Introduction
The digital world is booming with no signs of slowing down. Increasing use of the internet and inclination of the audience towards digital space has drawn the attention of businesses. Having a remarkable online reputation has become significant in this era. Gone are the days when people used to go for products or services after mouth publicity. Now, the first thing users do is to look for online reviews and ratings before buying any product or opting for any service. The website represents the company, its product, and its services. If you are looking to expand your business and mark an online presence, you need to look out for a top web development company near you.
Web development has evolved a lot over the years. Users have raised the bar of developing a website. It is extremely arduous to hunt for a web development company that is proficient in both front-end and back-end development. To, help you out here we have listed a few tips, but before diving into it let us know a little more about website development.
What is Web development?
Web development is the process of developing and maintaining a website for the internet. It comprises front-end development, back-end development, and website design. Developers use programming language, framework, database, etc, to develop a website.
A glance at web development statistics:
- There are 1.5 billion active websites across the globe and 3.5 billion Google searches per day.
- Around 38 percent of visitors do not engage with a website if the content or layout is unattractive.
- 47 percent of website visitors check out a company’s product/ services page before looking at any other site section.
- Once on the company’s homepage, 86 percent of visitors want to see information about the company’s products/ services.
Tips to Hire A Web Development Company Like Pro
There is an unfathomable number of web development companies over the internet that claims to be the best in their field. Well, to help you declutter and figure out the best fit for your project, here are a few tips that you can follow
1. Be specific with your goals
Before looking for a web development company for your project, it is very important to be specific with your goals. You must exactly know what you are looking for. Are you looking for a company that specializes in just front-end development or you are looking for a professional full-stack development company that can help you with both front-end and back-end development?
If you already have a business and you are in the process of making an online process, you need to know what features you want on your website. You should be well aware of your competitors and look for the features that are helpful to users. However, if you are a newbie, you should check on the below points.
i) Know your niche
If you are about to start a website and are not sure about your niche, we would recommend you to first identify your niche. You can either something afresh that is new to the market, or you can add a new concept to an already existing market. Either way, if you are thinking to make the website profitable, you should look for how your visitor will benefit from it.
ii) Identify the target audience
Once you have fixed your niche then identify your target audience. The design of the website varies as per the target audience. If you are targeting wider audiences of all age groups your website should have a subtle design and you can decide accordingly.
iii) Knowing the end goal
With a plethora of websites already existing you should have a unique and beneficial vision. Once, you are done with these two, next define your development needs. Such as what kind of services you want from a website development company. There are lots of options available, narrowing down these aspects help you to easily land the best fit. You should be knowing the end goal of the step. Some, develop to increase brand awareness, some to increase sales, some to help people know about products and services, and so on. What are you looking for?
iv) Build a roadmap for developers
The next, step is to build a roadmap for web developers. Before you go on a hunt to hire web developers for your project, you must have a roadmap ready. The roadmap helps you to define the outline of the web project development. In the roadmap, you primarily need to include, all information the web development company will be needing. It helps the development team to have a better understanding of your project and vision. Now, that you are specific with your goals. Let us move to our next step.
2. Understand the type of web development company you need
There are too many web development companies in the market. You need to know what exactly you are looking for. Hunt all possible options that suit your requirements. You can look for an on-shore web development company, off-shore development company, a company in your geographic location, and so on. There are pros and cons of each, you need to weigh well before finalizing. There are experts everywhere, you need to look for the expert who fits your requirements.
3. Research on different platforms
Now, that you have narrowed down what you want on your website, what are your goals, and the type of web development company you are looking for, start looking on different platforms. Just a Google search is not enough, you need to look on different platforms such as LinkedIn, references within the network. Some sites you can use to hunt companies are clutch, good firms, Toptal, etc.
When you do a Google search, you analyze companies on the first and maximum second page of the search. But, there are high possibilities that these companies might have a great SEO team and the actual project development proves otherwise. So, it is wise to look at all possible platforms and then make a list of at least 50 companies that suits your requirement.
4. Find companies offering relevant technical skills
Once you have shortlisted the website development companies, now you need to begin with the process of elimination and make a list of the top 10 best web development companies. The first thing that you should be checking is the technical skills of the developers. The selection of the right technology stack is the backbone of your project development. Look for the companies that have experts who serve in your niche.
