55 questions to ask before paying someone to build a website

Paying someone to develop a custom website can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be.

If you’d like a comprehensive list of questions to ask before building a website, you’ll love this guide.

We put together this list of 55 questions you can use to vet platform and developer requirements. We've based our questions on over a decade of experience building websites for growing brands.

The five priority areas we cover are:

• Security against hackers

• Speed & mobile performance

• Ease of content marketing

• SEO advantages

• Composable & flexible systems

Let's get started!

Undoubtedly, the first thing to consider when building a website should be choosing a platform with strong security measures.

Read the platform's security FAQ and speak directly to sales representatives so you can ask any questions.

Our preferred platform, Craft CMS, shines when it comes to back-end security. In addition to employing security reviews and audits, you can fully customize Craft.

From a security viewpoint, custom development is an advantage because it gives you more control.

You can hire developers who write custom code that is secure, and remove the need for apps and plugins from third-party developers that may introduce vulnerabilities.

When it comes to security, taking the time to research the best platforms and development practices is worth it.

On average, modern website visitors expect a page to load in two seconds or less.

Even delays measured in microseconds can translate into a loss of revenue for brands.

Meanwhile, the use of mobile devices is expected to increase to 18.22 billion by 2025, making a mobile-friendly website critical.

Generally speaking, platforms that you can customize are faster. This is because, if developed well, they aren’t as bogged down with unnecessary bloat, third-party plugins, or apps.

We prefer Craft CMS to build websites because of its flexibility. Craft allows us to develop the features a client needs without sacrificing performance.

Of course, speed and performance also depend on the quality of development

Ideally, developers optimize page load speeds for whatever circumstance.

For example, they should code to anticipate temporary spikes in traffic due to weather, newsworthy events, or holidays.

It's common to think about speed and performance for website visitors. However, we should also consider the marketers and authors who use the back end of a website on a daily basis.

Ease of content marketing is an essential consideration when building a successful website.

The Digital Marketing Institute predicts content marketing will remain a popular strategy for businesses in 2023.

So it makes sense that brands using platforms where adding and publishing content is simple will be competitive.

That’s because when a site provides a good author experience (AX), marketers can respond quickly to trends, ensuring brand relevance.

For example, our preferred CMS, Craft, was built with the needs of authors and other creative professionals in mind. The back end is entirely customizable and can be designed for intuitive use by marketers.

Learning why developers prefer one CMS over another can help you see the benefits and drawbacks of each.

And asking how they support the needs of content marketers will reveal if they're the right team for the job.

A strategy central to effective content marketing is SEO. And it's critical if you plan to use a content-first approach to gaining traffic.

In addition to increasing organic traffic, leads, and sales, a solid SEO strategy can drive down acquisition costs.

When researching platforms, look for features that are friendly to SEO. For example, ensure the platform has the ability to create HTML pages.

Specifically, check that you can add content important for on-page SEO such as alt-tags, meta descriptions, and HTML headings.

The availability of these fields can impact where your content is likely to appear in search engine results. It can also influence things like the likelihood of getting a featured snippet.

How your site is organized is another important aspect of good SEO. Site organization influences how a shopper moves through your website to find your products and services.

If you have a complex website it's best to ensure visitors to your site can locate the main and subpages quickly.

Generally, the fewer clicks required to find a page from the homepage or the main navigation, the better.

So, when developing your website, ensure the site architecture and navigation are logical. If your website's navigation doesn't make sense to you, it probably won't to your audience, either.

Craft’s flexibility makes it especially SEO-friendly in the hands of knowledgeable developers. This is another reason it's our preferred CMS.

An often overlooked consideration when companies vet a CMS is the platform's flexibility.

A flexible back end allows your website to grow with your business. A flexible front end can improve marketing, lead generation, sales, and monthly costs.

Together, they act as a cohesive system.

Brands with flexible websites can better do things like:

• adapt to new marketing realities

• win new opportunities more easily

• improve the visitor experience

Craft CMS is our platform of choice because we can develop headless and composable websites. Craft’s flexibility enables us to meet our clients’ development needs as their businesses change.

Having a flexible platform is essential, but you want to be sure your developers can make it work for you.

It's worth it to think seriously about the cohesion and flexibility your website needs now, and into the future.

After all, your website is an investment you want to grow as your business does.

Did we miss anything about what to look for in platform and developer requirements when building a website?

Let us know and we’ll add it to our list!