Choosing your Web Developer
Author: Ross Johnson
Date: Tuesday, Febuary 21th, 2006
While I am no doubt biased when I talk to you about what you should look for in a
web developer, I have also studied and read a lot on the subject. My goal of course,
was to better my abilities, understandings, and better serve my customer base. In the
process I learned many interesting things that I previously had not realized.
When the web was first introduced, there pretty much was only one breed of web
designer. That was simply, one who designed web sites. It sounds basic enough, but as
the internet has expanded there is a much broader range of categories in which many
different "web site company's" fall into.
At the basic level there still is the designer, which is one who comes up with
designs, layouts, color schemes, etc for a web site. Most of the time its an HTML
exclusive company. This in laments terms means no functionality between linking,
basic forms, and the design itself. Web site design is probably one of the only
categories I see being overemphasized (no focus on anything else by a company) and
underestimated (who cares what it looks like, we have neat programming!).
The next step up would be the Web Developer. The Web Developer tends to be a
programming only type of person. S/He may have gone to school in programming, got
their degree, and decided to venture into the market of web sites. Web developing is
important, because now a days with so many possible features for functionality and
interactivity it is a shame not to take advantage of it. How ever, many a times I see
developers getting stuck in the trap of concentrating too much on the functionality
and too little on the design.
Search Engine Optimizer, this individual or company's goal is to get your page
higher rankings in the search engine. After all, on the internet that is the proven
best way to increase sales and gain loyal customers. Often times they act as
consultants, they spend money buying links from other popular topic web sites. and
might rework your site a bit if needed. It is an invaluable service, but it is also
expensive and many times you can work backwards instead of forwards (when they need
to rework your site for example).
Ultimately, the best solution for you and your company is to go with someone who
knows how to manage all of the aspects of a web site. Development, Design, Search
Engine Optimization (so it can be designed with high rankings from the start),
Marketing Tools, and usability. Mixing and matching companies is simply going to
increase development time, costs, and create incompatibilities.
-Ross Johnson
