Did you know that 94% of first impressions of a website are design-related?
Imagine walking into a store that’s dimly lit, disorganized, and hard to navigate. You’d likely turn around and leave, right?
The same principle applies to websites. A well-designed website is like a beautifully arranged storefront with thoughtful organization; it’s inviting, easy to navigate, and makes visitors want to make a purchase.
This initial impression is crucial for the success of a small business. The website is one of the first touchpoints potential customers have with your brand, and it directly impacts user experience, search engine rankings, and conversion rates.
That’s why your website is the most important asset in your digital marketing strategy.
It’s also why web development is so important. Hiring an expert helps to make sure your business can be set up for a successful first impression with your customers. It also ensures your site is designed to reflect your brand, all while being optimized to convert visitors into paying customers.
However, choosing the right web development company can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack — especially for small businesses balancing tight budgets and specific needs.
When you find the right web development company, everything clicks into place, allowing your business to have a website that’s creative, functional, and a vehicle for business growth.
At Harvard Excelerate, we want you to have this massive competitive advantage for your website and for your business. That’s why we designed this article to guide you through the five steps you need to take to choose the right web development company.
How Choosing the Right Web Development Company Makes the Difference
A great website, built by a strong web development team, offers numerous benefits including:
- Attracting and retaining customers: fostering long-term loyalty and engagement.
- Enhancing credibility and establishing trust with your audience: positioning your business as a reliable authority.
- Driving sales through strategically optimized pages: that maximize conversion rates and increase revenue.
However, achieving this requires more than just a basic understanding of web design. It demands expert help — a web development partner who understands your vision and can turn it into a reality.
The Transformative Power of a Great Website
A well-crafted website is a dynamic platform that interacts with your customers and guides them through their journey. Here are some positive outcomes that can come from a great website:
Attracting Customers
A visually appealing and user-friendly website draws visitors in and encourages them to explore further. With great web design, businesses can leverage their websites to keep new customers interested and wanting to learn more. Having that kind of website allows small businesses to achieve tangible results that make a real difference.
Retaining Customers
Easy navigation, valuable content, and a smooth user experience keep visitors coming back. With functional websites that are responsive and optimized, you can better retain customers by increasing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Boosting Credibility
A professional website builds trust and credibility, making your business appear reliable and established. Responsive websites that work on both desktop and mobile devices, alongside sites that are built to be in line with a strong brand strategy will connect with the target audience strongly and effectively.
Driving Sales
Strategic design elements like clear calls-to-action and optimized checkout processes convert visitors into customers. High-performance websites are conversion-optimized, informative, and user friendly with strong calls-to-action and appealing messaging that connects with the target audience.
These benefits don’t just materialize on their own.
They require a skilled hand—a team of web development and web design experts who know how to blend aesthetics and brand with functionality, ensuring that your website looks good and performs exceptionally well.
Skilled web developers play a crucial role in creating high-quality, user-friendly websites tailored to client needs.
5 Steps to Choose a Web Development Company
Finding this perfect web development partner involves careful consideration of several factors. You need to ensure they understand your goals, have a proven track record, possess the necessary technical, creative, and project management skills — and are easy to work with.
Let’s dive into the five steps to choosing your web development partner.
1. Define Your Website Project Needs and Goals
The first step to choosing the right web development team is understanding your website needs.
By setting up a wishlist and a vision of what you’re looking for, you’re able to ask the right questions and properly assess the skills of each web development agency you’re considering. By starting the web project informed and structured, you can more easily find the right team fit while creating a foundation for clear communication.
Understanding Your Needs
What do you want your website to achieve? Are you aiming to boost sales? Do you want to showcase your portfolio? Do you have any ideas for web design? Or maybe you need to provide detailed information about your services?
A well-defined project scope helps set realistic expectations and timelines, ensuring that both you and the web development company are on the same page from the outset.
Another important decision to consider is if you want to build a completely new website or revamp your existing website.
Types of Websites
Identifying the type of website you need is key to ensuring the website is built to support the business and brand strategy.
Though it’s best to get a consultation to uncover the full capabilities of the development team and to best understand the web development services you will require, here are three of the typical website types to choose for your business:
1. eCommerce
For selling products online with essential features like shopping carts, payment gateways, and inventory management. Online businesses rely on a high-performance website, therefore it is important for the web development companies you are deciding between to specialize in custom ecommerce solutions.
2. Portfolio
Perfect for trades and freelancers to showcase their work and attract potential customers. This type of website is designed to be closely connected to other marketing efforts such as social media marketing and will often include integrated features like sharing buttons and SEO optimization to enhance visibility and engagement.
3. Informational
Ideal for businesses and organizations that need to provide comprehensive information about their services, history, and industry insights. Informational websites are often built for businesses that have a more complicated product or are innovative and revolutionary in an industry.
