Your website is your business front on the internet, often the first thing people see when searching for your company. Just like having custom email domains, a proper website shows your professionalism and attention to detail.
The amount of factors to take into consideration can be overwhelming. This article aims at unraveling those issues - we’ll bring up questions most customers have at this point, and attempt to answer them as best we can.
Innovations or proven solutions?
What problem does your website address? Is informing customers about your products its single purpose, or perhaps your vision includes an e-commerce section, with registration, user reviews and a forum? This leads us neatly into the first point - the goal of your website.
Once determined, you can choose an appropriate technology - if your project can easily be developed in a well-established engine such as WordPress, Drupal or another popular CMS. Using proven solutions will make the system much easier to set up, optimize and administer. Expanding the website with further modules or plugins will also be much more available - and less time consuming. Most issues you might have can also likely be solved with a quick search engine browse, and might not even require developers attention.
In short - do your research, ask around - you will find many agencies advertise their expertise in chosen tech stacks, and will often have finished projects to show off. Searching for a company which has a similar project to what you have in mind is a great solution - just keep in mind to not cross out those who do not directly advertise a specific technology. Many software houses are just itching for an opportunity to develop their portfolio with a brilliant innovative project. If an agency has picked your interest - just ask them!
Always check their reputation!
Look up what other customers have to say about them:
- How was communication? How good are they at listening to, and translating customer requests into reality? What was the response time?
- Was the finished product delivered exactly as ordered?
- Were there any delays?
- Did the process require a lot of customer attention?
- How is maintenance? Are issues fixed quickly? Are updates quick?
Where to look for reviews? Google Maps, Clutch - both are good places to look up reviews. Simply entering the agency name into a search engine and reading it’s clients’ reviews can give you a good outlook at their reputation online.
Beware fake reviews! Buying “illegal” reviews or likes online is quickly becoming a thing. There are websites which help reveal suspicious grading activity, but as usual its best to just read through some of them. Do all reviews look alike? Are 95% of them 5-star successes? You can never be certain, but usually when something looks too good to be true - it is.
Focus your scope
Specify your expectations. This is a fundamental step in the development process - only with solid foundations can we set out to measure the efficiency and success of the project.
Ask yourself:
- Who are your customers? How and why will they use your product and what benefit does it offer over competitors?
- What will your website do? Is it just for information? Advertising? An on-line shopping platform?
- How do you measure your success? Traffic gained? Newsletter subscriptions? Increase in sales?
It’s entirely possible to go overboard in both directions - set too many goals or limit your project too much. A good agency will guide you through this process - that is why it's a good idea to search for ones with experience in similar projects. They will make sure that your goals are realistic and bring about measurable results.
Summary
Choosing a developer is by no means a simple decision, and there are no 100% fail-proof solutions. The more research about your project and the chosen agency you do before signing any contracts the better. Contact as many as you can! Compare offers, and choose what fits your project best. Quite a few factors need to be considered, as we’ve shown in this article. Spending less up front might save your budget for a while, but it just as well might come back to haunt you in the long run, through maintenance, painful updates or avoidable issues.
Above all else, try to remember that we’re all people. Not sure about something? Go ahead and ask.
Talk to us! We are good at listening, and we have the experience to ask the right questions to bring your dream into reality.
