Questions to ask your web developer
There are a lot of good web developers out there. When picking a good web developer, there are a few questions I think everyone should ask of their developer.
- How long have they been in business? Young isn’t bad, but it is risky, and the work will probably reflect the maturity of the developer.
- Ask for a few references and CALL THEM, don’t just look at the online portfolio to see if it looks good. Lot’s of people can make good looking sites, but you want a SUCCESSFULL site. There is a difference, and you will find out when you talk to their clients.
- Find out the cost of the project, and the recurring fees (monthly hosting). Some systems offer low upfront costs, but charge a lot of hosting fees. Others have large upfront costs, but minimal hosting fees. Also find out what kind of ongoing support is included with the hosting.
- Watch to see how much they ask or know about your business. If they are not interested in your business then they won’t give you a good web marketing solution.
- Ask about the Content Management System. I wish everyone would use WordPress, but there are other systems out there that work just fine too. I recommend familiarizing yourself with the features of WordPress and using that for comparison. More at wordpress.org.
- Ask about what would happen to your site if the company went under. It’s not a pretty conversation, but most web developer businesses last a couple years and then disappear sometimes leaving clients in the dark. Don’t let them tell you, they don’t plan on going out of business, that is not a plan.
- Ask to use Open Source Software whenever possible. This will allow you freedom of choice in the future, should you go with another website provider or host. Proprietary software will tie you forever to the vendor you choose.
- You usually get what you pay for, but in general terms, most website projects should run between $1000 and $3000 for a small business website. You can get a few quotes, or just ask around to see if that is a fair price.
- Get a firm idea of the timeline of the project and what milestones you should expect along the way.
- Join the Coop on facebook, it’s free and you can get advice from others, and find out what developers and designers they use.
I will probably add to this list from time to time, but I wanted to get something out there for people to start using.