A professional, appealing website is essential for any business. It’s a common practice for people to instantly search for the website of a business when they hear about it through advertisements or word of mouth. Simply the absence of a website can leave customers with a bad impression. A poorly made website can make matters even worse.

Luckily, many professional, reliable, and high-quality web design companies out there can create a website that matches your company’s style, vision, and message. However, just as many web design companies out there may produce shoddy work. Since websites are such a substantial investment, it’s important to know the most important questions to ask when hiring a web design company.

Ask About the Specifics of the Design Team

Professional web design companies use diverse teams of developers to ensure at least one person in each of the various facets of web design. For example, one person might be geared more towards graphic design. Another may focus on content creation. Another is in coding. Together, they can make a website that looks, performs, and feels professionally made and of high quality.

The first question to ask in this regard is whether they use an in-house development team. When it comes to web design, having to work with third parties makes the process muddled. It could cause various problems with your website such as creating content that you don’t want or never asked for.

If they have an in-house development team, the next question to ask is how big the team is. You don’t generally need an army of people to develop a website. A solid team of five or more is generally needed to cover all of the vital aspects of the website and ensure the product is created in a decent amount of time.

Finally, ask how long everyone on the team has been working together. Longstanding relationships of about three years or more show that the team has loyalty to the company and each other. In addition, it shows that they have experience and a decent reputation.

Ensure They Have Good References

Just as you would do if you were hiring someone for your business or for a job in your home, ensure that the company has reliable references to check out. If they can’t provide any references, that could be a sign that they have various problems with their previous clients and may even be a scam.

New companies may not be able to provide many references due to a lack of previous clients. They can always provide at least a few references to people that they have done work for in the past as well as examples of their work.

How Long Has the Company Been in Business?

New companies can be great! If you’re looking to start a long relationship with a web development company, however, you’ll be in better hands with a company that has withstood the test of time. In addition, ask about how large their business actually is.

The building that a specific team is stationed in could be one of many in a larger company’s chain. Larger companies may cost more money. They may also be more reliable in terms of customer service with more people available to provide assistance. In addition, bigger businesses are also more established in the town, state, or nation. This gives them more staying power and reliability.

Ask About Their Content Management Systems

Content management technology can make a website extremely efficient or a complete disaster. Ask about the specific content management systems that the company uses for its websites.

How long have they been using this technology?

If the company hasn’t used the system for long, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s of poor quality. However, a lack of experience and knowledge of the system may cause development issues and problems for the site administrator. A year or more of experience with the system is generally a good amount to truly get accustomed to it and learn its various quirks and features.

Have they run into any problems using the system?

No system is perfect! Learning of the flaws in the system can help prevent future issues and rectify problems more easily when they do occur. Ask if they’ll allow you to see the back-end of similar websites that they developed for a good understanding of the interface and the setup. The sooner that you become familiar with the system, the better you understand it later.

Is the system’s software open-source or proprietary?

Generally, you want to go for open-source software for your content management system. Open-source software is usually free to use with some fees for implementation. It is also open for anyone to modify and customize for various purposes. Since it is free to use and open for modification, many people likely know the system inside and out. This allows you to more easily resolve problems and improve your own system over time.

Proprietary software may seem appealing, but it is usually expensive to implement and use. There is a much smaller amount of people familiar with the software that can help you with issues. In addition, proprietary software may not be open for modifications that could improve your website. If there are fees involved with the CMS, ask how much the fees are, if it is a one-time fee, or recurring. In addition, ask if the payment goes through them or directly to the company that provides the software.

Will the Website Be Mobile-Friendly & Responsive?

With more people accessing websites through their smartphones and tablets, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. Not only does the website have to be designed to work properly on mobile devices.

It also has to be responsive to dimension changes in regards to the various screen dimensions available in smartphones and tablets. If possible, ask to see some of the company’s previous work optimized for mobile use on your mobile phone or theirs for a good idea of how it behaves.

What is the Step-By-Step Process?

Never trust a company that doesn’t adhere to any sort of development plan or process. It only leads to unreliable estimates in terms of time frames, pricing, and possibly a disappointing end product. A company should be familiar enough with its own processes to walk you through the entire procedure step-by-step. It may take a while to cover everything. Detailed plans and processes show that the company knows what they’re doing, is organized, and professional.

How Do They Track the Success Rates of Their Websites?

