Searching for & hiring a web developer is not a big deal these days. You can get a lot of options to choose from.
But the real challenge is to work in harmony & in-sync with your website developer to build a successful website.
In this blog post, I’ve shared 6 tips to work with your website developer to produce a successful website.
#1 Know what you want
Unless you know what exactly you want, you can’t explain it to your web developer. Perhaps, this is one of the most common reasons for conflicts between website developers & owners.
Before even you hire a web developer, you must gather all the information that would be helpful for your developer to build your website.
Here are some of the details that you need to know about your requirements before you hire a developer:
- What kind of website do you need? An informative website or an e-commerce store.
- How many webpages (approximate) do you want on your website?
- Do you need the assistance of your web designer to populate your website with the contents, images, etc. ?
- Do you want your website developer to host your website as well?
- Which payment gateway do you want to integrate with your website, in case of e-commerce stores?
- How many forms do you need on your website?
- Is there any special integration that you need with your website such as API, 3rd-party scripts, etc. ?
- Do you expect some changes in your scope during the website development? If yes, you must share it with your developer.
- Do you want your website developer to use royalty-free images on your website or you want to arrange for the images yourself?
- Do you want your web developer to maintain your website too?
- Will you be making minor changes in your website contents yourself or you will need the assistance of your developer?
Having all the above questions answered and shared with your website developer will avoid any chances of possible conflicts with him.
#2 Hire the best
Shortlisting & hiring a Singapore web developer is the most challenging task in any website development process.
At the same time, hiring the best developer is crucial to the success of your online business. Therefore, you must take your time and hire the best.
Here are some of the things that you must take care of while hiring a website developer:
- Experience: Usually, website developers who have more than 3 years of experience are suitable for building a professional website because they know how to tackle different challenges that may occur before and after the website launch.
- Portfolio: A website developer who has been working for more than 3 years should be able to share at least 10-12 different websites that he has worked on. Checking their portfolio may help you make your decision wisely.
- Cost: Although the website development cost shouldn’t be the only parameter to shortlist a web developer, but you can always try to hire a professional website builder at an affordable cost.
- Testimonials: No matter what they say about their own services & quality, the clients of your web developer should be able to provide you with first-hand feedback working with them. Do check them out.
- Website design timeframe: If you are on a short timeline to launch your website, you may like to check with your website designer about the timeframe to build your website.
- Support: What kind of support will your developer provide? You may need their support even after launching your website.
- Maintenance: Is your shortlisted website developer able to provide long-term maintenance services? If not, perhaps it would be a good idea to look out for other alternatives.
#3 Make it formal
Before you award your project to any website developer, you can make it formal through an agreement or a contract.
Having a contract in place will help you and your developer to know each other’s obligations & duties. A formal contract also aims to avoid any verbal conflicts or disputes in the future.
What should be the contents of a web design contract or agreement?
Below are a few terms or clauses that you can specify in your web design contract:
- Project scope
- Web development cost
- Payment terms
- Project dependencies
- Timeframe
- Liabilities of both the parties
- Obligations of both the parties
- Ownership
- Dispute resolution
- Other terms & conditions
#4 Trust your developer
Trust is the foundation of every relationship. We know that. Working with a website developer is not exceptional too.
When you hire a web developer after considering all the important criteria & parameters as mentioned above in point #2, you must be self-assured that you have got a right resource to create your website.
In other words, you must trust your developer completely. Of course, you can’t just sit back, relax and wait for your website completion. You must get involved in testing your website and providing feedback to your developer.
But the overall idea here is to trust the expertise & skills of your developer. You should not try to impose your thoughts just for the sake of proving that you are the owner of your website.
Being experienced, your website developer may come up with an out-of-the-box idea that could click for you and make your business successful. So, let the creative juices flow from your developers’ side and trust his expertise.
#5 Provide feedback
Providing feedback is perhaps one of the most important parts of any website development process.
When your developer shares the work progress of your website development, you must take time to test and prepare a constructive feedback.
This feedback will help your developer to fix or enhance your website according to your expectations.
Why you must provide a proper feedback to your website developer?
- It saves your time & energy.
- It helps your website developer to make changes easily.
- It helps you to track the changes & updates.
- It enables you to test your website in an organised fashion.
- It avoids all kinds of frustrations & conflicts.
How to provide feedback to your website developer effectively?
- Be clear & concise
- Provide screenshots
- Send references & examples if possible
- Make a log of your feedback
- Don’t check until your web developer confirms
Recommended post: 5 Effective ways to provide feedback to your web developer
#6 Always think long-term
While choosing a suitable web developer or during your website development, you must always think about long-term association him.
Website development is not a one-time thingy.
You do need continuous support & assistance of your developer to run your online business smoothly. Therefore, you must always think about establishing a long-term relationship with your developer.