Important Questions to Ask your Potential Web Development Partner

Marketing is one of the most important criteria for a business to flourish. With the increasing popularity of e-Commerce, it is absolutely essential that a company should have a sophisticated and user friendly website. Small businesses mostly tend to overlook this fact and their marketing often tends to suffer due to this. But developing a website is not a piece of cake – it requires the creative skills of atleast 5-6 people from different departments like graphic design, marketing manager, website developer,an efficient copywriter and an overall manager.
 
To avoid any extra trouble, businessmen resort to web design outsourcing to a trustworthy web development company with experience and reputation.Even if the job is being outsourced, one should thoroughly understand all the aspects related to a website and the required knowledge to operate, manage or troubleshoot problems. This is possible if the owner of the business takes an active part in the website development process.
 

 
There are some basic questions which any businessman outsourcing his web design, should ask the web development company or the person in charge of the project so as to be involved in the process of the website design. The following are the queries that should be made:
 
1. Duration of the whole project : It is important for the businessman to set a deadline for the completion of the project and make sure that the work is completed by then.
 
2. Expenditure on the total project : Cost estimation is a very important factor for the owner. It is necessary that the budget of the project be kept minimal.
 
3. Past credentials/ references : You can ask for references to any past work of the company to see the quality of work and to collect feedbacks regarding the company.

 
4. Project management tools : Enquire about what applications are to be used for the website design. Different tools like subversion browsers and built-in code repositories are generally used, so make it a point to ask about them to let them know that you have the knowledge.
 
5. Other services they provide as additional : Web logo, SEO tools are some of the other services that you can ask for.
 
6. Mobile and smartphone versions of the site : The new age customer relies heavilyon smartphones for browsing. So the site must have a good mobile version so as to make it reach out to people.
 
7. Troubleshooting : The manager of the website must be able to troubleshoot problems when it malfunctions or is hacked. So, you have to gather all information about it for your manager.
 
8. Technical competences : How much technically competent the employees of that firm are, should be assessed.
 
9. Hands on training for employees : Employees should be given training from the web development company so that they can manage the website. Make enquiries about the type of training.
 
These questions will help you to gain a first hand knowledge about the type of work you are entrusting to the company.