As a digital marketer, I often get asked from friends and family what are my top tips when working with a web developer to create a website.

There is a lot to consider when briefing a developer.  Unfortunately I have heard of some really bad experiences where people were burned by agencies that charge a lot but deliver a website that requires continual developer work along with pricey monthly maintenance charges.

So I have come up with my top 5 tips for your new website. You should consider these when putting together your brief and engaging a web designer or agency:

1. Ask for google analytics to be added it’s free and will give you some great stats. This is a simple 10 minute job so make sure they don’t charge you a lot for it.
2. Check what platform they are building it in, I use WordPress because it’s great for SEO and easy to get plugins, templates and developers.  Platforms like Magento are great for complex online shopping but require specialised developers who can cost a lot.  There are also very simple website builders like Wix and SquareSpace but they if you need to rank on google then these websites can be hard to rank.
3. Ask for a subscription form so you can start to build a list of loyal customers that you can keep in touch with through email.
4. Customers buy from websites they trust so ensure that it looks clean and professional and they know they can contact you easily.
5. Buy the domain name and hosting yourself so if in future you want to get a different developer, it’s much easier as you own the website.

Of course you should always enter into an arrangement with a brief, so make sure you work on a quick one pager that outlines your website and what you are wanted to achieve with it.