Specific Features and Functionalities
After deciding what website will best fit your company’s needs, the next element of defining your project scope is to pinpoint the specific features and functionalities your website requires.
The scope of the project is imperative to choose the right web development services and support effective project management.
The scope of the project is going to include all of the features you’re looking for, for example:
- Payment Gateway: Essential for e-commerce sites. There are many web technologies that help keep client information safe and secure. Ensure the web development team is focused on security.
- Blog Section: For content marketing and SEO purposes. This could require the use of a content management system to create, manage, and update content on the website easily.
- Contact Forms: To facilitate customer inquiries and feedback. Frequent and reliable communication helps to build trust with customers.
Knowing your needs sets you up to communicate effectively with web developers, ensuring they deliver what you envision. Clearly expressing your goals helps match their capabilities with your expectations and that allows you to discuss a budget accurately, keeping you on the same page throughout the project.
2. Evaluate the Agency’s Portfolio and Experience
Seeing is believing when it comes to a web design project which is why you should be looking at what kind of work the agency has done in the past.
The second step to choosing the right web development agency is to check out their portfolio of existing work.Â
Review Their Portfolio
A portfolio is a window into a web development agency’s capabilities and expertise.
Examine their past projects to see if their web design style aligns with your vision. Look for diversity in their web design work and check to see if they have created websites similar to what you envision.
A strong portfolio should indicate a wealth of experience and a proven track record of delivering high-performance and quality work through multiple examples.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Case studies provide detailed insights into how an agency tackles specific challenges. Look at these to understand their problem-solving abilities and how they manage projects from inception to completion.
These stories often highlight the agency’s ability to deliver results and adapt to unique business needs to deliver a competitive edge.
You want a web development company that can show they’ve successfully brought a client’s vision to life with a stunning, high-performance website.
Industry Experience
It’s also important to consider if the agency has experience in your industry or with similar types of businesses.
Industry-specific experience can be invaluable as they will be more familiar with your specific challenges and requirements, leading to more effective solutions. Check to see if the web development agency has social proof, with award-winning websites or a positive industry reputation to help make the decision even easier.
3. Assess Technical Expertise and Creativity
With a checklist of features you need for your website in hand and the knowledge of the kind of work these companies have done before, you’re now prepared to ask some of the harder questions to ensure you get the right website designers working for you.
The third step to choosing a strong web development company that will push your business forward is to assess the technical ability and the web design creativity of the team.
Technical Skills in Web Development Services
Ensure the agency has the necessary technical skills and stays updated with the latest web development trends.
When looking for a full-stack development team, you may be overwhelmed with what all the questions you need to ask about their web development services.
From eCommerce development to web app development to full-scale web development, here are few of the capabilities to assess:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Optimizing your site to rank higher in search engine results. A lot of search engine optimization starts with strong back-end development, meaning it is hard to improve SEO performance without it. Web development that supports organic website traffic helps businesses grow in a sustainable and efficient way.
- User Experience (UX): Designing a site that is easy to navigate and user-friendly. User experience is supported by both back-end development and front-end development. User experience is a major part of the web design services offered.
- Analytics: Implementing tools to track and analyze website performance helps to better understand how people interact with the website for continuous improvement. The website can be a tool for supporting business analysis to create a stronger digital marketing strategy. Ensure the web development team can set up the analytics to work for your organization the way you need them. This could be a service they offer, or that they set up for you.Â
- Speed of Updates/Problem Solving: Their ability to quickly update the site and solve any issues that arise. Responsive communication is another important element of problem-solving when considering a web development partner that will effectively serve your business needs.
Creativity in Web Design Services
When choosing a web design company, evaluate their ability to create visually appealing and user-friendly designs. Creativity in web design attracts visitors, keeps them engaged, and encourages them to explore more of your site. Web design can be a powerful way to educate and inspire future clients to want to purchase your products or work with you in the future.
Problem-Solving Skills
Another consideration when choosing a web development team is understanding their approach to handling unexpected challenges. A good web development company should be able to think on their feet and offer practical solutions to any issues that come up during the project. Web development services often include troubleshooting and ongoing maintenance in their offerings to ensure the project continues to be successful even after the launch.
4. Ensure Good Communication and Cultural Fit
Understanding whether your work and communication style aligns with that of your new web development partner is crucial for the success of your project.
The dynamic and collaborative nature of web development and web design demands clear, consistent communication to ensure that all parties are on the same page.
Effective Communication
Clear and consistent communication is crucial throughout all web development projects.
Ensure the agency you choose is responsive, has effective project management, and keeps you updated on the project’s progress. Effective communication helps prevent misunderstandings, ensures that project milestones are met, and facilitates the smooth resolution of any issues that arise.
When both you and your web development partner share a compatible approach to communication, it enhances collaboration, fosters a positive working relationship, and ultimately contributes to a more successful and efficient project outcome.
