The site needs to be updated every 2-5 years, adding new functions, applying new technologies, and editing content. Otherwise, you will be overtaken by competitors. How to choose an intelligent website developer?

Step-By-Step Guide: How to Choose a Website Agency

How to update a working website without a loss for business? Of course, a professional performer is needed. Especially if you are going to expand the functionality. Are websites built with Django suitable for your situation, or is it worth sticking to a more traditional framework?

Let’s detect where to look and how to choose the best website developer.

Step 1. Decide What Tasks to Solve

Your web platform should solve specific tasks, for example:

• bring the business online to receive clients from the Internet;
• will cover other regions: for example, to sell all over the country;
• find new partners – talk about the benefits of cooperation, and offer discounts;
• expand the assortment by two times, and so on.

You need to choose the functionality based on the type of your business and tasks. For example, you offer some services – provide a feedback form for consultations, a page describing opportunities and tariffs, and customer feedback. You are selling goods – you need an online store with a personal account, a catalog with convenient filters, and an online payment system.

Step 2. Check Their Approach to Application Development

As a rule, developer companies that have been on the market for the first time have their unique approach to development or use one or another project management methodology that has already been formed within the team. These approaches distinguish one company from another and determine their effectiveness. This approach to development should become even more individual when developing your application.

Step 3. Find 4-5 Candidates

If you have decided what kind of site you need, you can choose developers specializing in a specific niche. Consider whether a further promotion is needed – weed out those who do not offer it if it is required. Determine the budget to save time on those who provide low prices.

Look for performers based on niche, the possibility of further support, and cost. Write down the contacts of 8–10 developers: you will choose the one who will make the site.

Where To Find Web Developers?

There is no need to go somewhere. You can save time and money by using Google search. Here are places to help you:

Go to Professional Agencies

Having turned to a well-known company with a good reputation, cooperation with large web studios promises a brilliant result, but it costs a lot of money. If the company’s budget is limited, which is usually the case at the start of the project, then this method of searching for an online store website developer is not suitable.

Go to Reddit

Many qualified developers on the Internet are hiding in Reddit and waiting to be found. Reddit is a good place for thousands of forums in one place based on interesting topics, be it random questions from strangers, games, thoughts about the soul, or where to find developers.

Step 4. Make a Comparison Table

This is the most superficial stage. Make a table, enter the selected site developers, and make periods or columns to compare them by essential parameters. We recommend dividing the assessment into two stages.

• The first stage is an assessment of developers without communicating with them. Look at the portfolio, the developer’s website, reviews, and achievements, and evaluate the positioning.
• After that, communicate with each person – write down the response time, competence, number of proposed solutions, and desire to immerse yourself in the task and help. Ask about the cost.

When you check performers, enter the data in the table. For example, you can use pluses and minuses: if the portfolio is good, put a plus. If there is no immersion in the task, place a minus. Thus, it is possible to assess the situation as a whole, counting the number of minuses and pluses.

Step 5. Chat With Everyone

Fill out the feedback form on the website or call the performers. If you use the form, pay attention to the speed of application processing: the faster you get an answer, the better. If the rate of processing does not coincide with the declared one – they wrote that they would call back in 15 minutes, but they called in 2 hours or the next day – this is a reason to be alarmed: it means that the company or the contractor does not fulfill the promise.

Tell the company what kind of site you need, what functionality is required, and what design is preferable. This will help the developer to name the price fork, and the exact cost will be known after the specification is drawn up. Enter the approximate price in the table. To choose the right website developer, pay attention to the following factors during the conversation:

• Competence. Ask a few questions to tell how one CMS differs from another, whether it is possible to implement some complex function, how the speed of loading the site depends on the code, and so on. If the performer explains clearly and can answer questions related to the development, then he is competent. You can safely put a plus on the table.
• Immersion in the task. An average developer will definitely ask you to fill out a brief or will ask additional questions: for example, how many filters are needed in the catalog, what feedback forms will be provided, and how many pages the site will have.
• The number of proposed options. Developers often offer several options – for example, different frameworks – and explain how each will work and its features. If you are told a request that the proposed alternative is the best, there is reason to think. Of course, if the company works with more than one framework – in this case, it initially does not provide a choice but works in the studied system.

Step 6. Choose the Best Specialist

We made this list as detailed as possible. If you are now wondering how to find a website or app developer, be sure that these criteria will help you weed out unreliable candidates and make the best choice. Our experience shows that full compliance with these criteria guarantees that you will receive a high-quality, sought-after product.

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