Website developers are everywhere these days. The choice can be bewildering for a business looking to get a website designed. Some businesses will choose to build a site themselves, which has its pros and cons.
We always recommend businesses create a simple 1-2 page web design brief, even if they are going to design it themselves. Get quotes, tell the developer what you like and don’t like and get the website that you need.
Over the years we have seen many rogue and scummy web developers come and go, and we are pretty good at spotting them. So, here are 5 warning signs to look for…
1. They Use a DIY Web Builder to Build Your Website
DIY web builders platforms such as Wix or GoDaddy are for those who don’t have the skills to build a site with some templates to drag and drop. Unless you explicitly ask for help with that platform, a professional web developer should not default to a basic DIY builder to build your website! That’s like paying a professional chef to cook for you and your guests, but they turn up with microwave ready meals!
To add insult to injury, these companies then charge you every month to use a third party website builder. The cheek of it! Get a professional developer with the design, technical and digital marketing skills that you need.
2. They Restrict Your Ability to Edit the Website
Any website developer these days must build you a website that you can edit yourself later on down the line. Whether you just want to update photos, remove a page, or add a new page for a brand-new service, you should be able to do with within your website dashboard. Any developer that tells you that you must pay them a retainer each month in order to edit it, is not a company you want to deal with. You will end up paying more for 10 minute edits than you would for constructing the website.
It is your website, you should be able to update it.
3. They Don’t Talk About Mobile Friendly Design
We still pick up the pieces from clients who have been sold a website that won’t work on mobiles. We are at the stage now where for many businesses, more traffic will come from a mobile than from a desktop computer. You shouldn’t have to pay more for a website to be mobile friendly!
4. They Recommend All Pictures & Animations
There is a worrying trend these days for developers to create websites are basically long pages with lots of pretty pictures and fluid animations. Businesses love them because the website looks pleasing to scroll… Developers love them because they’re cheap and easy to implement.
From our experience as digital marketers, whilst these sites look pretty, they are some of the worst converting websites out there. You may like the look of the website, but your user doesn’t. To them, there’s no essential information on the services you provide, there’s no unique sales points to make them choose you over your competitors, and pictures tell them nothing without content to back it up.
In other words, these kinds of websites fail to deliver on their purpose which could be to get sales, generate enquiries or educate users.
5. They Don’t Have a Clue About Search Engine Optimisation
Your website can be as pretty as you like, but if nobody comes to it, then it is a bit pointless. That is where search engine optimisation is essential to making sure users of Bing or Google find your website. 70% of new customers will come from search engines. It is wise not to get this bit wrong!
Sadly, many website developers are stuck in the dark ages. A classic request we’ve heard from such a web developer was: “Can you send me a list of keywords you want to be found for so we can put them in the Meta Keywords?”. When Meta Keywords have been defunct for over 10 years. The keywords you use should be based on thorough research done by search engine marketing experts.
And that is one example, the fact is many developers don’t know about basic optimisations, from optimised filenames to optimised website layouts; things that are quick and easy to sort out in the development phase of your website, and costly to go in and fix after it’s been published.
Get Help From InSynch
For many businesses, it is too late, and they have paid a pretty penny for a subpar website. But we can often step in and review a website as it is being made, as well as work on a comprehensive plan to get more business, as part of a digital marketing strategy. If you are thinking of getting a new website developed and need help with lead conversion and search engine optimisation, get in touch with our experts.
