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How to Hire the Right Website Developer: A Complete Guide
You need a digital presence—you already know that. You know you need a website, and you know you need it to be good. This is where website developers come into the picture. Hiring the best website developer can make or break the user experience, and a good developer is hard to come by.
While the talent and qualifications on the resumes may be impressive, effective communication is the key to a successful partnership. With a clear understanding of your needs and the ability to articulate them, you can be confident that you're not just setting up a basic WordPress site, but a carefully crafted piece of art that befits your organization perfectly.
Preparation is key when it comes to hiring a website developer. Equipping yourself with the right knowledge and communication skills ensures that you find the best fit for your project.
Before we dive into the intricacies of hiring your next website developer, let's examine why they're important and why finding the right one deserves your undivided time and attention.
Your website developer is essentially responsible for your home on the internet. They're the ones who create the actual site or design the user interface ie the visuals and functionality and ensure it can be used by your audience according to your needs and requirements. Your web developer can assist with building a website from scratch and implementing code that fuels the site to enable it to perform tasks and functions and to compliment your business.
There are many benefits of utilizing the services of website developers, and they are instrumental in building your online presence - let's be real, if you come across a poorly designed website, you're going to have a negative impression of the company or service abandoning your visit asap. The right website developer can remove that from your website, ensuring you only give users a positive and seamless experience that does what they need it to. An expert website developer can also boost your online visibility, strengthen customer relations, create consistency within your company, and boost security.
Neglecting to secure the right website developer means that you won't get these benefits, but you might also be exposed to more risks and end up with the final result you weren’t expecting. You can almost hear those dollar signs racking up, can't you! But you can avoid this stress and cost by simply understanding how to find the right website developer for you.
Before you post an ad to "hire website developer," you need to take a minute to understand exactly what you want and need from a developer. Do you need a front-end, back-end, or full-stack developer? If you don't know, then you might not be ready to put the feelers out for people to work with. So, let's take it back.
Before reaching out to potential candidates, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the project scope. Knowing exactly what tasks you want them to handle, as well as the project's scale, budget, and timeline, will facilitate effective project management.
Are you looking for someone to make minor adjustments to an existing website, develop a new one from scratch, or have one person oversee the entire process from start to finish?
Understanding the different roles of website developers is crucial in making informed hiring decisions.
Front-end developers do what is sometimes referred to as "client-facing work." This is turning the code into an easy-to-use interface, the visual aspect you recognize from websites. It's the part that you or your clients use on a day-to-day basis and pertains to the website's ease of use, appearance, and style.
In contrast to your front-end developers, your back-end developers construct the website architecture and is what the front-end uses. It's basically the engine in a car. The bodywork and features are what make it appealing, but the engine is what makes everything work. Both parts need each other.
Your full-stack developers can do both the front and back-end work and see a project through from beginning to end. They can fill in the gaps between both aspects, run complete testing to iron out any issues and follow through with their own work as they're doing it instead of relying on two separate teams or freelancers.
Now that you know the difference in the work each type of developer can do and provide you, it will be easier to find the right pro for your needs. Even if you don't know your jpeg from your HTML and you think Java is a cup of coffee, your developers will know exactly what all these terms are and how to implement them for optimal results. However, it's worth diving under the hood a little bit to ensure the person you hire knows what they're doing and can deliver the right work so everyone is on the same page.
In addition to technical skills, it can be a good idea to look for soft skills possessed by the developers you are looking to work with. Soft Skills are those skills that enable them to converse easily with clients, translate requests and wishes, work independently, and complete the task at hand. They can be anything that helps them get the work done, and they include,
So now that you know a little bit more about the type of developer you need and what qualifications and experience website developers should have, it's time to find the right one for you, specifically by hiring freelance website developers.
What is a freelance developer? Freelance website developers are those who work independently of a company and aren't bound by a certain company's limitations or approach to client work. They can pick and choose their clients, timescales, and fee structure, and it can often be preferable to work with for many people requiring web design or development services.
Want to know why you need to hire a freelance web developer?
Now you know the good bits; what drawbacks are there to going freelance over an in-house team?
Where can you find the best freelance website designers? Luckily, there are many places you can start your search for the right web designer for your website needs. Whether you need a front-end, back-end, or full-stack developer, browsing listings can be time-consuming, and using a dedicated platform that collates all the information you need can make your life much easier.
