Four steps to choosing a web developer
As the Internet becomes the main (and for many companies, the only) promotion tool, the competition between sites increases. Now it is vital for companies not only to ensure their presence on the Internet, but also to stand out among competitors by offering better communication with the consumer. Those who have not yet realized this, quickly lose the market.
The effectiveness of sites practically does not depend on the equipment on which they are developed. Basically, only frames decide everything. And the surest way to gain leadership is to work with a better team of performers than the competition. But how to make an informed choice, if neither the price of the services of the web-studio, nor its big name, nor the smile of the sales manager guarantee that the site will bring benefits?
The editorial staff of the analytical portal for the web development market CMS Magazine is a small guide that will help to search and select artists with a favorable price-quality ratio.
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Clearly formulate the task
Record in writing the requirements and wishes for the functionality and design of the site. Do not hope to meet with a telepathic performer who understands without words and perfectly fulfills your secret expectations. It is better to prepare a document (brief) with a maximum of useful information that immediately cuts off most of the trivial questions of the web developer. This can be an arbitrary email or a completed application form from the agency.
If you already have a website and you plan to modernize it, try to articulate as much as possible what does not suit you.
The brief must answer at least the following questions:
- What business tasks will the site perform?
- Who represents the target audience of the site?
- Why visitors will go to the site and how to attract them there?
- If the site promotes a product or service - why would visitors want to buy them?
- How does your company position itself in the market?
- Who are your main competitors and how are you different from them?
This document will be the starting point for future communications with representatives of web studios, and will later form the basis of the terms of reference. The more detailed the brief, the easier it will be to conduct a dialogue with potential performers.
Tip: You can download the brief for the development of the site, prepared by the editors of CMS Magazine and Rating Runet. This document presents the main issues that will help to more clearly articulate the objectives of the project.
Determine the range of bidders
In Russia, more than 3,000 professional web studios, of which more than 1,000 are in Moscow, more than
300 - in St. Petersburg and tens and hundreds in other cities. Therefore, from those who want to make a website at the market price there will be no end of time The most important task of the customer is to choose from the total mass of the contractor, who will offer the best ratio of price and quality.
Starting a search is worth recommending - and the best recommendation, as you know, is a job well done. Find out who made the most successful sites of the type you are interested in, and contact their developers first. If you personally know the owners of these sites, do not be lazy to make inquiries about the artist: how accurately he managed to complete the technical task, meet the deadlines and budget, what were the main problems in the development and how they were solved.
At the second stage of the selection of partners, you can refer to the directories of web studios and ratings. With the help of the portal CMS Magazine, you can immediately get a brief information about the studios that operate in your city, as well as market leaders. Currently it is the most comprehensive catalog of web studios in Russia. To quickly navigate the list of companies, make a selection and sorting by relevant data - the city of presence, the date of the founding of the studio, the number of works in the portfolio. On CMS Magazine there is an opportunity to make a selection and at a price, as many studios have indicated the size of typical budgets for the creation of corporate portals, promotional sites, online stores and portals.
If you didn’t manage to choose an artist according to the recommendation and the catalog, you can turn to a search in Yandex and Google. But it should be borne in mind that many professional companies do not invest heavily in the search engine optimization of their sites on the Internet (their main promotion tool is PR). In the first positions of search engines, there are more companies that are focused on the mass customer and develop typical, often not very high-quality sites. It should also be borne in mind that there is no correlation between the quality and cost of the company's services and its current place in the top ten search engines.
Tip: When forming the circle of bidders, we recommend first paying attention to the number of quality projects and the number of clients in the web developer's portfolio. They must be at least 7-10. The second important indicator is the time the web studio is present on the market (preferably from two years). The third is the company's reputation, expressed in positive reviews of the work and mentions in the media. In the shortlist, we recommend to include 4-15 favorite companies.
Conduct a tender
The most convenient way to request commercial offers from a group of web studios is through an electronic tender platform. The ability to send one application at once to several companies saves the customer's time, and the public form of the proposal spurs competition between the performers. Electronic tender platforms are currently being developed on several professional portals of web developers and differ in functionality and popularity. One of the most popular is the tender platform "Rating Runet." As part of the proposed service, you can create your own shortlist of studios, set the parameters of the tender (project type, description, budget, terms, wishes to the partner’s geography, etc.), and then send the requests together with the attached brief. The site is especially convenient when searching for performers using the “seed” method.
