What Skills Should You Look for in a Web Developer?

0
2785

Share on LinkedIn

Introduction

Choosing a web development company is one of the most important decisions a business can make in today’s marketplace.

Simply put, how a company takes advantage of technology goes a long way in determining its ultimate success or failure. That makes the decision of who to choose as a web developer a vitally important one.

Unfortunately, there are numerous web developers working today and it can be very difficult to tell a qualified web development company from an unqualified development company that could cost you money and even leads to your business’s downfall.

Here are five skills you should look for in your next web developer:

Skill #1 – Responsive Mobile Design

The simple truth is modern tech-savvy consumers are accessing the Internet more and more on their smartphone these days. In fact, nearly 60% of all online searches now occur on mobile devices! That means your web developer must be fluent in mobile design. To put it another way, if your site is not “mobile friendly” you will be leaving lots of money on the table.

This is a key skill to look for as the number of people accessing the Internet on mobile devices is growing rapidly. Failure to find a web developer with mobile design skills will lead to you having a website that isn’t mobile compatible and thus doesn’t display or function well on the many mobile devices that are being used today. That most likely means users will quickly click away from your site and visit one of your competitors.

Skill #2 – SEO

Those three little letters – SEO – are three of the most important letters in marketing today. In fact, SEO has been called by USA Today as “the driving force behind modern day marketing.” That means if your web development company does not have SEO skills you are not going to get the traffic and the leads you need to succeed.

Remember, most prospects find businesses and products through online searches. If your website doesn’t have SEO that gets it top rankings you are not going to show up in those searches and nobody is going to visit your site and buy your product.

According to market trends, any web developer should have some basic SEO skills which are page upload speed, domain credibility, and keyword content.

Skill #3 – Analytics

If you hire a web developer that has strong website development skills you will get a great, highly functional website. But for your site to be truly exceptional and generate massive profits it must be more than just highly functional and that’s where analytics come into play.

That means web developers should able to obtain and analyze target audience information and then use it to boost sales. They will come to know how your target audience acts and thinks and then they will use this information to give you a website that attracts your best prospects and also converts a high number of them into paying customers.

Skill #4 – Web Development

There are a number of particular web development skills that all web developers should possess today. These skills include:

• HTML/CSS – Your web developer must understand the basics of coding and markup language, of which HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the standard.

• JavaScript – This is a higher level programming language than HTML and using it helps make websites more interactive and functional.

• Photoshop – Web developers who are familiar with Photoshop are able to create sites that not only look better but also perform better and faster.

• WordPress – According to USA Today, “nearly 75 million websites function on WordPress alone. That’s more than 25% of the Internet altogether.”

Skill #5 – Constantly Learning & Improving

Finally, web development is not a static industry, there are constant change and improvement and the best website developers in the USA recognize this and are always looking to learn and improve their skills and knowledge.

Be careful here as many website developers don’t spend the time necessary to update their skills. In a recent survey of Java developers, 53% of them admitted to being “technology sheep” that adopt new updates only once they accepted by the industry as the standard.

One more thing to look for – you should seek a web developer who not only keeps up with the industry but also knows how to manage his or her time and to prioritize their work.

Web developers who are not proficient at this will see projects stack up and will miss deadlines. Make sure your web developer keeps a detailed to-do list that prioritizes their work and that they communicate well with clients about deadlines.

Conclusion

The bottom line is you should look for a firm that meets all the requirements outlined in this article. Pay particular attention to companies that augment their high-level technical development with regular communication so that you are always up to date on:

• What is happening with the project
• What the costs are
• What the weekly milestones are
• Plus, it makes it easy for clients to interact with their developer

Too many companies offer good development but poor communication or good communication and poor development. Be patient in your search, companies that provide both are out there – they just may require a little more time and effort to find.

Vishal Bhatia
Vishal Bhatia is an international pioneer and expert innovator in the field of outsourced web, software, and mobile application development. In the last decade as the CEO and Co-founder of Dedicated Developers, he has successfully partnered on development projects with over 320 technology companies from 12 different countries to bring their web and mobile application ideas to life. His passionate team at Dedicated Developers is revolutionizing the outsourcing industry by cost-effectively aligning technology strategies focused on fueling business growth.

ADD YOUR COMMENT

Please use comments to add value to the discussion. Maximum one link to an educational blog post or article. We will NOT PUBLISH brief comments like "good post," comments that mainly promote links, or comments with links to companies, products, or services.

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here