By, now you should have the best companies on your list. You can also make a list based on the technology you are planning to use for your web development project. For example, you can make a list of top Python development companies or the list of top companies offering PHP development solutions around you.
Read Also: A Complete Guide To Website Development Cost
5. Go through the portfolio
Next, you need to check the portfolio of each company. The portfolio of the company represents the service quality and company insights. You can check your portfolio on different platforms or directly on the company’s website. How the company has developed its website can let you know a lot about the company. Make sure, the company has a well-developed website.
6. Check reviews and ratings
Now, you should check the review and rating of the company and its past projects. These days, companies are visually present on most of the social media platforms; you can get reviews from there. Have a quick glance at testimonials given by previous clients. You should not only be checking good reviews but also look at reviews that ask the company to improve service or add certain features.
Next, check whether the company improved the project as per review or not. A good web development company is the one that always looks forward to improving its services. Talking about most trending PHP development solutions, there are many frameworks, so it is better to check on what frameworks they have worked on and how.
7. Soft skills are important
Gone are the days when soft skills were considered to be good-to-have skills. These days soft-skills have become a must-have skill for any software development company. Once, you are satisfied with the technical skills, experience, and post-project of the company next you should be looking for soft skills. If you are hiring a company from a different geographic location with a different time zone, make sure you do not have to wake up in the middle to know the whereabouts of your project. It would be better if the company works as per your time zone.
Communication of utmost importance while hiring a web development company. There should be one common language between you and the company. Communication is a must to convey your views aptly. You need to work in close collaboration with the team, where good communication will be the tool. Ease of communication is important to bring the best to the project and ensure a smooth development process.
The team should be willing to adopt new skills quickly and implement them. Team members should have good cooperation among them. Each member should be a team player, to bring the best output collectively. The tech market keeps on changing, it is important to stay up-to-date with the market. You can know the soft skills by directly contacting the team by interacting with them.
8. Go through past projects and experience
Next, to have a better and clear insight into the company’s work go through its past projects. Know the work experience of the company. These days web development has evolved a lot. Different kinds of web development projects require different skills and expertise. The company with experience in your niche will quickly catch your idea and offer you customized web development services. Make sure the company is up-to-date with the ever-changing market requirements. Past projects and experience of the company tell a lot about the company. Experience and attitude to adapt skills draw the line between good and great developers.
9. Know the team
You must know everything about the team that will be working on your project to ensure that everything goes well. You might hire one of the best companies and then later you would realize your project was not handled by the apt team but you ended up paying a high price. So, it is important to have one-on-one interaction with each member of the team. A web development team includes 5 to 6 experts. Know their experience, their projects, their technical background, and so on. It will not only help you to know the team but will work as a channel to build trust, and you can further convey your vision better.
10. Interview developers
Now, that you are satisfied with the team, you should ask a few unconventional questions to developers. This will eliminate the probability of any false play. If you are from a non-technical background, we would recommend you to do your share of your homework before interviewing, so that you know what to ask and you can judge the reply.
For example, you can ask what is the right tech stack for this kind of web development services and would you mind following the new approach? If you had to pick one of your previous projects which one would you choose and why? About the trending market demands in your niche?
Read Also: A Complete Guide To Web Development Process
11. Determine the pricing model
Now, that you are done with selecting the company that is the best fit as per your requirement a significant step is still left and that is pricing. We are sure you would not like to drain your pocket completely in exchange for average web development services. We would insist you keep the quality of the project in the front seat and then accordingly determine the price. In this highly competitive market, quality is the deciding factor. Know the pricing models the company offers.
The company usually offers fixed, hourly, etc pricing models. Select the hiring model that best suits your requirement. The pricing varies based on the technology used, the complexity of the app, experience of developers. Make sure the web development company delivers the project within the time-frame and it also offers post-development support.
12. Finalize the company
Congratulations! Now, you are about to finalize a web development company for your project. Lock the deal if everything goes well, if you have the slightest doubt you can switch to other options. If you are satisfied with all the above points, you can hire web developers and other experts from here.
A Quick Recap
Website development is a highly competitive market but the most needed one in this era of digitalization. It is important to be judicious from selecting a website development company to deciding its design, feature, and functions. Here, we have mentioned tips to help you hire a web development company like a pro. In a nutshell, you need to be specific with your goals, do a vigorous search, search for companies on different platforms, check technical and soft skills, know past projects and experience, talk about pricing, and then finalize the deal.