If for some reason the electronic tender platform is not suitable, requests can be sent by regular e-mail. In this case, ask the executives to detail the commercial offer. It should contain the following information:
- The cost of services in relation to the main stages of work (Internet consulting and writing technical specifications, creative design, technical design, html-layout, site integration with CMS, programming (in case of non-standard solutions)
- Dates and schedule
- Resources (how many programmers, designers and other employees will be involved in the project)
- On which CMS (content management system) will the Internet project be developed?
- What documentation will be prepared?
- Terms of warranty, the cost of post-warranty support
- Work in the portfolio, demonstrating the experience of the contractor in solving problems similar to yours (this is especially important for non-standard projects)
These are the main criteria by which you can compare offers.
Web studios are usually given 3 to 10 days to prepare answers. When evaluating a commercial proposal, it is advisable to pay attention not only to the fixed conditions, but also to other points: the speed of reaction and follow-up, attention to details, the comfort of communication, whether the studio offers any new ideas.
Tip: Regardless of whether you are using an electronic tender platform or sending requests manually, call the key performers to make contact and confirm receipt of the application.
Analyze offers and choose a partner
The average cost of developing a corporate website in the regions usually does not exceed 100 thousand rubles, in Moscow - 180 thousand rubles. And it is worth crossing the threshold of top companies only if you have a budget of at least half a million rubles. It often happens that the customer receives commercial offers that exceed their capabilities, especially when it comes to the debut site. If such a problem arose and you did not receive a commercial proposal that meets both the requirements of the brief and financial capabilities, then re-evaluate the required functionality and budget that you can invest in the development. Perhaps, after requesting the cost of services in the companies you like, the shortlist will have to be corrected and re-send requests to several more places (or contact freelancers if the budget is small). The second option is to immediately proceed to negotiations with the management of the company. It's no secret that many customers look at the price as an indicator of the quality of work and the status of the company. And a number of performers, in turn, takes this into account in their pricing. If you have a well-known brand or an interesting project, there is every chance of reaching a compromise. Negotiations are sometimes useful to conduct in the offices of web studios in order to personally see employees and evaluate other company resources, and not to judge it only on the site. Personal meetings will help not only to achieve more favorable conditions for the cost and timing of services, but also to determine which of the performers is the most comfortable to conduct a dialogue. Personal compatibility is very important, because most often after the development of a website, partnership with a web studio does not end there. It is necessary to promote, maintain and update the site, develop new functionality for it. Effectively perform these tasks is possible only with long-term cooperation.
Tip: Website development is only a small part of the cost of promoting a business on the Internet. How to convey the site to the target audience, you need to start thinking at the stage of setting the problem.
The effectiveness of sites practically does not depend on the equipment on which they are developed. Basically, only frames decide everything. And the surest way to gain leadership is to work with a better team of performers than the competition. But how to make an informed choice, if neither the price of the services of the web-studio, nor its big name, nor the smile of the sales manager guarantee that the site will bring benefits?
The editorial staff of the analytical portal for the web development market CMS Magazine is a small guide that will help to search and select artists with a favorable price-quality ratio.
')
Clearly formulate the task
Record in writing the requirements and wishes for the functionality and design of the site. Do not hope to meet with a telepathic performer who understands without words and perfectly fulfills your secret expectations. It is better to prepare a document (brief) with a maximum of useful information that immediately cuts off most of the trivial questions of the web developer. This can be an arbitrary email or a completed application form from the agency.
If you already have a website and you plan to modernize it, try to articulate as much as possible what does not suit you.
The brief must answer at least the following questions:
- What business tasks will the site perform?
- Who represents the target audience of the site?
- Why visitors will go to the site and how to attract them there?
- If the site promotes a product or service - why would visitors want to buy them?
- How does your company position itself in the market?
- Who are your main competitors and how are you different from them?
This document will be the starting point for future communications with representatives of web studios, and will later form the basis of the terms of reference. The more detailed the brief, the easier it will be to conduct a dialogue with potential performers.
Tip: You can download the brief for the development of the site, prepared by the editors of CMS Magazine and Rating Runet. This document presents the main issues that will help to more clearly articulate the objectives of the project.
Determine the range of bidders
In Russia, more than 3,000 professional web studios, of which more than 1,000 are in Moscow, more than
300 - in St. Petersburg and tens and hundreds in other cities. Therefore, from those who want to make a website at the market price there will be no end of time The most important task of the customer is to choose from the total mass of the contractor, who will offer the best ratio of price and quality.
Starting a search is worth recommending - and the best recommendation, as you know, is a job well done. Find out who made the most successful sites of the type you are interested in, and contact their developers first. If you personally know the owners of these sites, do not be lazy to make inquiries about the artist: how accurately he managed to complete the technical task, meet the deadlines and budget, what were the main problems in the development and how they were solved.
