How To Choose The Right Web Development Company

Your website is your company’s most powerful marketing tool and sales representative. When it’s time for a redesign, choosing the right web development company is essential.

So, how do you select the right website partner? Here are 10 steps to ensure you choose the right vendor when examining your candidates:

1. Ensure The Web Vendor Is An Incredible Listener

Your website’s development isn’t just a project—it’s a relationship. Be certain to select a web development company with team members who genuinely care enough to ask questions and then actively listen. It’s essential to select an organization with caring, like-minded individuals who will serve as an extension of your team.

Your first meeting with the vendor is important. Be aware of the connection your team has with theirs. Are they asking questions? Do they genuinely care about your business? If they’re more interested in talking about themselves than learning about your organization in this meeting, it’s a red flag.

Take the time to ask for specific examples of how they listen to their clients. Inquire about their response times when clients reach out.

It’s also important to choose a vendor with a robust team to ensure reliable support in the future. A small team risks disruptions if key staff are unavailable or leave. When only one person handles critical tasks, like front-end updates, it can spell trouble for your web development needs.

Ideally, this will be a positive, productive partnership that lasts for many years. Don’t judge the vendor solely on the price. Ensure there’s a positive, personal connection.

2. Select A Website Partner That’s An Expert In SEO

Having a website with a fantastic design and high-quality development is essential, but that’s likely not enough in your competitive industry.

The best website vendors have a full team of digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) experts.

Ask your web development candidates to explain their SEO methodology and give examples of how they’ve increased quality traffic and results for their current website clients.

Learn about their on-page SEO practices. Are they well-versed in keyword research? Can they write SEO-friendly copy or optimize the copy your team provides?

Of course, proper keyword research and copywriting is important, but SEO isn’t as simple as putting the right keywords on a page. Today, websites that win in search results also have technical SEO built into their design. For instance:

• The code must be clean and not overly bloated with JavaScript
• Each web page should load quickly, without excessive calls to the server
• Every page must follow Google’s Core Web Vitals best practices
• Proper schema markup (structured data) should be included on every page

At Blue Compass, SEO is a crucial component in every website project, as we believe a good design and development aren’t enough to yield results in today’s competitive online landscape.

3. Discover What Their Clients Have To Say

It’s easy for your prospects to make claims about themselves, but what their clients have to say is often more credible. Discover what other companies have experienced when building a website with your potential web vendor. This can be done in three main ways:

Client Testimonials

Ask the vendor to provide testimonials from past clients. Often, these can be found on the vendor’s website or in a proposal.

Website Case Studies

Request case studies of similar website projects. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Examining how previous projects have progressed and the results they’ve achieved will be very helpful in your decision-making process.

References

Consider asking for a few references. It’s likely worth your time to reach out to past or current clients and ask about their experiences regarding the web design and development process with this vendor. What are this company’s strengths and weaknesses? How well do they stick to timelines? What are their project managers like?

4. Look Into Their Website & CMS Security Practices

With cyberattacks surging and major breaches commonplace, website security is more critical than ever. Free or cheap website platforms like WordPress are routinely being hacked and exposing businesses to significant issues.

Save yourself future headaches and do the due diligence to ensure your potential development firm is well-versed in website and content management system (CMS) security. Here are a few things to ensure your prospect has:

• SOC 2 compliance A content security policy (CSP) for your website
• Best-practice security headers
• Server monitoring
• Regular vulnerability scanning
• Quarterly, bi-annual or at least annual pen testing
• An automated SSL certificate solution
• DDoS Mitigation
• A web application firewall (WAF)

Of course, our team follows all of these security practices as we’ve seen businesses deal with nightmare security issues from poorly developed websites. One critical component of creating a positive user experience is an intuitive web design, but site security is also necessary to protect user data and your business’s reputation.

