Web developers are easy to find these days. On every street corner there’s bound to a serviceable web professional. Unfortunately, the over saturated digital industry makes it hard to find the cream of the crop.
You may be in the market for a new website. Perhaps you are looking to learn more about your existing platform. Whatever the case may be, we hope this article can give you a starting point to auditing the work of your web developer.
#1. Are Their Web Development Projects Being Farmed Out?
No matter what’s being promised up front, be diligent and ask a lot of questions. Perhaps the most important question to find an answer to is this, “Who is really programming my website?” Web developers are expensive and it’s fairly common for agencies to farm out a lot of their work.
In some cases, that may not be a problem. Yet, in many other cases you need an project manager on hand who is in communication with an in house team. Your project manager should know you, your business and your website goals inside and out. If they’re dealing with location, language or other communication barriers because their developer is not in house, then your project may not come together how it should.
#2. Hiring Your Own Programming Contractor
Before you buy a used car what’s the first thing you’re going to do? Take it to a mechanic so that they can find problems that your untrained eye cannot.
Websites are very mechanical, and each cog should spin in unison with the next. Hiring your own web developer to check under the hood can reveal issues that will cost you down the road.
#3. Is Your New Website Custom?
You may have been sold on a WordPress website that included a design process, custom theme and added security features. That’s great, but there are some things to be aware of.
For example:
- Is the theme or custom plugin warrantied? If not, how can you guarantee they will comply with the latest WordPresss updates.
- What inspired the design? Can I see your portfolio? Is this design different from your other projects, or are you ‘plugging and popping’ each website?
- Who is your security vendor? Is this a cost your adding on from Wordfence or Securi that I can simply add on myself?
Be sure to dig deep into your next website project before you sign on the dotted line. With a very competitive digital industry, it’s not uncommon for some agencies to push quantity over quality. Be sure to ask the right questions up front and weed out the developers who don’t take your brand as serious as you do!
Need some design inspiration? The hyper creative team over at Design Contest put together this amazing infographic for web design best practices in 2018. Check it out.
Source: https://www.designcontest.com/blog/8-web-design-trends-for-2018-infographic/