To properly ensure that your website is effective and well-received, you need options for monitoring the statistics of the website. View count, sales, conversions, ad revenue, and more can all help you gauge and monitor your website’s success rate.

Keeping an eye on these aspects can also allow you to determine which marketing strategies and techniques work best for your website and company. All of these aspects should be included in your proposal. Then, they should be added to the website before launch.

Is There a Project Manager to Oversee the Development?

Project managers provide a direct line to getting quick, accurate answers concerning the various aspects of the website. A project manager also helps ensure everyone and everything is organized, on schedule, following proper procedure, creating quality content, and more.

They also schedule meetings, create proposals, organize timelines, ensure efficiency, and communication between the various developers. Without a professional project manager, numerous problems between the various developers regarding the client can occur. This can delay the project and cause a lot of frustration.

Concerns About Warranties & Ongoing Support

A professionally made website is a big investment. It’s vital to ensure your investment is protected through warranties. In addition, ongoing services such as hosting, maintenance, and possibly content creation for SEO and system administration should be addressed.

First, ask if there is a warranty at all. Most professional services offer at least some form of warranty with their product. If they don’t, that’s an instant red flag.

Not offering a warranty not only means that your website won’t be protected against threats such as viruses or severe errors in the future. It also means that there is possibly something shady going on about your website deal.

If they do offer a warranty, ask what the warranty covers. Regular maintenance, updates, virus protection, security patches, and any other forms of ongoing protection that you can think of should be discussed.

Next, ask how long the warranty will be in effect. The longer the warranty goes on, the better. If the warranty is limited, remember to find alternative means of updating, protecting, maintaining, and repairing the website in the future.

Hosting is another issue that should be discussed. Many website owners choose to purchase their own hosting methods once the website is created. Many web development companies also offer their own hosting services.

Ask:

• What type of hosting services do they offer?
• How long have they used those services?
• Do they have experience working with other hosting services?

Finally, ask about the cost of the warranties, hosting, and service plans. The warranties may be limited in how many choices you have for ongoing support and protection. There are usually different service plans. Options for hosting change depending on what kind of services and hosting packages you want

Tackling the Issues of Pricing

When it comes down to it, the biggest issue to confront is the matter of the various costs involved with developing and maintaining a website. You may get one quote upfront. However, it may end up entirely different once the development plan is solidified and your proposal is complete.

If you have an idea of what you want and need in your website as well as the intended plans in regards to service, warranties, and hosting, sit down with the developer. Go through everything that you agreed on for as accurate of a quote as possible. Even if the proposal comes out higher due to unforeseen charges, the quote may allow more elbow room for negotiation.

Ask about their pricing methods:

• What is the base price for certain aspects and features?
• How is the actual price determined?
• Do minor changes affect the price?
• Do they work on hourly rates or flat fees?

Both types of pricing are okay. Hourly rates can turn into huge unforeseen costs. It may be difficult to get an honest answer for this.

Ask how frequently they go over budget. Problems in development happen. Frequently going over budget could indicate poor planning skills, lack of expertise, and possibly scamming.

Solidifying the Billing Process

Discuss the payment process involved in the website’s development.

Ask:

• Is there a down payment?
• Will it need to be incremental as the project goes on?
• When are payments expected?
• How should the payments be made to the company?

To prepare for possible additional charges, ask about how extra features or services are typically billed during development or after the project has been completed.

What is the Estimated Time Frame for Completion?

An experienced company can typically determine an accurate time frame of completion for a website while taking into consideration the various features and services requested. Problems can always arise, but experienced, professional companies can usually address these issues immediately. They resolve them as soon as possible without losing too much time on the project.

It’s also a good idea to ask if the company is reliable in terms of keeping you up to date with the progress of the website. You don’t need to be contacted every single day. A nice update every few days or every week can ensure that you know what’s currently done, how far along they are, and if any issues currently impede production.

Conclusion

A well-made, professional, and appealing website can impress your current customers and draw in a lot of business. Finding a high-quality, reliable web design company and determining an outline for a website that would fit your company perfectly is a long process, but i

It’s well worth the work, money, and waiting if the product is as great as you imagined. As long as you follow this guide, you’ll be sure to find a web design company that is right for you as well as a website that fits your needs.

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Links Web Design is a Website Design Company in Bangor, Maine.