At the second stage of the selection of partners, you can refer to the directories of web studios and ratings. With the help of the portal CMS Magazine, you can immediately get a brief information about the studios that operate in your city, as well as market leaders. Currently it is the most comprehensive catalog of web studios in Russia. To quickly navigate the list of companies, make a selection and sorting by relevant data - the city of presence, the date of the founding of the studio, the number of works in the portfolio. On CMS Magazine there is an opportunity to make a selection and at a price, as many studios have indicated the size of typical budgets for the creation of corporate portals, promotional sites, online stores and portals.
If you didn’t manage to choose an artist according to the recommendation and the catalog, you can turn to a search in Yandex and Google. But it should be borne in mind that many professional companies do not invest heavily in the search engine optimization of their sites on the Internet (their main promotion tool is PR). In the first positions of search engines, there are more companies that are focused on the mass customer and develop typical, often not very high-quality sites. It should also be borne in mind that there is no correlation between the quality and cost of the company's services and its current place in the top ten search engines.
Tip: When forming the circle of bidders, we recommend first paying attention to the number of quality projects and the number of clients in the web developer's portfolio. They must be at least 7-10. The second important indicator is the time the web studio is present on the market (preferably from two years). The third is the company's reputation, expressed in positive reviews of the work and mentions in the media. In the shortlist, we recommend to include 4-15 favorite companies.
Conduct a tender
The most convenient way to request commercial offers from a group of web studios is through an electronic tender platform. The ability to send one application at once to several companies saves the customer's time, and the public form of the proposal spurs competition between the performers. Electronic tender platforms are currently being developed on several professional portals of web developers and differ in functionality and popularity. One of the most popular is the tender platform "Rating Runet." As part of the proposed service, you can create your own shortlist of studios, set the parameters of the tender (project type, description, budget, terms, wishes to the partner’s geography, etc.), and then send the requests together with the attached brief. The site is especially convenient when searching for performers using the “seed” method.
If for some reason the electronic tender platform is not suitable, requests can be sent by regular e-mail. In this case, ask the executives to detail the commercial offer. It should contain the following information:
- The cost of services in relation to the main stages of work (Internet consulting and writing technical specifications, creative design, technical design, html-layout, site integration with CMS, programming (in case of non-standard solutions)
- Dates and schedule
- Resources (how many programmers, designers and other employees will be involved in the project)
- On which CMS (content management system) will the Internet project be developed?
- What documentation will be prepared?
- Terms of warranty, the cost of post-warranty support
- Work in the portfolio, demonstrating the experience of the contractor in solving problems similar to yours (this is especially important for non-standard projects)
These are the main criteria by which you can compare offers.
Web studios are usually given 3 to 10 days to prepare answers. When evaluating a commercial proposal, it is advisable to pay attention not only to the fixed conditions, but also to other points: the speed of reaction and follow-up, attention to details, the comfort of communication, whether the studio offers any new ideas.
Tip: Regardless of whether you are using an electronic tender platform or sending requests manually, call the key performers to make contact and confirm receipt of the application.
Analyze offers and choose a partner
The average cost of developing a corporate website in the regions usually does not exceed 100 thousand rubles, in Moscow - 180 thousand rubles. And it is worth crossing the threshold of top companies only if you have a budget of at least half a million rubles. It often happens that the customer receives commercial offers that exceed their capabilities, especially when it comes to the debut site. If such a problem arose and you did not receive a commercial proposal that meets both the requirements of the brief and financial capabilities, then re-evaluate the required functionality and budget that you can invest in the development. Perhaps, after requesting the cost of services in the companies you like, the shortlist will have to be corrected and re-send requests to several more places (or contact freelancers if the budget is small). The second option is to immediately proceed to negotiations with the management of the company. It's no secret that many customers look at the price as an indicator of the quality of work and the status of the company. And a number of performers, in turn, takes this into account in their pricing. If you have a well-known brand or an interesting project, there is every chance of reaching a compromise. Negotiations are sometimes useful to conduct in the offices of web studios in order to personally see employees and evaluate other company resources, and not to judge it only on the site. Personal meetings will help not only to achieve more favorable conditions for the cost and timing of services, but also to determine which of the performers is the most comfortable to conduct a dialogue. Personal compatibility is very important, because most often after the development of a website, partnership with a web studio does not end there. It is necessary to promote, maintain and update the site, develop new functionality for it. Effectively perform these tasks is possible only with long-term cooperation.
Tip: Website development is only a small part of the cost of promoting a business on the Internet. How to convey the site to the target audience, you need to start thinking at the stage of setting the problem.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/113518/
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