The following are the best platforms to hire web developers online.
Match.dev is essentially your dating site, but for finding top-talented website developers, not love. Although the right match could be the start of a beautiful professional relationship! Schedule a call with the pros at Match.dev, and they will scour their database, pinpointing the perfect freelancer for you and taking all the hard work out of your search.
Clutch is your Yellow Pages of website developers. Here, you can find both in-house and freelance website developers who can help you create a unique website that meets all of your needs.
Simply answer a three-question survey, and they will match you with the five most relevant companies for the work required.
As it sounds, Freelancer is the home of freelance website designers with unique skills who are looking for work right now. Simply enter your query, answer the questions, and boom—a list of suitable candidates will be presented to you.
TopTal vets all of its freelancers to ensure that they can put their money where their mouth is. With a vast array of vetted and experienced software developers, web developers, website designers, and more, you can be sure the people you hire can do exactly what they say they can.
A bit different from the other entries, 99designs is a competitive bidding platform where freelancers submit proposals, and you pick the one that best fits your needs.
Working Not Working takes an entirely different approach to hiring freelancers. Firstly, each one needs to list their availability, meaning you can narrow down your search by entering the dates you need the work completed so you can see who is available. They also have "vetted" freelancers, so you can get an extra piece of mind when hiring your next freelancer.
Okay, so now we have more information about what type of freelance website designer you need, where you can find them, and the skills you want to look for. How do you assess each one's portfolio to ensure you're making the right decision?
Evaluating a freelancer's portfolio can give you a more in-depth overview of who they are, how they work, and the type of work they produce. While it might look impressive on the surface, being able to dig a bit deeper can yield better results and help you avoid choosing the wrong person. These tips can assist you in scratching the surface during the hiring process.
You need to look for the relevance of the project you will be requiring them to complete. You want to look for similarities in themes and deliverables that align with your needs. Have they completed work in your niche or industry before? How does the work they have completed translate to what you need? Also, look for how they translate the brief to capture and convey the brand identity to see if this aligns with your brand identity and website requirements.
For more relevance between your project and completed work, you can look for any unique challenges or out-of-the-box ideas that you want to include and see if they have done anything similar or created unique aspects that can be adapted to suit you. The more diverse and creative their work has been, the more likely they will be to meet specific demands you might have for your website.
The quality of the work they produce is paramount in your quest. You want a freelance web designer to deliver exceptional results; their portfolio should indicate this. You want to look for clarity, precision, attention to detail, and deadlines in their portfolio. Do they demonstrate evidence of in-depth research into the niche or subject matter to tailor their work and produce high-quality results?
You also want to look for instances of creativity and problem-solving. Are they bringing something new to the project and blending their expertise with the client's requirements to deliver something exciting and fresh and perfectly created for the task at hand, or are they throwing out run-of-the-mill ideas and delivering basics only?
Next, you need to focus on their technical proficiency. This essentially ensures they have the skills and knowledge to meet the demands your website will place on them. If they lack the relevant expertise, then you're likely not going to get the results you want. So, it's important to make sure their skills align with your needs.
Lastly, when evaluating a freelancer's portfolio, go with your gut. Your gut instincts are there for a reason, and if you're not getting those positive vibes or you don't feel someone is a good fit, keep moving. It's not as technical and in-depth as the above, but your gut can steer you clear of making a bad decision, so go with it.
Now that you've narrowed down the playing field, you need to move your project forward by getting right to the interviewing stage.
When interviewing your prospective website developers, the following questions can help you to assess suitability.
These aren't exhaustive, and there are other questions you can ask to help you assess the suitability of the freelancer for your website development needs. But these give you a good place to start to gauge if they're the best fit for you.
Your freelance web designer is going to have their fee structure set out for you, but as a freelancer, they have the ability to be as strict or as flexible as they want with what they charge and the work they include in that fee. While you might not be able to get a monetary discount, you can use the following tips to help you negotiate a better deal for your work.
Now you know how best to find a website developer and the right freelancer, you can let us do the hard work for you. At Match.dev, we are experts in what we do, and our aim is to pair you with the right web developer for your project. Our matching service is second to none, and with a few questions, we can perfectly match you with your developer for a smoother, hassle-free experience that guarantees good results. Want to know more? Simply start your query or contact us for more information.
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