When developing a website for your business there are many important issues which need to be considered and these considerations grow and change as new technologies emerge. Currently one of the most important factors in choosing a web design or development firm is SEO and SEM, because, if your site does not get into the search engines your web traffic will be low.  We have found this to be so important to our client's success that we've built SEO features in all our offerings.

We have made a list of recommendations about many of these issues so that you can evaluate your current project needs and how to prepare for them.  Your website is by far the most important aspect of your business marketing.  It is the face of your company which people from all across the world are going to see.  People base their opinion on your company based on the professionalism of your website.  If it looks cheap and amateur, people will simply think you have a poor business model and you aren’t making enough money to afford a professional web presence.  But if your site looks incredible, your potential customers will feel comfortable with you and give you instant credibility.  Studies have shown that a company’s website design has more influence on a potential customer than the products, functionality or written content within the website. 

This is important to determine a cost. Especially if you need a firm bid so the you know the price and that price will not increase.  (see our article the importance of an RFQ). In many cases this will be drafted as part of the project … without a detailed RFQ we  provide a high level bid based on assumptions … then we review after we learn the exact requirements. This could be as simple as providing an email with details of how you see the site working and how you would like to manage it.
 
Choosing Your Development Firm should be well thought out ... not just based on price alone. Choosing a firm based on price alone is a big mistake. The low cost options tend to be college students, moonlighters, offshore development companies, local web designers with weak portfolios and large cookie cutter developers like register.com, networksolutions.com or yahoo.com. Also, a development firm with a web designer on staff will get you better overall results. That has been the secret to Point B Web's success, great developers working with award winning design, so our clients get the best of both worlds.
 
College students and moonlighters and hobbyists are generally a low cost option only charging $10 to $30 an hour but have very limited skills and experience. Hobbyist and college students usually only know the basics and will try to cut and paste their way through the project using free scripts and templates.  This produces results that are amateur and an application that does not work like it is suppose to or worse doesn't work at all. Also, consider that this amateur group has other loyalties, their jobs or classes, grades, and other interests.  They are not interested in building a reputable web development business they just needed some extra cash. They may not even be able to finish your project after getting in over their heads, and many times they will just quit. Or they may try to get someone to help them but you will not likely get a refund.  We have been a lighthouse of sorts for development projects gone bad and have heard the stories of so many companies who give their money to an amateur on empty promises to develop a great site all to save money?.
 
Also, you may want to avoid offshore developers. They offer work from $2 - $30 but most of the time you will be disappointed. They offer services on elance, craigslist, or guru. They play a numbers game and promise the world many times over and many times have a “borrowed” portfolio so, if you go down this road be sure to ask for US references, and call them!  You should be able to contact someone from a site that was developed by the firm.

Don't be fooled by hourly rates or an initial low priced project cost.  There are many things to consider. Did the firm make a not to exceed bid (a detailed requirements/scope document will usually be required ).  A bid defined by a requirements document is the best way to protect yourself from firms who will quote an initial low rate then add on as the project proceeds.  A requirements document keeps the development team on task to get the required features completed.  I would not recommend going with a firm because their  hourly rate is low as you will not know what the cost of development will be and a firm that has a low hourly rate of $20 may take up to 200 hours to complete a project where a firm charging $125 may only charge you 20 hours.  So, the firm with the hourly rate may not have a project management process and the project gets off track several times and takes 200 hours,  or $4000 and the other more experienced firm only takes 20 hours as they have project management processes in place and the project is completed in a timely fashion for a cost of $2500. 

There are ongoing needs and other associated costs that should be considered before choosing a development firm. For any application you should feel confident that the firm you’ve hired will be able to support the application for at least three years. SEO and hosting costs should be considered and reasonable in relation to the support and security you need. Under $10 for hosting is only reasonable if you expect no real response to your problems see the next section on Web Hosting. Most companies costs vary but you should expect to pay more than the mega hosting services are charging.   And if you just need straight updates to content, no application updates, back ups etc… you should let the development firm know that and you may be able to work out a lower cost price for lower service level.   Generally your monthly maintenance and SEO needs will be around $350 USD per month and up. 

Hosting is important and costs can vary widely from provider to provider. If you are serious about your online business and its growth avoid the cheapie host firms like the plague, e.g. godaddy.com, Register.com, Yahoo.com, or NetworkSolutions.com and other firms trying to compete with the mega hosting companies this is a recipe for disaster. Generally, these solutions are attractive to individuals who don’t know what they’re doing and are buying out of convenience and wanting to save money. 
 
