Websites are the virtual faces of businesses online. They are the first point of contact for potential customers and they are introduced to your brand through them.

First impressions are always crucial for any business.

It takes businesses just a few seconds to decide if they need to continue browsing and engaging with your company.

Research has revealed that almost 40% of the visitors are going to leave the website if the content or layout is not upto the mark. It is for this reason that businesses are on the lookout for competent web development partner.

Revamping the site can be an overwhelming task and finding the right web developer can be even tougher.

You can come across a large number of companies who will claim that they have experts who will drive traffic and generating sales. But prior to investing, it is a must that you verify whether they live upto their claims or not.

In order to find a web company that you can confidently call your partner, you must ask the right questions to check whether the company aligns with the goals and future ambitions of your business.

To help you out, here some essential questions are compiled that you should ask the web development companies for zeroing in on your perfect match for partnership.

• Do you have experience with similar websites in my industry?

This may not be highly vital, but if your business operates in a complex and exclusive industry, for a new web development company to adopt to its intricacies and come up with the right web design can turn out to be a costly and steep affair.  This works just like hiring an experienced employee who has worked in your industry previously. Just like this turns out to be advantageous for most businesses, hiring a web development partner with previous industry experience is also highly beneficial. If they do not have experience in your industry, it is going to be incredibly difficult for any site development agency to offer helpful recommendations regarding the site architecture, content and user experience. But the partner you choose should have experience in working in other industries as well. While the website development agency that just works for your industry can put forth great knowledge and insight, they won’t be able to offer the innovative ideas and best practices that are gained by working in other industries.

• How long does one web development project take from beginning to the end?

Most businesses set a deadline for the completion of website on the basis of a variety of factors. So you must choose a website development firm who can complete the project within that period. Different developers take different times for the completion of tasks. That is acceptable but you also have to ensure that the availability and schedule align with your requirements. You can make the most of your budget if you be on the same schedule.

• Can you provide client references?

It is always advisable that you talk with the potential partner’s previous web development clients to understand the agency better. Ask them questions like how the final project turned out, how the experience was to work with that firm, what pitfalls you should steer clear of and how much success the website garnered! Speaking with previous client is a great way to get some idea about the due diligence and gain a more comprehensive understanding of the potential website development.

• What services are provided?

The different developers provide a variety of services and packages. You should find out which package works for the business of yours! Ask whether they implement the tactics for SEO and social media services! Ask them how far they are willing to go with the design. You should enlist all the services that you need in your agreement and go through each one of them with your potential web development agency. This way you can be sure that you are not wasting your time if there is any feature that you need but they don’t offer.

• How will you handle the hosting, security and maintenance?

In your website journey and performance, the hosting, security and maintenance are critical features. Many businesses choose to permit their website development partner to host the website to avoid managing the process in an internal manner. While this one is recommended frequently, you need to ensure the kind of hosting ambience and security hardening measures that your site development partner is offering for preventing the intrusions. You should also understand how the Content Management System or CMS updates are going to be handled and whether incremental, nightly, full-site backups are going to be executed.  A majority of the marketing teams are not eligible to make the updates in CMS as plugin or software compatibility issues can break the website. Along with the hosting, your website development partner should also provide, backups, security and maintenance of the CMS to enable optimum performance of the site.

Apart from these, the experts of the best web development company in India also advise that you should have a clear budget from the beginning and then ask for a clear-cut quote from the web development agency that you are thinking of hiring. On the basis of the services your cost will vary. But you should compare their asking price with the quotes that are made available by certain websites. You should also rely on your gut feeling here. You would know if you are asked too much!