20 Most Important Key Features to Look for in a Website Development Company

A website is an integration of all the three essential aspects of an online business – a shop, an identity and a contact. Choosing a Website Development Company is like picking an architect for your home – there is no room for compromise in such a decision. But, how do you know that the development company will be worth your time and money? Here are some of the 20 important points that will help you to pick the right partner for website development services.

1. A Portfolio To Speak of

It is said that a good portfolio speaks eloquently about the company in much the same way that a widely talked about and very much respected chef is expected to deliver on his promises. Ask them for examples of their previous works in order to see whether their style & skills match with yours. For instance, companies exhibiting an additional 10 and more assorted projects have upwards of 40% chances of getting contracts. Tip: Make the most of their portfolio and look for people who have worked in the areas that you need. In terms of e-commerce, companies look for those who can create captivating e-shops while in the case of service sectors, it is better to use a plain design and emphasis on lead generation.

Did You Know? Companies that operate business websites earn 35% more income. And, case studies with an impressive go with a  strong portfolio are in good quality.

94% of first impressions are related to a site’s design, so seek companies that excel in both functionality and aesthetics.

2. Multi-Platform Understandings

Leading web development firms are multilingual in the sense that they can switch from developing using custom frameworks, to WordPress and Shopify. Importance: The business tools and best website development services provided by web developers are not created equal, and will never meet the needs of every organization in existence. If you want platforms on WordPress integration or an e-commerce platform theme on Shopify, there are providers that can cross-integrate.

Just a Hint: Providers that are skilled in managing various platforms at once are then able to provide users with a diverse solution range, and this could be anything from a basic blog to a more advanced one with a wide range of possibilities.

With 73% of users expressing the expectation of the business tools working perfectly across the devices, it would be beneficial for them to develop business tools that are satisfactory across multiple platforms as long as the experience is not compromised.

3. Think about the Users (UX)

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of a website is user experience (UX) should all websites strive for excellence. Surprisingly, Did You Know? The conversion rate of websites that are excellently designed enhances UX by 400%. A competent developer understands that the focus for a user must be first on more appealing and understanding imagery.

An estimated, average internet user is said to form an impression of a website within the first round 50 milliseconds of visiting it. A poorly designed, or a difficult to explore and search slow-loading page can make users bounce away.

Bonus Tip: 94% of first impressions are based on design, so ensure your website design captivates users right after they land on it.

4. Mobile Optimization Specialists

A website designed for mobile view allows your business to cater to a greater audience. An astonishing 85% of adults surveyed say that the website of a business should be as effective or better when viewed on mobile as opposed to desktop. 

Did You Know? Avoiding mobile optimization targets only 43% of the user base, which leads to 57% loss for any enterprise with a badly designed mobile webpage. 

Hire developers who will enhance your design with mobile, tablet, and desktop functionalities, fast-loading and interchangeable designs.

5. Creative Design Team

Possessing technical skills is crucial in every field, however factors like creative design while working on a website should also be taken into consideration. Why this is important: Individuals who trust your website’s design are more likely to interact with your content and ultimately make a purchase. Find a development team that possesses technical skills and creativity at the same time that will allow you to create a remarkable UX.

Starting with the initial idea, the website’s aesthetics will serve as the cornerstone of the brand. Color schemes, typography or even the custom illustrations – be sure that the website portrays the character of your business while creating a comforting and welcoming user experience.

6. Full Blown SEO Understanding

SEO gives visibility to your website, making it discoverable and searchable on search engines. Any website development company with a strong understanding of SEO should assist in optimizing your site for search engines from the first effort. This boosts your website’s surface area by allowing you to range from primary research to page optimization such as meta-spin, alt text tagging, and search engine friendly page address creation. 

Bonus Tip: Your developers should be able to construct content in a way that will integrate SEO plans that can rank your site on SERPs.

