Hiring a Website Developer? Six Warning Signs to Spot Before You Sign

Choosing a website development company

Many business websites get built twice. The first vendor wins on price, and a few months later the site is slow on mobile, the contact form stops working, and nobody can reach the developer. Most of this can be avoided with the right questions before signing.

Warning signs in a website quote

  • A fixed price given before anyone asks about content, integrations or users
  • No live examples, or examples that no longer load
  • Reluctance to register the domain and hosting in your company's name
  • No mention of testing, backups or updates
  • Pressure to sign fast with a "this month only" discount
  • A launch plan with no redirects for old URLs, which can wipe out search traffic

What to ask for instead

  • An itemised proposal: pages, templates, features, integrations, revisions, testing, hosting and support
  • A meeting with the project manager and lead developer, not only sales
  • Written ownership of domain, hosting, source code, design files and content
  • A short paid discovery phase that produces a sitemap, wireframes and a technical plan

Read the full guide on avoiding paying twice for a website here: Website development company: avoid paying twice

Published by Affix Center, a Mumbai-based IT services company. Visit affixcenter.com or see how we approach web platforms, portals and integrations.

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