8 Things You Should Never Do in a Website Development Company

A website development company can be quite an exciting place to work, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any things you shouldn’t do while you’re there! The following list of eight things you should never do in a website development company. It will keep you out of trouble, ensuring that your job is both fun and safe.

1) Get Hopelessly Behind Schedule

It’s easy to over-promise and under-deliver, but there’s no way around it. If you know your schedule is going to slip, do everything you can to let your client know about it. Don’t make excuses or hide behind technical difficulties. Acknowledge that you’re behind schedule and explain what you will do to get back on track—then follow through on those promises. 

At least one of two things will happen: Either Your client understands  (and appreciates) your honesty or they may be so angry that they fire you and hire someone else. Either way, at least you won’t have any more surprises. And if you are fired, don’t take it personally; sometimes clients just need to blame someone for their own mistakes.

2) Overlook Formatting

Web developers use code editors to build websites. These editors typically include coding syntax highlighting, auto-completion, error checking, and other features to make it easier for developers to spot issues with their code. Despite these handy tools, we still frequently overlook basic formatting errors that are easily caught with good or’ manual proofreading. It can be hard to remember every little rule of HTML and CSS, but by taking a few minutes to review your code before you hit publish, you can catch some pretty big mistakes before they happen. 

It also helps to have someone else look over your work—even if they don’t know anything about web development—as fresh eyes often see things differently than our own. Finally, if you do find an issue after publishing your site, try not to panic. Most browsers will let you view source code directly within a web page (Firefox has View Page Source as its keyboard shortcut). From there, it’s just a matter of fixing what needs fixing and then republishing.

3) Leave Out Crucial Features

If you’re developing a website, there are plenty of elements that will help determine its success. From marketing to design, your website needs to have compelling content and intuitive navigation to keep visitors on your site for longer. If you decide not to hire an experienced web developer for your website development company, you could miss out on crucial features that can cause your website to fall flat. 

For example, small things like social media integration or cross-browser compatibility can make all of the difference in whether or not users visit your site again. While it might seem tempting to try and save money by skimping on these details, it’s better to be safe than sorry. The last thing you want is to build a website that nobody wants to use!

4) Forget About Analytics

A lot of people mistakenly think that analytics is for nerds who like to pore over charts and numbers. They’re not. Analytics can be your best friend in gauging how customers interact with your site, and they can also tell you which elements of your website work best and which don’t. If you don’t pay attention to analytics, you’ll be working blindly: You’ll never know what’s working, what isn’t working, or why it isn’t working. 

That makes website development companies much more difficult to run than they need to be. So, next time you create a website, remember that data is important—and set up analytics from day one. That way, when something goes wrong down the road (and something always does), you’ll have hard evidence about what needs fixing.

While implementing new features on websites is an essential part of running any business, sometimes those features aren’t received as well as anticipated—which can end up hurting your business more than helping it.

5) Neglect Security Issues

Security is of utmost importance when it comes to website development. If you’re not securing your site, you could be leaving yourself vulnerable to hackers. A website development company that doesn’t pay attention to details is one that you shouldn’t trust with your project. Don’t get caught up in flashy promises; make sure they can back them up with actionable solutions. Ask questions and ensure that your web developer takes security seriously. 

6) Use Poor Layout and Design Principles

Web design is about more than just aesthetics; it’s about creating a functional and intuitive space for users to operate. So yes, your site may look great, but if users can’t find what they’re looking for or end up completely lost while they are on your site—and you will be judged on those things—it doesn’t matter how good-looking your site is. It matters that it works. 

That means clear navigation, organized content, and thoughtful calls to action. If you want people to use your website (which we assume you do), then make sure that they have an easy time navigating it. In other words, don’t ever create something that makes people think Where am I? How did I get here? And where do I go from here? 

These questions should never cross anyone’s mind when they visit your site. And if they do, it isn’t because of a layout problem: It’s because of a user experience problem. We all know there are times when even well-meaning clients ask for bad designs.

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7) Fail to Listen To Customers

When you’re building a product, it’s easy to let your vision take over. But all of your ideas about what people should want and how they should use your product will be wrong if you don’t actually sit down and talk to them. The point of going into business is to create value for other people. So when you begin developing a new product or service, make sure you understand exactly what problems they have, how they feel about their current options, and what they find valuable. Don’t assume anything—get out there and ask questions!

8) Don’t Prepare Project Updates

There are lots of reasons why you might not want to prepare project updates. But if you don’t, don’t be surprised when it’s more difficult to get your project back on track. Here are three good reasons to get involved with that monthly status report 1) It keeps you aware of what’s going on; 2) It helps keep everyone else informed about what’s going on, and 3) It ensures that no one is getting off-track or forgetting about any important details. 

For example, let’s say there’s a feature that isn’t quite ready for launch. There was some miscommunication as to whether or not it should be included in version 1.0. A status update will make sure all parties are on the same page before things start moving forward again.