5 Ways to Tell If a Website Developer Knows Their Stuff

We are living in an age where your website is the centermost crossroads for your communications efforts. Whether you place a story in the newspaper, spread a grassroots effort, share something on social media or launch a full-scale advertising campaign, all signs are pointing back to your website.

A business can either benefit or suffer from its virtual presence. Despite their best efforts, many companies are unaware of the damage that is being done when they put forth little effort into their website.

Most companies nowadays though understand the value of a great website often seeking help to make it happen. When approaching the website design process, it is absolutely mission critical to pick the right team to handle the process. The wrong designer/developer can make your life and your digital situation an absolute nightmare.

Here are 5 ways to tell if a website designer knows their stuff:

1.Their Website Looks Good

A website designer’s own brand is in most all cases a proper representation of their work.

If you visit their website and find that it looks like something fresh out of the 1990’s, then it may be best to look elsewhere. It’s a designer’s job to stay on top of the latest trends and to make adjustments to their brand as time goes on. Archaic style only creates problems for you. You want your website to be done correctly the first time around.

You’re investing a great deal of time and money into this working relationship. A team or person who isn’t practicing what they preach? It’s probably best to look elsewhere.

2. The Case Studies Impress You

You should be critical of case studies because they’ll tell you a lot about who you’re about to work with.

Looking at an agency or website designer’s previous work will give you insight into their scope of talent and overall style. Every designer has a particular way of conducting their development. If their technique is in alignment with your expectations, then you may want to move forward.

If you take a look at their work and aren’t impressed, you shouldn’t expect the website you’re going to build to knock you off of your feet either.

3. They’ve Picked a Content Management System (CMS) That Makes Sense for Your Business

A CMS is the system that manages the content populating the website. WordPress and HubSpot are two common examples you may recognize. This is so that the people dealing with the website on a regular basis don’t have to interface with the code that determines what it looks like.

After the agency or developer has completed their duties, it will be easier for your marketing or management team to go in and adjust over time. Now, bear in mind that the web designer may have to go back in from time to time to perform development tweaks. They shouldn’t, however, be the bottleneck preventing you from updating an image or set of text somewhere.

A website designer who isn’t able to tell you the best CMS for your business, or doesn’t use a CMS at all, should be avoided. In cases where they don’t, they’ll set it up so anytime you need something modified, they will require you to go through them. In the long run that’s frustrating and not cost effective.

4. They Have Design Capabilities

Half of all website design and development is the design part! If the person or team in question doesn’t have a graphic designer or graphic design talent, then the final product you get probably won’t look good. A good website has to be user-friendly, but at the same time, it needs to be aestethicgally appealing. In the visual aspects of the site, it’s important for there to be organized design that makes sense when the average person is using it. Contact information and general facts about the business should be apparent and not hidden behind too much visual noise.

Our team, for instance, has graphic designers. We lean into our branding design experience and pair it with a knowledge of best user practices and development to create a compelling digital destination. A good web designer will keep this in mind when going about the web design process.

5. They’re Serious Developers

In this wide world of website designers and developers there are posers. These posers don’t have any real developmental capabilities. They’ll buy pre-frabricated themes from places like ThemeForest and pass them off as their own work. Pairing this with their big price tag? A shady rip off.

Make sure you’re working with someone who develops from scratch and builds every solution to your business. Pre-fab templates might make the project cheaper, but you get what you pay for. They also aren’t taking your unique business in mind—they’re trying to cater to the wide swath of everyone out there to sell more. Custom-designed and developed projects are dedicated to your business and needs.

With Us, You’re in Good Hands

We bring a documented process and diverse skill-set to every website. Our approach involves strategy phasing, graphic design and built-from-scratch development.

Looking to take your website to the next level? We’d love to chat.

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