Hiring a web development solution provider is a complex process that requires strategic planning and assessment of the company you want to hire for the task. Not paying absolute attention can cause your company to lose both time and money, so proper consideration is an absolute must before making any decision. At its core, website or web development is more than just redesigning a webpage to look good. It is a complete and thorough marketing plan consisting of an initial strategy, planning, design, aesthetics, brand image, useful content, copywriting, SEO, photography and video, development, and much more. Your website represents your company to the masses and needs to be a perfect fit for your business.
To get a website that represents your business and brand perfectly, you need to work with an agency that is capable of understanding your business and also has experience working with similar clients. According to White Peak Digital, here are six things you need to look out for when choosing to hire a web development company.
A strategic approach:
Web development is a complex process with a lot of different workflows tied into one final product. Each one of these workflows is of similar importance and should be treated as such. When looking to hire a company, ask them about their development process and the strategy that they are going to use to achieve the desired results. A company that has a solid understanding of the kind of work you want and a robust plan to fulfill your desires is most likely going to deliver on their promises. Try to understand their process strategy yourself, so you can be confident in work being done.
Portfolio and experience:
Nothing shows the capabilities of a web development agency better than their past work. When browsing through their past work, consider yourself a random customer that stumbled upon that website for the first time. Is the design clean and engaging? Is the layout user friendly? Is there any memorable feature of the website that demands your attention? Is this website built with a pre-built system, or is it completely custom? These are the questions that you need to ask yourself when doing your research.
Marketing expertise:
Most of the web development agencies focus entirely on building websites. Although this makes them excellent at making websites exactly according to your demands, they lack the insight required to integrate a marketing strategy inside the website. They do not have the expertise of your particular business. You should work with a company that can take the guidance from you about the business and then translates it into a website form—especially when dealing with a B2B situation where content strategy and a deep understanding of business architecture is necessary.
In-house development Vs. Outsourcing:
While many agencies will claim that the 3rd party they work with is perfect and like an extension of their company. The truth of the matter is that with the ever-increasing complexity of modern-day websites and the uniqueness of each client’s requirements, getting a one to one exact result is almost impossible. Try to look for web development agencies that have in-house development capabilities because they are the ones who will be designing the website. If a fashion designer comes up with a design and then outsource the actual implementation of that design to a third party, they are not going to get exactly what they want. No matter how precisely and clearly, they explain it.
Additional features and services:
When looking for an agency to work with, ask them about the additional services they can provide. Things like content strategy, SEO, copywriting, branding, automation, lead generation, and many other things of a similar nature. Once you have an idea of what you are going to need for your website, inquire about the agency about it. Ideally, you want everything under one roof to save yourself from the hassle of contacting different places for different developments.
References and Recommendations:
Talk to the previous clients of the agency you are thinking about working with. Ask them about their experience in the planning stage. How was the workflow? How closely did the agency communicated with them? Are they satisfied with the end result? Were there any major hiccups during the development process? How was their support after the project was done? Having these questions answered by a previous client will give you a better understanding of what it’s like to work with that specific web development agency. It will aid you in making a final decision.