Website development is crucial when it comes to trying to take a business to the next level. To some people in your audience, it can almost be like you do not exist if you do not have a website.
However, even if you have a website, you still need to find a way to get noticed. There are nearly 200 million active websites on the internet.
So, how do you get yours to stand out? You can start by hiring the right web development team.
What should you know about your web developer? How can the right one get your website some traffic?
These are some of the most important questions to ask before hiring a web development team.
1. Can You Stick to the Budget?
One of the first things that you should ask about is what type of work a web developer can do for your budget.
You may run into a web developer that is truly talented and offers all of these great ideas on how to make your website pop. The problem that may arise is at the end of your meeting, the web developer may quote you a price that you simply cannot afford.
If you want to build a notable website, you are likely going to have to invest some money into it. Sometimes, this costs up to $150,000 to launch a website.
However, you can launch something decent for maybe 10% of that price. Some people even launch a website that only costs a few hundred dollars to build.
Regardless, you need to know what you are willing to spend on web development before you start talking to developers.
It is possible that you may not even know how much you are willing to spend. Even if this is the case for you, you should still ask this question just to get an idea of what the market is like.
2. What Experience Do You Have?
The next thing you need to ask about is what experience they have. Ideally, you are going to want someone that has a few years of experience with developing websites under their belt.
This could give you more confidence in who you are hiring and if they have experience, you are less likely to have to train them or micromanage them.
In this situation, you want someone that knows what they are doing. Make sure you do your homework here to see what kind of job history they have.
3. Do You Have a Portfolio?
Going off of the last question, a portfolio will help give you an idea of what kind of work they have done in the past. It can also help you see what quality of work they have done in the past.
You could see a couple of websites that they designed at the top of their portfolio. Then, once you start to browse through them, you may realize that you like the way this developer goes about designing a website.
If they have things on the pages that jump out at you, then you know that you have a winner. Ask your potential developers to show you a portfolio so that way you can see their past work with your own eyes.
The main risk here comes with people that do not have portfolios. If that person has nothing they can show you, a few red flags come up. You have to start questioning if they have any real experience and if the stuff they did design in the past is any good.
Approach this subject carefully and see what you can discover here.
4. Have You Worked in Our Field?
When it comes to designing websites in certain industries, you may notice that a couple of similar things start to pop up.
Let's say that someone worked on designing a lawyer's website. You would have to put basic information in there such as their name and their practice location. Then, you need to put a blog section there along with a section that lists what areas that lawyer practices law.
The point is that once you start to work with a certain industry, you get a better feel for what their needs are. As a result, you may see similar things pop up on several different websites that are part of the same industry.
This is where hiring a web developer that worked with a company in your industry in the past can be an advantage. It means that they have some knowledge on your industry and have some idea of what your type of company needs to put out there for their clients.
You should try to see if any web developer you meet has done notable work with another company in your field.
5. Do You Code From Scratch?
One question that you may have for a web developer is how unique your website is going to be. Well, for it to be truly unique, it likely needs to be coded from scratch.
The problem is that this is much more difficult to do. As a result, it is likely going to be a much more expensive option.
Nevertheless, there is something else that web developers can offer businesses in this position. They can develop websites with a CMS (content management system) platform.
CMS gives web developers a template to start from. Then, they can add all of their customized content and designs on that template.
This option saves a lot of time and makes it much easier for web developers to design your website. With the right work, doing this instead of writing code from scratch will likely not come into play.
6. Do You Need Photos?
Another thing to consider is what type of images you want on your website. Depending on what type of company you have, you may not need a lot of unique images.
There are some stock photos around the internet that you can use for free on websites. For some niches, this is good enough.
However, some web developers may encourage you to supply your own photos. For certain businesses, it may help to do this because it can make your website stand out more.
For example, let's say that you are a family entertainment center. You are going to want as many photos as possible displaying all of the games and rides you offer in that center.
Even if you are just a lawyer that is trying to build a website for your practice, good photos are ideal. At the very least, you are going to want at least one of yourself on there. However, a web developer may be able to supply some stock photos for parts of this website.
The point is you should ask your web developer about this to get an idea of what they think is best for your website.
7. What Background Colors Should We Use?
Something that you may not think about is what background colors you want your website to have. Part of this is going to depend on your business logo. Ideally, you want to have at least one of those colors as part of your website background.
However, the rest may be determined by simply what looks best. Your web developer can share some ideas here to see what jumps out at you.
One thing that you should look for is if a web developer starts discussing what you want your customers to feel when they see your website. The reason for this is depending on the background color, it can effect how they feel emotionally when they see your website.
For example, you may feel excitement when you see predominantly red. You can think of nature when you see green and you can think of peace when you see blue.
As a business owner, you should have an idea of what you want your customers to feel when they think of your brand. It is up to your web developer to have the vision to make this a reality with background colors.
8. What About Content?
One bonus that you may get from some web developers is that they may be able to arrange content to be written on your website for you. Now, it is not often that they will do it themselves.
However, what they can do is outsource it to a content writer and they will write about whatever subject you want for your website's blog.
This is a crucial part of building your website because you are going to want to have something that will keep your customers on your website. About 82% of businesses use content marketing.
What this means is that the majority of businesses believe in using content to help build your brand. If you are one of those businesses, then you need to make sure that you have this discussion with a web developer before you hire them.
9. How Long Will This Take?
You need to have an idea of how long it will take before your website is up and running. If you are a new business, this could mean planning orders around that date.
If you are a business that is trying to update an old website, then this could mean that the debut of your new website is a big part of a marketing campaign.
Either way, listen to what a potential web developer says here. You may want to do research on this yourself to get an idea of what to expect.
Depending on your project, watch out for a web developer that quotes a much shorter time than the others. Find the one that meets your needs in the most realistic fashion.
10. How Many Edits Do You Include?
When it comes to designing anything, rarely is it going to be perfect on the first attempt. You may have some minor changes you want to make. Or, you could come up with a new idea for the website at the last minute.
Either way, you are going to want to have a web developer that is willing to make a few edits for you. You will need to discuss terms such as how many rounds of edits are covered under your contract along with the scope of editing that qualifies here.
You need to plan this in advance to afford getting charged an extra fee for additional edits later.
11. Do You Need Any Additional Information?
Finally, you need to ask your web developer what information they need. This is to make sure that they have everything they need to do the best job possible building your website.
However, this is not the only thing this question achieves. It also can give you an idea of what type of vision a web developer has for your website along with their passion for the project.
Somebody passionate about the project is likely to ask for as many details as possible. On top of this, they are more likely to share more details of their vision with you.
This question is a good way to filter web developers that lack this passion out.
Hire a Web Development Team
These are some of the most important questions that you can ask before you hire a web development team. Some of these such as the background color and images can make a difference when it comes to visual appeal.
However, you want to ask questions where you can get an idea of what experience they have, what they can create, and what kind of vision they have for your website.
Are you ready to get started? Schedule a call here to go over the details.
