7 Questions To Ask Your Future Web Developer Company
1. Leverage Off Shore
Can your web developer company or team utilise professional expertise off-shore?
Times have certainly changed where globally we have the ability to create ‘virtual teams’. An Australian company integrating
an off-shore team has major benefits. Not only cost, but an ability to work around a 24 hour schedule for critical projects or activities.
Does your web developer company have a portal that you can load tasks-online for on-going development work? The ease of sending tasks, requests or issues to a development house is becoming critical, a company should have the ability where all data is inputted in a central online location and managed to completion.
2. Turn Key Solution
Can your web developer company create your website from Design through to Hosting?
Time and time we see web sites designed based on graphics and nothing else. Meaning, NO SEO or optimisation to rank you on Google or quantifiable traffic, NO hosting that gives you a competitive edge with cutting edge superior technology, NO capabilities for developing your web site without a ‘propeller-head’ degree, NO ease to add your content or products, NO flexibility or scalability to grow your site over time, NO consulting to You that brings in new innovation or features to your site. Look for a company that offers all aspects of the Internet from video production to innovative ideas of securing your content.
3. Long Term Relationship
Find a company that not only wants to know Your online Business Needs & Goals, but wants to Partner with your business and succeed with you long-term. Why?
Simply this means the company is serious about being around long-term and has your companies best interest in mind.
Your online business growth will equate to a better reputation for the web developer company supplying the service. How do they structure their business relationships? What tools do they adopt to manage internal processes? Can my online development requests be streamlined?
4. How Do You Manage My Project?
Know What to Do, When to do it, and How is the utmost importance.
Find out whether the company has some serious project management capabilities in house. After all, it’s your project and you want it to be managed to completion.
Ask questions like, how do you define the project scope? If there is a change, how is this managed during the project life-cycle? Do you highlight to me the project risks? If so, what are the common risks associated with this type of project?
If they answer these questions with some degree of confidence you know you have someone that can deliver to your business needs and objectives.
5. Walk The Talk
Ask the web developer company what projects have they delivered (preferably in your specific industry)? What are the results for that business since they went online? Can you provide me contact details of three online projects you have completed?
If the web developer company has delivered before, they can certainly do it again.
6. Cost Of Project
What are the ongoing costs to maintain my online website?
This is becoming an epidemic. We are seeing a simple word change on a live site ranging from $15 to $500 (AUD).
If the company offers a monthly managed service it may be worth taking this up to off-set any development fees that would be the norm for companies having to stop operations to make a minor/major change to your website.
7. Marketing
Does the web developer company have experience with marketing online?
a) Do they have social media integration and development?
b) Can they professionally integrate your business into social media?
c) Have they run a PPC Google campaign? If so, what was the outcome in statistics?
