There is a surge taking place in the popularity of web development in the 21st century and it is not going to stop anytime soon. Almost all businesses existing today are dependent on websites in one way or another.
Some businesses choose to build their personal websites to target potential customers virtually, while others list themselves on popular business directories so visitors of the directories can get to know these businesses.
According to a Forbes report, in 2023, there are approximately 1.13 billion websites already existing on the internet. However, it is also a truth that 82% of these websites are either inactive or not being maintained.
Now, as the competition among websites to gain and hold visibility is massive, it is also crucial to maintain the website’s quality to ensure it runs smoothly. To maintain the quality of the website, you need the right people who can assist you with the development process by applying the best possible development practices. How do you find such companies? Well, we will answer that question in this blog.
Let’s have a look!
Exploring past projects
The first and most important filter is to explore past projects of a website development company to ensure they have a proven track record. These past projects can provide you with the required insight into the kind of website companies have built. Reviewing past websites can help you find out the quality of websites, the performance of websites, engagement rates, average user sessions, and more.
Experience with technologies
Websites, depending on their purpose use several different technologies like AI, AR/VR, ML, IoT, etc. To partner with modern web development companies, you need to verify the types of technologies your shortlisted companies have used in their websites in the past. Whether you want to build PWAs, AI chatbots with Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology, AMP webpages, or WordPress websites, you will need to hire experts that have already worked on such projects.
Take reputation into account
The reputation of a web development company can be verified on Google’s Business Profile page by going through reviews and ratings posted by previous clients. Most companies also show off their client reviews on their websites as well. Apart from that, you can explore websites like Clutch, Glassdoor, etc to search for companies either individually or category-wise to know their ratings better.
Compare the cost factor
The cost of a web development company can impact your website development plan in the long term, especially if your budget is not properly planned in advance. So, before kickstarting the process of building a website, it is ideal that you first find out and compare multiple web development companies. Most top web development companies include costs like designing costs, hourly development costs, website testing costs, website marketing costs, post-launch upgrades or debugging, and more.
Compare additional services
Web development companies include multiple types of services in their packages. For instance, website marketing, urgent client servicing, chatbot development, post-development services, etc. Before shortlisting the company that will build your website, comparing packages can help you understand the worth of your budget as most of the services related to the website development cost bucks if availed separately.
Communication and collaboration practices
You can judge the transparency practices of companies by going through their reviews and ratings. To build your product, it is ideal to collaborate with companies that offer quick updates instead of letting you know once the product is built. Many web development companies have adopted the practice of supporting phase-wise updates and phase-wise client feedback. This helps clients understand that their product development is going in the right direction.
Dedicated development teams
Many small web development companies are not able to dedicate specific teams to client projects. Instead, multiple projects are handled by individual teams which sometimes end up with errors. Ensuring that your shortlisted web development company can dedicate enough people to build your product is a step in the right direction. Dedicated developers will work faster, collaborate better, and be more focused.
Tech support and maintenance
A website can crash anytime for any reason, so, it is necessary to prepare in advance and have the right tech support on standby. A company that builds your website should be capable of helping you with the maintenance as well as it will have more understanding of the backend of your website.
Before finalizing your partnership with the development company, figure out whether the company offers urgent tech support or not so that in case your website faces a glitch, you do not lose potential customers and the glitch can be resolved quickly.
Qualification and tech expertise of team members
The tech expertise of team members involved in a project can influence the overall success of your project. So, it is ideal that you take their interviews and brainstorm the website plan before kickstarting the project. Business owners also prefer going through the background of the people involved in the development process to judge their qualifications and experience. A background check also helps organizations build trust in developers especially, if their website data is sensitive.
Key takeaways
Picking a web development company is not an easy task. However, the factors that we recommended can make the process easier for you and help you find the right development company that understands your vision of building a website. Now, before we wind up this blog for good, let us take you through a few crucial key takeaways from the above discussion for your revision:
- Explore the project history of the shortlisted company to get insights into the possible quality of work
- It is better to check their tech expertise to know the maximum quality standard you can expect from the organization
- The reputation of a company can be measured through the ratings and reviews it received on several platforms like Clutch, Glassdoor, etc
- Comparing the costs of shortlisted web development companies can help you make the best of your investments
- Additional services are required for the growth of your website. Make sure to compare packages before you sign up for the company’s service
- To judge the transparency you can expect, it is important to have a look at the communication policy used by the web development company you have picked
- A company should have enough people to dedicate to your project if requires so you can get it built within the targeted timeline
- Post-development services are also important to compare as once your website is developed, it can have glitches that might require quick maintenance for its smooth running
- Go through the qualification and expertise of team members to know if people working on your project have enough skillsets or not to build a good quality project
Well, these were some of the crucial tips that can help you find the right tech partner for your organization. It is important to hire the right people for your company to ensure your project’s privacy and security are intact and giving enough time to research while picking the development company can ensure that. Lastly, we hope that this blog on How to Choose a Web Development Company for Your Startup was helpful for you and will help you build a quality project.
