5 Things You Need to Know Before Hiring a Web Developer

Thinking about hiring a web developer to build a new site for your organization?

Wondering what information you need to provide to a web developer before they can give you a quote or proposal?

In this Website Design Frequently Asked Questions (Web Design FAQs) video blog, I explain 5 Things You Need to Know Before Hiring a Web Developer.

(The article below is a summary of the video, but you’ll get more details and examples if you watch the video.)

1. Your Web Team

Before you start the process of hiring a web developer, it’s essential to determine who will be part of your web team.

This internal team will play a vital role in ensuring your website aligns with your organization’s goals and values. By establishing your team’s composition upfront, you’ll be better prepared when you start engaging with web design companies.

More specifically, its important to address the following questions:

• Who will be the primary point of contact for the web developer?
• Who is going to be included in the decision-making process?
• How are decisions going to be made? By consensus? By the web team leader after getting input from the team?

By addressing these questions up front you can avoid major disruptions. For example, by designating one point of contact, you’ll avoid trying to get the entire team on the calls with the web developer (which is a scheduling nightmare and dramatically increases the length of the calls). And by clarifying how decisions are going to be made, you’ll reversing decisions which can cause costly redesigns.

For more help with creating your web team, see Why do I need a web team? How do I build one?

2. The Purpose of Your Website

You want your new website to help you achieve your mission and goals. So, it’s critically important that you know your mission and goals and have a good idea about how you want your website to do that.

What you want your website to help you do? Reach people in your community? Facilitate live streaming? Organize groups? The clearer your vision, the better your web developer can tailor the site to meet your needs.

You have to define the purpose of your website before you can define its requirements to a web developer.

3. Your Budget

Building a website is an investment in your organization’s future, growth, and outreach. Understanding your budget is a fundamental step in this process. Be prepared to allocate resources to your website project. Remember that a well-designed and optimized website can yield significant returns, so think of it as a strategic investment rather than an expense.

The website developers you’re considering hiring will need to know your budget so they can customize a proposal to fit that budget.

Additionally, you may not be able to get everything on your website wish list and stay within your budget. Your website developer can help you decide what to include in the project, what to nix, and what could be postponed until there are more financial resources available.

4. SEO Plan

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical for ensuring that your website ranks well in search engine results.

Many organizations mistakenly assume that all web developers automatically optimize their websites for search, but this is not the case. Some web developers may even say they will build you an “SEO friendly” website, but that is not the same thing as actually optimizing the site for good search rankings.

Additionally, SEO is not a one-time service. Effective SEO requires frequent monitoring, adjusting, and ongoing efforts to build authority and produce high quality content.

Be intentional about discussing SEO services with any website developers you’re considering hiring. Then decide whether you will have the same agency that builds your website also manage your SEO, hire a separate SEO firm, or assign responsibility for SEO to an internal team member who is knowledgeable and experienced with SEO.

A holistic approach that incorporates SEO into your website design from the beginning can lead to better results.

5) Plan to measure effectiveness

The fifth and final item to determine before hiring a website developer is a plan to measure the effectiveness of the website.

I often hear people questioning the value of their website because they have no metrics for success. Their evaluation is either based on gut feeling or how their organization is doing overall.

It is important to create a plan to collect, track and analyze your key performance indicators (KPI).   Doing this will give you the ability to determine whether the website is effective, and what can be done to improve its effectiveness.

Ready or Not… Schedule a Discovery Call

If you’re determined these 5 things and you’re ready to discuss  business, ministry or church website design with a website developer, we would love to talk with you.

But… if you’re struggling to figure out some of the items, we’d be happy to help you work through some of these decisions too.  Either way…

Compete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a free consultation!

Comment and discuss

• Which of the 5 items above was most helpful for you?

Read or watch more Web Design FAQs