The quality of your website can make or break your business growth – it may facilitate or hinder progress. Making a wrong choice when selecting a web development company can be fatal.
Here is a list of 10 valuable pointers to identify the right web development company.
1. How well do they understand your business requirements?
Start by examining how they approach your requirements. Get their client list and check the solutions they have delivered in the past. His or her solutions should be customized according to each client’s business.
Do their solutions all look the same? Did they examine the clients’ target audience or randomly built templated websites? Did they have intelligent designs that reflect the brand or just common trendy designs?
An experienced web development company puts itself in your shoes and offers solutions that meet your needs, brand, goals, and audience.
2. Look for Specific Cultural Fit
“The internal brand culture will show you how the business will work with you. If they care about their own culture, they’ll care about the clients’ as well”
– Bas van den Beld, a digital marketing strategist.
Cultural similarities and differences between you and your web development company determine the success & failure of the project. Examine how their culture, personality, and paces match your own. Ensure that the agency follows agile development culture, which can respond immediately to unexpected changes via constant information sharing and interaction mechanisms. Also, ask the technology partners about their tactics to adapt to evolving technologies and trends.
3. How do they Communicate & Collaborate?
The communication skills of web development agency are a vital aspect. If there are any gaps in the communication process, your project can go haywire. Before signing the contract, contact the vendor and assess their communication culture with the following questions:
- Is their communication & collaboration process is at par with what you work on?
- Will the team is available on multiple communication channels like phone, e-mail, Skype, etc.?
- Who will be the point of contact for your concerns, queries, feedback, etc.?
- What would be the response time for your queries?
Get the benefits of hiring companies with good communication strategies, here.
4. Go beyond Back-end Development
In addition to coding and programming, various processes are involved in web development. Short-list the companies who possess demonstrable experience in both developing and designing responsive websites. Device friendliness is a vital feature as almost 60% of web access is happening on mobile devices.
If you want something more than just a website developed, it is better to find a company that offers more services along with web development. These can range from mobile app development, automation to QA support. Keeping all the teams under the same roof not only guarantees a cohesive approach, but also an enhanced turnaround time & communication.
5. Ask for references and work samples
Partnering with a web development company is a big decision; consider the reviews of those who have already undergone the process with the agency. Feedback coming from the client who has worked with them previously provides more visibility. So, reach out to their clients and discuss their experiences with project management, availability, deadlines, responsiveness and more. Also, go through the work samples they have showcased and scribble down what you like and don’t like.
6. Evaluate their team expertise
Evaluate their development experience and ability over certain skill sets. Capable resources are qualified over a wide range of disciplines. They should be well versed in front-end & back-end, web development best practices, algorithms, databases and different architectures.
A good web development company typically has a broad knowledge of the industry, with a few specialized talents. Beyond the web developers and graphical designers, they should have solution architects, QA engineers, scrum masters, and team lead, just to name a few.
7. Total up the budget
You should stay away from companies that offer you an estimate that is twice or half as much as what others are offering.
It is vital to ask the company what is included in the development cost. Some agencies might add services and tools, which require extra investments. Discuss how they influence your project functionality. What you need is a website with user-friendliness as its core element. Don’t waste your money on other flashy elements, which adds unnecessary cost.
Also, ask their hourly rate and check can they make any concessions.
8. Can the company afford the trial period?
The web development company has good references and appears genuine, but still, you’re not sure enough, ask for the trial period for two or three weeks. You can assign a certain part of the project and see how they are handling it and if that works for you.
During the trial period, you should observe their work to find if it is worth to proceed with the contract or not.
9. Analyze their web hosting service
It is significant to understand, whether they are providing a virtual hosting platform or dedicated hosting platform service. Virtual hosting is perfect for web hosting and handles considerable spikes in traffic very easily. Unlike dedicated web hosting, you do not need to purchase, maintain or rent any hardware. Also, ask for:
- How often they back up the site?
- How long the backups are retained?
- How fast is the processing power of the hosting platform?
- What is the assured uptime?
10. Who owns the site when it is developed?
IP ownership is worth considering. Make sure they will provide 100 percent ownership of your site to you when it is developed. Also, sign NDAs with the company and employees who will work for you. Commonly, many agencies work simultaneously with many clients in the same industry. There is a chance that the same code, idea, and the design might be reused on another website. The company should keep your intellectual property safe.
Selecting your web development company: factors to consider
The IT market is highly competitive in today’s digital era and changing in a blink of an eye. If a brand wants to win and keep customers, it must be unique. As a first step in standing out, you need a professional and interactive web app – and, most likely, a web development company to do it for you.
But incredibly, many businesses still neglect the value of an efficient business web app that is fast, easy to use, secure, and mobile-friendly as well, hoping that a cheap and quickly done product will work just as well. That can impact how your business performs, though – 42% of people will leave a website because of poor functionality, and 38.5% are put off by outdated design. The best way to ensure your web app or website has all the elements mentioned above is to hire professional web development services that know the latest trends in web development and how to add them to your web app.
We already mentioned in our previous article what you should look for when researching web development agencies, so you have probably already done some research. Now, it’s time to pick the right web development company for your needs.
What factors should you consider when talking with a web development company?
Once you have a shortlist of web development companies you think match your requirements the most, and you would want to work with, it’s time to schedule a “kickoff” meeting for your app development services. A kickoff meeting is the first meeting with the web development team you will have, during which you discuss with them all the details of your project. Why is it important?
- It allows you to meet the developers in person and get to know them better
- Ensures that everyone understands the main objectives of the project
- Helps with clarifying all critical parts of the project
- Gives the development team a chance to share their suggestions or ideas
- Assesses the amount of time and budget necessary for the project
- Allows you to discuss the post-launch support requirements you have.
But if you want the initial contact and meetings to go well and find a software development company you can work with for years to come, you need to know first what questions to ask to your shortlist of app development companies. We listed below 9 points you should discuss during the meeting with your future custom web development partner. Those can ensure a smoother experience while working with the development team and, as a result, give you a better product at the end.
How long will it take them to develop a web app?
If you give the
development team a list of your requirements and expectations, then they should be able to tell you an estimated timeline by which the web app will be completed, tested, and launched. You need to remember that the more complex your web app is, the longer it will take for the development company to build and test it to ensure that it works. But if the expert team you are speaking with can’t give you an approximate date by which the custom software development project will be completed, then you should get suspicious, as it might mean they have difficulties with keeping the work on schedule.
Similarly, when such a development agency gives you a very early date by which the web app will be ready, you should double-check do they have the means to develop a web app in such a short time – or you risk having to move the launch date several times due to lack of meeting your project requirements. You need to also think about your budget here – the cost of the web app will inevitably increase if your project takes longer than anticipated.
When you’re looking for a website development company that will work with you for years to come, you’ll need to compare the wide range of services offered, reliability, digital experiences, pricing, design, and a host of other factors. Therefore, it might take a while to find one who has all the qualities you need. However, finding a seasoned and reliable service provider will help your business meet its specific needs and grow further. Make an informed decision, and your business will flourish!
Sources:
1- https://www.clariontech.com/blog/10-pointers-for-choosing-the-right-web-development-company
2- https://crustlab.com/blog/selecting-your-web-development-company-factors-to-consider/
