Determine The Goals And Objectives Of The Site
First of all, you need to decide what you need a website for, what business function you will improve by launching a new page or updating the current one.
Testing the business concept, improving the company story and media coverage, optimizing business processes – the choice of developer, deadlines and budgets will depend on the function.
Some companies quickly and well implement template solutions, others work with the image and content of projects, and others deal with complex integration tasks.
Based on the project goals, define the main tasks.
“A full-fledged and high-quality website” is an abstract category.
They can be met by a site that works stably without crashes, and one with a conversion rate higher than 5%.
Defining key tasks will help you figure out what you will consider success.
For example, if the site is designed to engage, the key indicator will be the number of pages viewed, repeat visits, or user time on the site.
For an informational site, it is important to track the number of pages read to the end, and for online stores – the ratio of product views to additions to the cart.
If you have difficulty choosing or you do not understand how to define goals and objectives, then immediately ask the developer a question.
Web development agency – this is one way out of this situation.
The agencies are always safer and do their job better, and this is only a small part of their advantages.
Based on the answers and counter questions, you will be able to judge the competencies of the company you contacted.
Determine the budget
The final choice of the developer and the result of his work largely depend on this.
First, you should determine how much money you are ready to spend on creating a website.
Then – its main characteristics, which you will not sacrifice, as well as what can be done easier, cheaper or what is not worth spending time on at all.
Based on this, you need to choose a company that works with certain segments and budget.
It is better to indicate the approximate budget at the first meeting.
This way you will save your time. Do not be afraid that they will sell you something that costs less at a higher price.
For example, if you contact a studio with a budget of 1 million that works with projects from 2 million, then most likely they will tell you right away that it will not be possible to cooperate.
Instead, they will recommend you proven partners.
And if the company works with projects from 400 thousand, then most likely the low price is an advantage that it will hold on to and will not name a higher price.
Assign A Person Responsible For The Project In Your Company
Working on a website is a collaborative activity.
The quality of the result and the time frame for implementation will depend on your involvement.
Providing materials, answering questions, coordinating interim results, participating in discussions – all of this is part of your responsibilities.
Failure to do so will significantly slow down the work.
Answers like “I don’t have time to think about it now” or “it seems fine as is” lead to ill-considered results, overtime, and fatigue of the people involved.
This reduces the quality of the final product.
It will be easier for you if you assign a person responsible for the project from among your employees.
It is important to reduce their workload and make working on the website a priority.
What not to do
Determine development deadlines independently
Each stage of work is allocated a certain amount of time.
The more technology is violated for the sake of speed, the higher the probability of defects.
Therefore, when meeting, find out how much time it takes to work on projects similar to yours.
Plus, as we have already said, the project deadlines will be affected by how timely and high-quality you perform your part of the work.
The time it takes for the developer to start the project should be added to the deadlines.
Be prepared for the fact that the companies in demand are busy, and you will have to wait until a team is freed up for the project.
Market leaders have an average production planning horizon of three months. If the contractor is ready to start tomorrow or reduce the implementation time at your request, this is an alarm bell.
Draw up technical specifications
You should tell about the functions and tasks of the site, but you should not make detailed instructions on how to work.
If the developer asks you for a technical task, then this is an indicator of his incompetence – he does not understand how to work and what the result should be.
A comparison with building a house is appropriate here.
You tell the developer how many bedrooms you need, whether you will live in the house in winter and when you plan to rebuild the house.
The builders themselves will determine the thickness of the walls, the angle of the roof slope and the placement of the heating unit.
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Define development technology
The main thing on the site is what the visitor saw and what action he performed: left a request, bought a product, decided to work with your company.
He is not interested in what technology was used in the development.
Therefore, when choosing a developer, it is important to evaluate the quality of his finished projects, and not whether he uses Bitrix, WordPress or another technology.
Many customers think that choosing a technology popular among developers will protect them.
For example, if one company has a poorly made Bitrix website, another company will fix it without using another technology.
After all, they also work on Bitrix. This is a big misconception. If a website is poorly made on one platform, another company will not fix it.
Most likely, you will be asked to write everything from scratch. This will be cheaper and faster than fixing a bad product.
Therefore, choosing a popular technology does not give the customer additional guarantees.
Where to find a developer
Ratings, recommendations and analysis of companies that have made websites for similar tasks will help you in your search.
After that, you can send requests and see what questions about the project you will be asked. The more questions and clarifications, the more experience the developer has.
At the start, he will clarify details on the problems he has already encountered.
And vice versa – the fewer questions, the less experience and demand this company has.
Remember that the site solves the problems of not only the business, but also the user.
You need to know why the visitor came to the site, what he wants to know, buy, what doubts he has.
In competent companies, the discussion of the project begins with finding out these details, and not what color you want in the product card, for example.
In ratings, pay attention not to whether the developer occupies the leading lines – usually they have the highest check.
It is important that the company is presented in the rating at all, even if in 50th or 120th place. This means that it really exists, its competencies are confirmed, clients and completed work are verified.
Ask questions to the developer. Find out about their experience, achievements, and current workload.
As with almost any custom service, the following aspects are important to you:
- competence and reliability of the contractor;
- his interest in the project;
- the contractor’s experience in solving similar problems.
After receiving answers to the questions, you will have a general picture and understand who is right for you.
For example, the contractor is competent, but has not yet had to solve the tasks that you give.
Or the contractor has little experience, but is interested in your project.
Or you have a very competent contractor in front of you, but is ready to solve your tasks only according to a template.
The choice is yours.
Do not send the technical specifications or briefs of one company to others, trying to compare who is cheaper.
Really good companies may not respond to such a request.
And you will miss the opportunity to evaluate the project.
In addition, if a company began to work on the technical specifications made for another company, then most likely the quality of the result will be low.