Cultural Fit
Ensuring a good cultural fit with your web development partner is equally as important as effective communication.
Cultural fit refers to the alignment of values, work ethics, and business philosophies between your organization and the web development agency. When both parties share similar values and approaches, it creates a more cohesive and harmonious working relationship.
A good culture can lead to more productive brainstorming sessions, smoother project management, and a stronger sense of partnership. When your team and the web development agency are on the same page, it minimizes friction and enhances the overall efficiency of the project.
5. Utilize Post-Launch Support and Maintenance
Maintaining and updating your website post-launch is crucial for ensuring its long-term success and performance.
Websites are dynamic entities that require regular attention to stay relevant, secure, and efficient. Web development services often include post-launch support, even after the formal web development process has been completed.
Importance of Ongoing Support
Post-launch support from your web development partner ensures that your site remains up-to-date with the latest technologies, security protocols, and industry trends. This ongoing support not only preserves the integrity of your website but also allows for continuous quality assurance and performance optimization, which are essential for delivering a high-performance website.
Maintenance Services
A reputable web development agency should offer comprehensive maintenance services, including:
- Regular Updates and Bug Fixes: Keeping the website’s software, plugins, and systems current to avoid vulnerabilities and ensure smooth operation.
- Performance Optimization: Enhancing site speed, responsiveness, and overall performance to provide users with a seamless experience.
- Security Updates: Implementing the latest security measures to protect your website from threats and cyberattacks. Regular security audits and updates are vital to safeguarding sensitive data and maintaining user trust.
SEO and Updates
Continuous search engine optimization efforts and regular updates are essential to keep your website visible and competitive in search engine results. Even after the initial web development phase, ongoing SEO is critical for driving traffic and maintaining your site’s ranking.
This includes:
- Content Updates: Regularly adding and refreshing content to keep your audience engaged and informed. As you continue to develop new resources, an effective content management system will become more and more significant.
- Technical SEO: Ensuring the website’s technical aspects, such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and structured data, are optimized for search engines. There are always new web technologies and web development ‘hacks’ to improve the technical SEO which is why it is important to work with experts who have a strong focus on SEO-optimized websites.
- Keyword Optimization: Updating and refining keywords to align with current search trends and user queries. This step should be done in strong communication with whoever is doing the digital marketing services for your business. When the keywords being used are aligned, it helps to strengthen your findability and online presence.
When choosing web development services, it is important to ensure that SEO is prioritized alongside web design. A well-optimized site attracts new visitors and improves the overall user experience, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
The Role of Your Web Development Partner
A reliable web development company doesn’t just build your website; they form a partnership with you, one based on a commitment to your online success. They offer tools and expertise to keep your site evolving with your business and industry changes.
That’s why finding the right partner is so important to your business.
Ready to Find the Right Web Development Company?
By defining your project needs, evaluating the agency’s portfolio and experience, assessing technical expertise and web design creativity, ensuring excellent project management for a seamless website process, and utilizing post-launch support and maintenance, you can find the perfect partner to help you achieve your business goals.
Partnering with Harvard Excelerate: The Benefits for Your Business
When you partner with Harvard Excelerate, you gain access to a host of benefits that are tailored to meet the unique needs of your business, ensuring your website not only looks great but also performs exceptionally well.
Here’s how Harvard Excelerate web development services stand out:
A Great First Impression
Harvard Excelerate specializes in creating a custom web design that reflects your brand’s identity and aligns with your business goals. We take the time to understand your unique needs and vision, crafting a website that looks visually stunning and communicates your brand’s message effectively.
Longer Engagement
Having a website that performs seamlessly across all devices can keep people clicking through the website. With responsive design as a high priority, your website will look and function flawlessly on desktops, tablets, and smartphones for a consistent user experience.
More Visibility
Visibility is essential for driving traffic and generating leads. By incorporating best practices in SEO from the ground up, they ensure that your site is easily discoverable by your target audience, increasing the likelihood of attracting organic traffic and potential customers.
Grab Attention
A great user experience is at the heart of every successful website. With an intuitive, easy-to-navigate, and visually appealing website, you will capture attention and convert visitors into loyal customers.
Drive Sales
Maximizing conversions is a key goal for any high-performance business website. By optimizing your website for conversions with effective call-to-action buttons, intuitive navigation, and strategically placed contact forms, we help turn visitors into leads and leads into customers, driving business growth and improving your bottom line.
Looking for an e-commerce website? We build websites with secure payment gateways, shopping carts, and other essential features for a seamless online shopping experience.
Get Started With Harvard Excelerate
Harvard Excelerate goes beyond just building websites; we create digital experiences that drive results.
Take the final sixth step in choosing the right web development services by reaching out to Harvard Excelerate today.
Our expertise and commitment to excellence will provide your small business with a website that looks great, attracts customers, and drives revenue. Click here to get a free quote for your new website today.
