Some people get quite hung up on the graphical aspect of the design process and treat it as the most important. The reality is that the most important aspect of any website is functionality. It must be easy to use and navigate for visitors and not just present something pretty for them to gaze at on their screen. Believe me, they won't stay long if they can't find their way around and achieve their objectives in visiting the site in the first place.
Professional Web Developer Qualities
First of all, they must know how to do the market research and keyword research for you if you don't have the programs to do it yourself. If you have used free online tools to do some market research, then that's great. However, commercial software like Market Samurai provides far deeper insight into markets and software of this nature should be in the arsenal of any professional web developer. Ask what sort of software they use.
Secondly, a professional web developer will know how to write code by hand. The worst type of websites that you see online are those that have obviously been written using a visual interface. This type of development never works properly as you need to know how to code and control the code that is written in the background by "what you see is what you get" editors. Unfortunately the name is not quite true and "what you see" is not always "what you get".
So here is an easy way to find out if your web developer or potential web developer can write code. Ask them on the phone, in person or on an instant messenger such as Skype to tell you the code to link to a web page at www.somedomain.com called blue widgets from your web page. Just to make it a little more interesting, tell them that the link must open in a new page or tab on the visitor's browser and the link must be a "nofollow" link. (If you don't know what all that means, don't worry. The important thing is that the web developer should.
So here is what they should quote back to you:-
<a href="http://www.somedomain.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Blue Widgets</a>
If they can do this off the top of their head without the time to reference books or the web, then there is a very good chance that they know how to hand code. This is an absolutely vital skill of any professional web developer.
What About Search Engine Optimization?
Any site that is written without taking into account the basic principles of search optimization is like building a shop in the middle of the desert. The origins of SEO for your site are based on the keywords and phrases established when you did your research in the first place.
The easiest way to check your web developer's skills in this regard is to ask them for examples of sites they have written and what the keyword or key phrase focus was for the site. Then simply check where these sites are ranked on Google. You might also check to see where the web developer's own site is ranked also as this will be an indication of their attitude to SEO. If their own site isn't ranking then it would indicate a problem as far as their SEO knowledge goes.
Small Business SEO
Whilst good SEO practices are critical for any site, they are even more important for small business. The whole purpose of you being online as a small business is to increase sales and gain customers locally. By following basic small business SEO practices, there is every chance your site can rank well in the search engines.
As a small business owner, you owe it to yourself to become familiar with the basics. By gaining a working knowledge of the techniques involved, you can make sure that your website is written properly and has every chance of ranking well.
For more information on small business SEO, why not have a look at the information you can learn from our book "SEO For Small Business".