7. Tailoring Instead of Templates

Every business is unique, and therefore, so should your site. Using templates could be quick and inexpensive, but they usually do not allow the required branding or business needs to be incorporated. Custom websites which are deployed allow business features, designs and requirements to be selected for a specific audience and enhance the online presence.

Why it matters: Custom features and design set you apart from the competition, boost users, and ensure the site fits within the overall marketing aims of the business. The adverse consequences of templating a site are evident in the generic marketing sites that are built and do not so much as attract visitors.

Find businesses that: Create custom-designed websites while understanding the specifics of one’s business, its values, its target goals, and its audience. Designers and developers must undergo a metamorphosis in the approach they adopt as the blog would be unique.

8. No extractions – Clear Competitive Pricing

One of the most annoying things to deal with while developing a website is additional expenses you see for the first time. A responsible and honest company would never do that; on the contrary, they would give you the starting price as well as the final price on every bit from the design to the support after launching.

What’s the point: Transparent pricing enables you to construct a clear financial plan without facing any shock midway through the project. You will be aware of exactly what you’re going to pay for, whether it be the construction of the website only or extra website development services such as maintenance, hosting or updates.

Tip: Ask the company for an indicative scope of work in which each task is described, and confirm possible costs that they did not include in the initial scope such as content creation, SEO, hosting fee, and other maintenance services.

9. Excellent Communication

In every project of a website development company, there is a set role for each of the participants and that is to communicate with each other. Otherwise, communication breakdown will result in many towards the project end and or blurred objectives and waste resources.

Why it matters: Effective and efficient communication channels are established from the beginning which promotes understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities and more so allows every voice and suggestion to be heard and called for action. A project’s duration is shortened when a team member attends to you, provides recommendations, and keeps you up to date on certain aspects of the project.

Bonus Tip: A proactive development team always communicates with the client: they say what is going on with the project, ask questions, and provide updates.

10. Ongoing Support and Maintenance

If the website is successful, it does not mark the end of the work. To keep a website running safely, it has to be consistently maintained, updated and also provided with ongoing security measures.

What’s in it for you: With continued support, your site stays updated, secure, and working as intended. Without it, you are especially vulnerable to load time lag, broken links, and exposure of security flaws. Websites can also need updates because of changes in technology, trends or the nature of your business.

Advice: Go with a company that handles post-production tasks such as website maintenance, troubleshooting, content additions, and updates on security measures.

11. Critical Speed Optimization

Slow loading web pages can sink firms. Statistics indicate that a second lag in load time leads to a reduction in conversion rates.

What’s in it for you: The high load time page increases the chances of interaction with the page and the ability to convert visitors once on the site. The load time of your page can single handedly improve your ranking in SEO and the experience of users on your page.

Additional tip: In order to make the load time across all devices uniform, developers need to integrate maximum optimization strategies such as lazy loading, CDNs, using minimum code, compressing images and other relevant technologies.

12. There’s No Compromise on Security

The need for enhanced cyber security cannot be overstated particularly as there has been a glaring trend of increased cyberattacks on small businesses.

What’s in it for you: In the event of a breach, important customer data may be lost, and since your reputation is tarnished, you seek to recoup losses on the breached account. It goes without saying that advanced means of protection are required so that you can be assured of protecting your online assets while keeping hackers away.

Look for companies that: Implement core safety features like SSL certificate security, a secure payment gateway, encryption, and firewalls. In addition, ensure that they have a solid strategy for addressing security incidents, should they arise.

13. Integration Capabilities

Many businesses use third party applications for customer relations management (CRM), email campaigning, or inventory tracking. In order to optimize the business processes, these tools have to be available for the website.

Why it matters: Integration allows user data to move freely between the website and other elements of the business ecosystem with minimal manual input, which not only eliminates errors but also enhances consistency across customers and staff.

Bonus Tip: Great development companies will have some degree of knowledge with connecting contemporary commerce applications like CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot), payment processors (Paypal, Stripe), and marketing integrations (MailChimp and Constant Contact).

