Choosing a web developer

Visit the sites your developer has already created. Do they look professional? You may not always understand the content but can you find your way around them - is information accessible? Do you think the site says what it wants to say?

Do be gracious in your evaluation: some problems may be more to do with the client than the developer. However, if a number of sites share the same problems or the sites are simply terrible, you have to ask whether a decent developer would own such a poor portfolio!

You could contact the owners of the sites and ask if they're happy with the work but do remember that some of their clients may be loyal friends of the web developer.

The reliability of the site may not be the responsibility of the web developer but the web host.
The quality of the site is the responsibility of the developer - and the client who has chosen the developer and supplied the relevent information.

If everything you ask for is met with a response that suggests it'll be a lot of work, it may be that you're being misled: Is your developer exaggerating the complexity of the work so that you'll pay more for it or so that you'll think you're getting a great deal?

Good solutions are usually simple solutions. If your developer never seems to save you money, you're probably wasting it.

Is your developer keen to offer ideas of how you can improve your site and its use? Is your developer interested in your business, asking the sorts of questions that your site visitors might be asking?

If you end up with a bog standard site, is it because it suits your needs - or because it suits your developer?!

In some circumstances it will be essential that your developer is local: perhaps you need regular updates and you've given your developer the task of taking photos at your location? However, the internet connects people all over the globe so there's often little advantage in having your developer live around the corner.

If you use a developer who works in a different country, you may find problems with the time difference between your countries. Differences in currency can be a pro or a con depending on the exchange rate. You may also find that developers from a different culture find it harder to understand your business or put themselves in the place of your potential visitors. Language can also be an issue - even between "English speaking" nations, the English that is spoken can be rather different at times and this may affect the developer's choice of wording for your site. Taking these oncerns into consideration, it's usually a good idea to use a developer who fully understands your country and culture.

A developer who shares your ethics is more likely to present your business in an appropriate light. Using At Hand Creations as an example: some sites use fear as a means of promoting products - "you'll never he good enough unless you buy it". At Hand Creations have strong Christian ethics and it would not be appropriate for us to develop such a site.

Your developer will work well with you if you share similar ethics: you will find it much easier to present your values, formulate ideas and work enthusiastically together.