You Should Invest in a Pro Website – Here’s How to Choose Your Team

You Should Invest in a Pro Website – Here’s How to Choose Your Team

Many business owners think that a professional website is not as necessary as people want to make it look like. Truth be told, when landing on a website, users rarely read the content word for word, at least not in the first minutes or so. First impressions matter in the world where there are so many companies specialising in exactly the same products and services as your company.

Visitors are keen on first impressions, they want visual appeal when they land on a certain website and they want to be sure that all the information there is easy to find and process. They want relevant headings and they want to make sure that your website is safe, above anything else. So, professional web design and development services are mandatory in this age and time. Most frequently than not, business owners seem to prefer the services of a freelancer for this purpose. And in most cases, this is the perfect decision.

But choosing the right team or a skilful freelancer is not the easiest process in which business owners see themselves involved in. To make things easier, we have a list of things to pay attention to in the process.

See If They Are Focused on Usability

By asking this particular question, business owners can make sure that the company or freelancer they plan to collaborate with is user-oriented. Experienced web designers will clearly outline their inclination for usability, while novices will only focus on making their own work easier, even if this means compromising this highly important aspect. Making sure that visitors have an easy time on your website is a crucial thing in the process of building a website and retaining visitors. Novices make sure that they deliver what their client wants, regardless of how difficult to use the website ends up being.

Experienced freelancers will always look forward to defending the user and their interests, will always focus on creating a user-centred design and will, most likely, be grateful for addressing such a question.

Research Their Previous Projects

Having a glance at your collaborator’s experience and previous projects will help you figure out if their experience corresponds to your individual needs.

The best way to do so is to ask the freelancer or web design team if you can see other websites created by them, that shared the same goals and purpose as yours intends to. Ask them how the projects’ goals evolved after the website was developed and how the results are measured. Depending on your needs and main focus, choose a freelancer that is able to deliver accordingly. Find previous projects of the same developer and see how happy clients are with their job. If the general opinion is that the team/freelancer has a one-size-fits-all approach, you may want to look further.

To deepen your research, you can always perform a background check on the professional with which you plan to collaborate. This will offer you plenty of insight into previous clients, but also all the public record on the professional you plan to collaborate with. You will be provided with information on their business affiliations, which is extremely relevant in your particular case. Referrals, references and the Better Business Bureau rating matter as well. Put all the information that you can find together and see if the professional is as reliable as they seem at first glance.

Ask About the Team or Collaborators

Get as much information as possible on the team or other freelancers your professional collaborates with. You want to make sure that in both cases, the other professionals and your collaborator have had projects together in the past and that they interact in a productive and coherent fashion. This may be one of those aspects that make or break a website. You want to find a freelancer with a solid network of other freelancers, with constant collaborations and interactions.

Find Out What Changes You Will Be Able to Make Later

How your web development team or freelancer approaches ongoing changes will matter a lot, at some point. Websites change over time. While some companies will charge hourly for similar changes, other professionals will set up a tool that makes management easy and approachable by the user. This will make it possible for you to upload content, images and add pages whenever necessary and you can manage most of your website on your own. For this, you shouldn’t expect or ever receive invoices or fees.

However, you still want to find out what types of changes will cost you money. While your website might include management tools, certain types of changes have to be managed by professional programmers or designers. Ask what types of changes are supported by your management tool.

Ask About Results and Numbers

While this sounds a little too technical, it’s always great to ask this type of question before settling for a web developer or designer. Pay attention to terms like page visits, time on site, SEO rankings, conversion rates and bounce rate. While you may not be familiar with these terms, you can always ask for extra explanations.

When it comes to numbers, things might get a little complicated. There are so many variables to consider in the process. However, this doesn’t mean that your web developer shouldn’t offer you an answer. They had previous similar projects, theoretically, and they certainly have the necessary experience to have a general sense for benchmarks.

Researching Freelancers or Collaborators Near You

While working with teams or freelancers in different areas of the globe will offer you access to incredible talent, you may be the type of client who prefers to meet in person their web developer or web designer. If you are this type of client, you could start searching for real web design or development talents at local meetups, classes, workshops. These specialists always look forward to perfecting their skills and if they’re not in their office, here’s where you’ll find them.

Web design and development are more important than many business owners want to admit. For the best results and experience when working on your official web page, follow the steps above to find the best talent in your area.