14. Clear Timelines

It is very important to get the timing right when making the transition to a new website. Tardiness could throw off business ideas such as a new marketing strategy, new products, etc.

Why it matters: A manageable time frame sets the realistic scope of what can be achieved and sets the time frame you can expect the site to go live so as not to interfere with other activities of the business. Other business processes like creating content, SEO and social media posting can also be coordinated to coincide with the launch of the website.

Bonus Tip: Pick a provider who is punctual in their service delivery. Go through their reviews or testimonial sections to determine whether or not they are famous for delivering work on time and managing the project effectively.

15. Scalability for Expansion

A business website is something that must be aligned with the growth of the online business. Your site should be adaptable and able to grow to suit revised requirements whether they be new functional requirements, new designs, or addition of more information.

Why it’s important: When businesses expand there is a need to add more features on the site, content on the site or even some parts of the site may require redesigning. A website that can’t expand without cost and time being a constraint means, there’ll be an increase in the operational costs for the business.

Tip: A good choose of web developing company will create a site’s structure that will allow seamless upgrades, updates or addition as the business structure needs changes over time.

You Should also read these Blogs: What is Web Development?

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16. Exemplary Approach towards Problems

The transition between the then and the now is what defines modern technology, but some dimensions remain stagnant owing to the unpredictability of occurrences, including particular bugs to supplementary functional specifications that may appear recurrently. There are different approaches to these problems exercised by the company, and the approach employed is very important. 

Why it’s important: Problem solving will be a never-ending process in this world, as it has always been. No need for project setting back due to formidable teams that will charge forward without ceasing. There shall be rapid strategies to target the issue, formulate information, and quickly get effective solutions for the completion of the website development.

Tip: It is recommended that you target companies that have successfully overcome challenges in the course of development. Get examples of cases where they encountered challenges and were able to solve them.

17. Multilingual Capabilities

As entrepreneurs target more markets, it’s a necessity to be able to accommodate multiple languages. Launching a multilingual website offers you an opportunity to reach out to more audiences in their languages.

Why it matters: Multilingual websites help potential international clients understand better your content hence enhancing user experience, SEO and conversions.

Tip: Confirm the company has worked on multilingual development projects and is well-versed in translation, regional SEO, and cultural guidelines.

18.Robust Content Management System (CMS)

A CMS allows you to set up without the need of a developer. A good CMS allows the user to handle and update the content whenever it is needed.

Why it matters: A good CMS helps in ensuring the website is up to date. It makes the management of the contents of the website much easier and can allow changes to be made within a short time and without the need for technical knowledge.

Bonus Tip: Invest in a CMS that works best with your team. If you are new to website management, WordPress is easy and straightforward while Drupal allows advanced personalization. For larger companies, a bespoke option might be the most suitable.

19.Social Media Plugging

Web users are highly active on social media platforms and engagement can be driven from there. Enabling social sharing on your website makes it easy for your site users to share content, like your business and interact with your business from more than one platform.

Why it matters: With social media integration, the brand will be more visible, additional referral traffic will be redirected to the website, and there will be better engagement with the audience.

Did You Know? Social Media accounts for 31% of the referral traffic. There should be functional integration of the page with the website in order to make good use of this referral traffic.

20. Stellar Clients Reviews

To be able to go through a record of past clients reviews of a business is considered a strong indicator for the reliability and ability of a website development company to get the job done. Reviews and referrals are very strong indicators of trust to potential buyers.

Why it matters: The testimonials from clients serve as social proof that the expectations from the web development firm will be met. More specifically, they will get a picture of the firm’s work values, culture and affairs professionalism.

Bonus Tip: Talk to previous customers and read case studies to see how it has performed with past jobs.

Conclusion: Building Digital Success Together

Your website is like your house and the developers are architects. Put your attention to these 20 features to make sure you are dealing with a website development company that is not only in a position to meet your current needs but one who can successfully help you expand and grow in future. Choose wisely, and enhance your presence online.