As your online business grows you will need to add email addresses, add new features/functionality, install software, change server settings, gain access to the server root and many other things. The high volume low cost hosting companies will not support your application and software needs and we find we cannot support our clients web applications if they are hosted with the mega hosts. Mega hosts do not provide business level support and would be out of business if they did … well, they would have to charge more to provide skilled support. Point B Web provides business level support for the applications we develop .. if there is a problem we have programmers to support and fix the problem or add new features, update, develop new features etc... Also, one other warning relating to the mega hosts is that if your website ever goes offline and is due to a problem that needs a programmer or server application expert a mega host most likely will just write you off .. not respond or spend months in responding with no answers, nicely answering but not resolving your issue. They do not have the staff nor the ability to maintain a custom online application or issues that arise in doing business on the web. If your business is a hobby and not paying your bills then if it goes down there is no pain but for our clients a day down can mean thousands of dollars of profit lost so, they need more than a cheap host they need a partner they can depend upon. As a growing web development firm we need to strike of balance of having staff available for hosting and maintenance issues as well as new development projects.

You need to have someone you can trust to be there for your current and future need … consider it a partnership.  The cost of hosting with a development firm that can also support your application will be around $350 - $500 per year but could be more for high volume sites and sites with particular needs outside the ordinary.  

If you already have your domain name registered. it is important to make sure you have yourself listed as the administrative contact with a current (permanent) email address and keep your registrar login information handy for future reference. If you do not already have a domain name, you can use any number of online tools to research whether a domain name is available, BUT BE FOREWARNED: many of these services alert unscrupulous companies with details of the name you are researching and they sometimes buy it out from under you and essentially hold it for ransom when you go looking to purchase it. Best to avoid any domain name research tools that do not explicitly state that they do not share your research with anyone. Better yet, let Point B Web do the research for you. We have tools that allow us to check availability and alternatives without fear of the names being snatched away before you purchase them. 

It is important to get a contract in writing that states exactly what will be delivered when and for how much. Most contracts should also stipulate any incentives or penalties for changes to the initial timeline as a result of delays by either the client or the developer. A good step to ensuring you get a contract that will benefit you as the client, is to provide the developer with a detailed Request For Quote (RFQ) which helps define the scope, features and budget. 

You will be an active participant in development also. You will need to provide materials in a timely fashion. We allocate resources to a project based on a schedule. The time frame is important to us because we allocate resources to projects and if the developer does’t have the needed information their time allocated to your project can be wasted with them trying to keep themselves busy and this can cause major delays in your project completion as when you provide the needed material the programmers time is allocated to a different project.

You will need to be attentive and check your email a few times a day.  Web developers will send you daily communications and many times need your feedback.  If they don’t get needed feedback within a day they try to read the clients mind and trudge forward sometimes in the wrong direction.  To avoid any conflict check your email at least a few times each day, especially during business hours.  Always send your responses by email. Email is far more efficient and will avoid any miscommunications we have a project board for communication so everyone involved are all on the same page.

Once your project is complete testing begins. It is common to find problems/bugs. You may find broken links missing images etc.. but this is all part of the project. We include our clients in the testing process as it saves us from hiring testers and increasing project costs.  
Project Payment: 

The web development standard for any project is 50% up front and 50% at the end.  This is unfair in my opinion that the web development company gets paid in this way.  But the other option of being paid at various milestones isn't much better.  Now for a  larger company the 50/50 deal is fine, but for a smaller 4 employee development company this can be a real cash flow issue.  To avoid non-payment we usually list out the deliverables when payment is due e.g. an commerce  project is considered complete when the store is operational not when the clients inputs products. But, no matter what size the company you hire, make sure to pay when invoiced near the end of the project, don’t withhold payment over small issues, it’s not fair to the firm who worked so hard to design and develop your site.  The margins in the web business aren’t high and some of smaller companies may be doing great work, but cash flow and delay of payments really hurts.  

I hope this article helps people understand how the web development and web design industry works.  Most people who are getting ready to start a web project don’t understand the project process and therefore don’t know what to look for when choosing a firm.  I hope by providing industry information companies will avoid the pitfalls of hiring the wrong web development  by having a better understanding of the process.