As per research, a website visitor takes less than 0.05 seconds to form an opinion of a website. If they have a poor experience, 55% of the time they will not come back or recommend your business.

This makes your website one of the most critical digital assets. It is your brand identity and often the source of truth for all your existing and potential customers.

Getting the right website up and running for your business is no easy task. You need a smooth user experience, unique content, and a solid tech stack to support all the various functionalities you want your website to provide.

That is where professional web development can help.

If you follow this guide, we’d trust that you will have no trouble finding the right fit for your requirements. Here’s how you can find, hire and work with a web developer.

1. Define the Scope of your Projects

Every website is designed to serve a different purpose. Not only that, the scope of the project and the supporting design and technical solution for it can vary depending on the goal you’ve set for your website to achieve. Therefore, identifying the goals of your website and articulating your project requirements is a great starting point.

It’s okay not to have clarity on every aspect of your requirements. Here are some generic questions that can help you define your unique project.

• What is the goal of your website? To give information about your business? Generate sales inquiries? Start an eCommerce store? Do you want to provide a software as a service solution?
• What is the size of your website project? Is it a simple 4-5 pages static website or a more dynamic project including custom functionalities and third-party services integrations such as Membership Logins, Scheduling Systems, User-to-User Interactions, etc?
• What is the stage of your website development project? Are you building a new website from scratch or are you looking to extend your existing website? Perhaps you’re thinking of upgrading your website’s technology and that is where you need help?
• What aspects of the website do you need help with? User Experience, User Interface, Design, Development, Content, SEO Optimization are just some of the services you may need.
• And lastly, think about the required features, the timelines you have in mind, and the budgetary limitations, if any.

Having thought through the requirements will also help you pick the right website developer for your project. Here’s a pro tip – when looking for a website design and development agency, give extra brownie points to agencies that are happy to define your project needs together. A website developer invested in the

success of your business, rather than your project only, is a keeper.

Now, have you got the above defined? Yes, you’re ready to move on to the next step.

2. Dive Deep into Research

Honestly, there are thousands of website developers offering their services all over the world. They all claim big but so many of them fall short. And when your web design agency fails, money is wasted, time is lost and there is no traffic, no conversions, and no ROI. But if you do your research smartly enough, you can avoid being in such a situation.

Here are some pointers that can help you conduct well-rounded in-depth research.

• Go through the web developer’s own website in detail. Look at the structure, the user experience, the appropriateness and attractiveness of the design. Pay attention to the branding. Make sure they have a rich portfolio and perhaps a project similar in scope or the industry vertical as yours. Also, check out their processes and make sure that the experience of the website takes you to the endpoint i.e. generating an inquiry or contacting them to discuss further.
• Check out the Website development agency’s social media presence. This includes all their social handles such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. This is a great place to get an idea of their recent activity and their customer interactions.
• Find out reviews about the web design agency on third-party review aggregators. These tools are generally unbiased and give comparative reviews and ratings on several aspects of the business including communication, teamwork, proactivity, approachability, quality service, and timely delivery. Read through the testimonials to get an idea of previous clients and experiences. A creative way to scrutinize an agency is to reach out to the previous clients and get an account of their first-hand experience.

All this information is publicly available and could give you a fair idea of the quality and compatibility of the web development team. If you cannot find the relevant information online, take caution. In fact, we would suggest that you stop investing your time in that specific web developer and look for another agency for your project.

3. Look out for Too Good to Be True’s

A whopping discount, an exceptionally quick delivery, a free offer from friends or family. Although they may seem like ideal deals at the moment, they can probably turn sour real quick. Here’s why:

• Discounted development, wild offers, surprising sales, and unbelievable bargains are all major red flags. It can most certainly lead to a website development disaster. If you think about it, good website developers have a constant workflow with months and months booked on their calendars. They really don’t have time to sell their services at a discount when so many people are ready to hire them as is. If someone is selling their services cheaply, they probably don’t have the right expertise or service – better stay away from such deals.
• This also means that hiring your friends and family for a critical project such as your business website may not be the best idea. It may come cheap or even free, but it may not be what your project requires. This is because when it comes to family, very few people can maintain professionalism. Deliverables and timelines are missed, accountability is lost. It’s best to keep the web development business strictly professional.

In a nutshell, the first line of defense starts with you. Whether you want to make small changes to your website or kick-off a complete overhaul or a new development – you need to start with your homework.

The catch is to know where to look and what to look for. Take your time. When validating your research use the process above and trust it to help you make the right match between your project and the web developer.

The web development community is full of talented experts who produce excellent web designs, and a well-structured and quality-assured code base. They truly can be your business partners in tech. If you’re looking to connect with one immediately, grab a consultation with Spinning Web Media today.