wink of an eye, the speed of a website remains an essential and inevitable part of the site. The website loading speed determines the amount of time a customer would spend on your site.
You can use Pagespeed insights and Pingdom page to check and review the website speed. Also, check your web development company’s approach to page speed optimization.
Check the previous projects of the company and compare their estimated project completion date and the actual project completion date too. Also, ensure that the company does not compromise on the quality and follows the deadlines strictly.
Check the responsible person for the project and verify if you will receive the project reports or updates regularly.
Usually, a web development company executes a web design process through five stages;
8. How well does the company support email marketing?
You must check whether the web development company designs the email capture forms that sync with your email marketing system or not.
9. How good is the company with Content Management System?
You can check whether there is an option for integrated Content Management System in order to edit and post content as required. Find out the web development companies that do not depend on future billing services and their income stream. Check the frequency of the licensing fees of the Content Management System.
You must check if the strength of the platform aligns with your concept of an ideal website.
10. Would the website support social media integration?
When you are selecting a web development firm, check whether they can integrate the relevant social media platforms over the website to be made or not.
You can also inquire if the web development company caters to digital marketing services like social media marketing including blogger outreach, setup and management, measuring and monitoring etc.
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11. What is the price of the services given by the web development company?
Before you analyze the price of the services from the web development company, it is essential to have a detailed plan on the project budget. You can also check if it has a flat project price, linear or the hourly rate process.
It will be best for you if you are well informed on hidden costs or additional costs involved in designing and managing the website. These hidden costs may arise from;
The number and complexity of webpages and the experience of the developer primarily determine the price.
If you want to find out the creativity and working capability of the firm, check the performance of the previous websites they built.
12. Is it a pre-made template or custom coding?
If the website has a pre-made template, review the template and check whether the web development company updates it regularly? Also, never forget to see that their ideas fulfill your aesthetic needs or not. A custom design often costs high.
If the website is a customer code website, see if the company uses an open source or proprietary Content Management System (CMS). Finding help in proprietary CMS is tough so, try to contact current users of CMS in your circle. Also, see if the web development company is reliable and responsive in maintaining CMS.
Before selecting the template for the websites, you need to analyze the website needs and cost.
13. What are the testing methods of the website they create?
Browser testing is inevitable and essential for the website to run smoothly. You must check for these before your site goes live.
You must also ask developers, if they offer split A/B testing and follow-up service for testing the performance and conversion rates of the website pages. A/B testing helps you to check whether your websites are optimized for best performance.
You must also figure out if the internal quality assurance measures are fully followed before the launch of the website.
14. What are the SEO practices of the company?
You must see if the websites built by the web development company are naturally optimized or regularly indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing or Mozilla Firefox and so on. Check if your developer integrates SEO from the beginning of the project.
15. Will the website be responsive or not?
51.2 % of internet traffic was checked from mobile phones across the globe. – Statista April 2018
You need to check if the web development company designs your website in a mobile-ready format. The site design must change with the dimensions of the screen. It may be a smartphone, tablet or desktops. If you are not updated with mobile responsive website, then you will lose out on search engine rankings.
16. How much does the company score against competitors?
Learning from your opponents is the essentiality if you must build your website that stands out. Check if the web development company has analyzed the competitor websites before launching your website. All you need is a website designed based on competitors, who directly influence your business market.
You can also do it this way. Make an analysis of websites you love and sites you hate and make clear insights of both these cases.
17. What is the company’s project software?
You must have the internal time tracking of the project to know where the money is spent on while developing the website. It is the practice of tracking tasks and time spent on them. There are some project management and time tracking software like; IRA – w/ tempo plugin, Trello (Dedicated Task Management), Toggl (Dedicated time monitoring), Harvest, and Traffic and so on.
18. What technology stack does the company use?
The technology stack is the building block materials of the web development business that help develop a website. Custom web development agencies mostly follow full-stack. You can understand the quality of custom development, once you know the tools of the web development company. There are some technology stacks like LAMP, LEMP and CUSTOM and so on. Web development companies build a hybrid stack with stability and uptime.
19. What are the maintenance and support costs involved after development?
You must be adamant to check the maintenance and support costs. Just as the house bears maintenance cost after procurement, a website will also incur charges after its purchase like security, SSL certificate, hosting, email, domain name and so on.
For favorable pricing and peak quality of websites, reach out to WebCaptive. To get your business website built with the best standards, visit www.webcaptive.com
20. Do they provide a turnkey solution?
A turnkey solution possesses everything in the pipeline for a custom website. Your website requires a support team and infrastructure and not just a small software to develop a site and say goodbye. Some web developing companies build sites and leave the probable issues to your head. They minimize the prices, but don’t provide any maintenance or support.
Make sure that the web development company provides turnkey solutions. These include everything like security updates, audit, SSL certificate, SEO, copywriting and so on.
21. Where are they located?
The location of the web development company may not be an essential aspect, but it is for your convenience. If the developer stays near you, it is easy for you to explain your requirements for the website. The role of the project manager turns crucial when you are having a closer geographical connect.
Also read: A Complete Guide to Build a Free Website
Conclusion:
It looks like you’ve got to have an eagle eye view on the questions that concern you before building your website and we’ve mentioned what we thought were crucial.
Share the post with your friends, relatives, and colleagues if you like it.
Moreover, let us know the questions you think are missing from the list before you select a web development company.
If you wish to get your business website built with a professional touch and creative flair, reach out to us on www.webcaptive.com. For more queries mail us through [email protected].
