Planning to have a website developed for your business? Need to inject some changes to freshen up your existing website? Then you should be looking for a professional web development service provider.

There are many web development companies online, but not all of them can give you the right services you are looking for. If they are indeed web development providers, then they should not only show in the search results, they should also have the website to show for it. If you want to narrow down your list of companies to choose from, then these are the important things to look out for when browsing their websites.

Contact Details

A company that wants to attract more customers — and has nothing to hide – will most likely have their contact details prominently displayed on their website. Whether it is displayed on the home page, on the website header, or on a Contact Us page, this information should be available to visitors on the site.

Although location may not be a big issue since all your discussions may be conducted online, a service provider near your area is a better bet to save on cost if you will need their hands-on services later on or if you require a face-to-face meeting with the development team.

It would also be a good sign of a website company’s expertise if they can provide you with an initial quotation for your project. If they are volunteering to provide you this information in a short amount of time, it speaks greatly of a company’s confidence and expertise in handling web development projects of any kind. So try to look for an Ask a Quote or Get a Quote link.

Date of Latest Projects

The company may have existed for more than 5 years, but when was their last web development project? Summarized information of their latest projects is usually available on their homepage. If they haven’t had clients since the last one happened last year; that may not be a very good sign for you.

The company may not be updating their portfolio, but if they have a feature for their current project then check that out instead. You can see if the new project is similar to the previous ones or it’s a completely different one. Just from this information, you can readily see if the company engages in diverse types of clients and industries.

To confirm this, check out the rest of the portfolio.

Other Stuff in the Portfolio

A web development company usually provides visitors an online portfolio of their projects. Especially if they claim to be an experienced company, then their list of services should have proof in their portfolio.

A quick scan of how the portfolio is organized or categorized can already give you a good overview of what services they have rendered for their clients. Check out the other services they offer aside from website development. You may not need these services right now, but if they can provide them when needed in the future, then it would provide a big convenience for you.

Client Testimonials

Are their clients satisfied with their service? To answer this question, then check to see if they have a testimonials page. A professional web development service provider would have several client testimonials published on their website. This not only helps increase their credibility in the eyes of future clients, as a potential client yourself, you can evaluate if the clients’ description of their kind of service is what you want to experience.

From client testimonials, you can already get a feel of how the company goes about providing their services, what kind of after-sales support they provide their clients, and what kind of issues they have solved for their clients.

If you like what you read, then maybe they are a good match to implement your company’s website development project.

Company Profile

After getting a feel for their work, you might also want to check out the people behind the company. You may be surprised to encounter some unknowns behind established companies, but if their bio is available then be sure to read on and see if they have the qualifications to run such a company or even to work in one.

If all they provide is a general company profile, then read up on that instead. You can get hints of the company’s credibility through their history, the kind of service they wish to provide. and the objectives for their business.

This kind of information can help you judge whether this company’s objectives will be able to benefit your own company’s goals.

There are other parts of the web development providers’ website that you can check out for more information to help you make a decision.

Some companies have blogs and article sections and some also have social network accounts on Facebook, Twitter and others. The information you will find in these pages will be useful to you in getting a feel for the company’s culture, how they work with their clients, what type of clients they work with, what other services they provide their clients, and how their clients respond to them.

When you are well-informed about your choices, you should be able to narrow down the web development service provider that’s right for your project.