5. Select A Web Vendor With Exceptional Custom Web Design Capabilities

Your target audience judges your business based on its online presence. An estimated 75 percent of people judge your company's credibility based on its website, and 94 percent of their first impression is design-related, based on recent data from tech company Sweor.

Your brand deserves a unique, custom design that fully matches your branding and doesn’t exist elsewhere. Ensure your team reviews the vendor's design portfolio. Do past web designs resonate with your team? Is each design carried consistently through each website? Do the designs function well on both desktop and mobile devices? Have older designs aged well?

6. Ensure The Web Vendor Has A Clear, Proven Web Design & Development Process

Creating a new website can be a lengthy and intensive task, requiring significant back-and-forth collaboration between you and your vendor. Don’t get stuck in a relationship with an inexperienced development company or a marketing agency that’s throwing in a discount website because you’re doing a big ad spend.

Avoid becoming a guinea pig. Select a seasoned web design agency that has a step-by-step proven process that’s been successfully used many times before. Our company, for instance, employs a comprehensive development schedule that encompasses every single responsibility for both our team and our client, along with a specific due date for each. This ensures everyone is on the same page and there are no surprises throughout the process.

It’s also helpful to work with a team that clearly communicates the level of involvement necessary for your team throughout the project. Some vendors require a significant amount of time and attention, while others may not communicate frequently with your team. Find a partner who has reasonable expectations for your team’s responsibilities.

7. Choose A Web Vendor That’s Proficient In Generative AI Optimization

Generative AI optimization (GAIO or AIO) is the new SEO. While it may not seem like a significant factor right now, it’s important that you look to the future to ensure your website content appears in generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity.

The right website partner can guide your content to align with best practices, boosting its chances of appearing on AI platforms. They should also implement proper schema markup to enhance visibility. Additionally, a skilled partner can optimize your site’s structure to improve user engagement and AI discoverability.

8. Confirm There Is Budget & Timeline Alignment

We recently spoke with a company that was considering using HubSpot for its new website solution due to its apparent cost-effectiveness. Indeed, a HubSpot website is often inexpensive to set up. However, the ongoing annual cost can quickly become astronomical as new content and features are added.

Ensure your potential website partner is clear about all the costs associated with your new website. What’s the upfront price? How does the payment plan work? What are the ongoing hosting costs? Are there other ongoing costs? What’s the hourly rate you’ll be paying for future work? How often will you use this partner to make updates or additions? Do they charge when you call them?

It’s also important to understand what the timeline of the project will be. Launching a smaller website can take a couple months whereas a larger website can take six months or more. Set your expectations up from the start and get on the same page.

 9. Make Certain There Is Contract & Ownership Clarity

Ensure you understand the details and terms of the contract with your new web development partner. We’ve seen companies become stuck in an agreement with a web developer that lasts for years, preventing them from leaving when they no longer wish to work with that web vendor.

It’s also critical to understand who owns the website, content management system, URL, Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts and the website content. It may sound crazy, but there are marketing agencies that attempt to claim ownership over each of these.

We’re proud to be an agency that hands over full ownership of all these to our clients, and we don’t lock in our clients with agreements or relationships they can’t leave.

10. Select A Web Vendor With Strong Post-Launch Support & Maintenance

Last but not least, understand the plan for what the relationship will look like after the website launches. Ideally, this will be a long and fruitful partnership between you and your website vendor. Ask about and provide input on the post-launch plan.

Is there ongoing maintenance? How often will you be in touch with your vendor? Do they have a support team? Will your vendor communicate important digital marketing or SEO trends that may affect your online presence? Will they be proactive and bring you ideas in the future?

It’s Worth The Effort To Do Your Homework & Choose The Right Website Vendor

It may take extra time and effort, but doing your due diligence and researching these 10 areas will help you choose a strong web development partner you can work with for years to come.

If we can simplify your journey, our team would love to discuss your new website or website redesign project with you. We have an award-winning team of web designers, developers, SEO experts and digital marketers ready to get to work. Don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us!