After reading “Web Design Tip Sheet – Choosing Best Website Development Company” i had a few comments in my mind but because of “comments closed” for the story i had to post it here to make my head feel lighter.
First of all, the moral of the story “Choosing The Best Website Development Company” may not apply to all websites being created today as the volume of website vary by large extent. (If you really look to make more of this article, I suggest you to read the very article and come back later) For example, what if I want a 10 pages website with mostly static content? Someone with a innovative head, good html and a knowledge of web language like php may fulfill the requirements without wasting a lot of precious time and money. Yes time as you may not decide on “the best development company” ever and if met, they may not take your job at all or charge you lot higher!
Second, the article does not reflect the features of “The Best Website Development Company” and neither of their professionals from which one should get an idea about their work performance and ability. I have found that such, so called “Best” companies, listed higher on the job portals are actually just “doing the business”, costing their customers higher for average quality of products.
For “Hiring a professional web design company is a key element in ensuring that all of the components of a quality web site are added to come up with the finished product you envisioned. A web designer worth their weight will have all knowledge necessary to navigate through all the guidelines, trends, and tricks to make sure that your website is compatible with all different web browsers, search engines, and gives the competition a run for their money.” I would say that although this is said in good faith and may guide one enough who is looking for professionals with high quality web skills, there are 100% chances that the person you trying to hire from a company has already left the company 1-2 years ago. If this is feeling strange to you just carry on to the next paragraph.
Yes this is quite possible that the professional whose profile has impressed you to hire him / her no longer works in the company. See, almost every web development company creates a profile of each of its professionals (web developers, designers, SEOs, in particular, and when some of them leave the company they (company) just carry on using their profiles. So what happens most of times that a person with inferior skills than the original person works carrying that profile and makes a mess of your product. And sometimes 2, 3 or 4 persons with different level of skills rotate on your project but you keep paying for “that skilled professional” feeling proud all the way. Now, the most embarrassing situation comes when you hire some post for a particular skill set and a trainee starts on your project and later a skilled developer tries to fix endless bugs on that site and then you must have to leave as a the most agonized person of the world!
So what to do to create a successful website? Well I am not a website consultant but would say you may follow some simple steps to get a successful website built.
STEP ONE: Make a clear picture of the end product in your mind. Search for the most suitable examples of your website around and make a list ordering them by similarity and popularity of your end product in descending order. Discuss your ideas with people near you and those related to the web development (if any) and pick up only the positive things about your product with them. Try to take an idea about the time, cost and the best possible platform which is most suitable for the nature of website you are planning to build.
STEP TWO: If your site is of large volume and deeper concept, try to hire a good team of professionals. A team can be found in a Web development company or in form of a group of freelance developers/providers. Before hiring, take tests, arrange meetings (online) and ask questions and try to get an idea that the team is capable in doing the job. Provide as many details of the project as you can produce. These details can be in form of requirement details, flow charts, excel sheets, image files, links to reference/example sites and whatever you can think of as a help to understand the concept.Mention clearly the look and feel of website, way of navigations, browser compatibility, layer based or tabular format of the pages.
Try to identify the candidates by talking, keep eye on the pronunciation, ways of writing and communication with whom you are discussing the project and who is/are supposed to work in your project.
Do not try to withhold the proposed ways of making money through the website which you may have in your mind. At last, seek feedback from the candidates and match it with your original concept. It will give you the idea about the most suitable approach for the website and candidates for the job.
STEP THREE: If you are certain that you have found the right candidate(s), hire and get them on the job. After hiring is done, make sure that this is/are the same person(s) with whom you discussed the project so a novice in their place does not start your project on! Look for daily work status and respond to their queries / comments immediately. Mention in your non availability in advance. It will help you and them to keep in the loop. If you feel the work is going smoothly encourage them with compliments or with periodic bonus etc. If they are not doing well or not following you, not sending you daily updates, simply tell them about the case and if such irregularities persist quite a times, just ask the concerned firm/person to replace them.
I am sure if you follow each of the steps above till evenhalf of them you should end with a successful product in your hand.
The last but not the least thing is your interest on the product (website) you are trying to build. Don’t get a project started with a half heart or no wonder if you are left with a fully messed up thing besides you.
Comments are welcome!
Hey good article! bookmarked!