Why it’s essential to ask the right questions when choosing a web developer.

Typically, your website is the first point of contact visitors have with your brand, so you want their first impression to be a positive one. This is why it’s important to ask the right questions when choosing a web developer. Write down everything you’d like to know first, be prepared so you have a better chance of working with someone who understands your vision, and is willing to give you the website and user experience you want.

12 Questions you should ask your Web Professional

1. Have you worked on projects with goals like my own? You want your developer to see your vision. If your developer can’t see your vision, they won’t have the ability to create the website you want. You need to make sure they understand what you’re looking for and can execute a process centered around it. At Manz Web Designs, we execute a process you can be happy with.  Generally, it follows the 3 steps found on our services page under the “Our Approach to Your Website Project” section: Understanding your needs, Proposing the work to be done, then, Delivering your web site.
2. Can I reach out to your references and/or clients? Absolutely! If you want an honest, unbiased opinion about what it’s like to work with your potential developer, talk to their references and previous clients. Go ahead, it may give you some peace of mind.
3. What is your expectation of my involvement? Think about how much you’d like to be involved in the web development process. Do you want a say in the major decisions being made, or do you want to leave it up to your developer? It’s also important to discuss what your expectations of your involvement are, and you’ll do that during the project’s kickoff. If you aren’t on the same page as your web developer, you won’t get the results you want. 
4. How long, on average, does it take to complete a project? If you have a deadline for your website’s completion, you should work with someone who can complete your project within that time frame. Developers take different times to complete their tasks. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you have to make sure their schedule and availability aligns with yours. You want to get the most for your budget and being on the same schedule will ensure that.
5. What is your research process like? You want your customers/clients to visit your site and understand your image, mission and goals and that takes some research on our part.  If your customers end up confused, your developer hasn’t done their job. We, at Manz Web Designs, are dedicated to go the extra mile that’s essential to building a website that represents you and your brand accurately.
6. Do you have any service packages available? If so, what are they? I’m partnered with the highly skilled company, the multi-award winning Red Apple’s Media, which is a video production company. Talk to me about getting the ‘royal’ treatment for your business.
7. Will I have access to make edits to the site? Absolutely. Your site is yours and our developer will be available to you at any time during the creation process to ensure everything looks and runs smoothly.
8. Do you outsource your projects? We have a few, trusted contractors that are at our disposal in the event that we have more work than we can do in a reasonable timeframe. These professionals are highly qualified web artisans that we collaborate with when your web developer is needed, or, when he is needing help.  Rest assured that Bud Manz will be available during the course of your project in any case. We only ask that these be kept to a minimum so we can avoid “scope creep”.
9. How many times can I request design tweaks? You can request design tweaks as many times as you want until you are fully satisfied with the project. But only after you say, “I’m completely satisfied.” If in the case you change your mind, after the fact you said you were completely satisfied, and the invoice has been sent, but you want further edits? Well, unfortunately we would have to send a new invoice.
10. How many times can I request a design revision? When you look at the initial design for your new or re-designed website, I will let you choose if that is, in fact, what you want.  If it isn’t, I will allow you to request one revision for no additional cost.
11. How do you determine the cost of the site? Each developer’s rates are different so do your research beforehand to figure out the budget you want to set and what you’re willing to pay. Don’t opt for the cheapest developers you can find; you get what you pay for, and what you’ll end up with is a website you aren’t proud of, or maybe a website you don’t even like. It’s better to make the investment on a job well done than to hire a novice that will only lead to spending even more money down the road to compensate for the lack of quality work. 
12. Do you have any maintenance packages available? If so, what are they? Yes! As a web developer, your site is daily monitored with a paid subscription. We, at Manz Web Designs, also have a great SEO company that can tweak and monitor your site for optimal Google Search Ranking results.

Wrapping it up…

Sure, you can find someone who can build your site cheaper than us.  But, as earlier mentioned in point 11, you usually get what you pay for.  In our case, I like to think you get more than you pay for.  Reason? That’s simple, we don’t want to build a site for you and leave you sitting!  We will be there for you as long as you need us. I, and my trusted partners, share the philosophy that somewhat mirrors the proverb, “A person that has friends must show themselves friendly”, “A service provider that has clients must have integrity toward their clients”.Some interesting stats for you can be found here.

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