In today’s world of instamation™ (instantly available information to the non nerdy) and social connectivity, having a strong presence on the web is crucial for most companies and your website will often be the first point of contact between you and potential customers. This means that your web brand has to be a quality product and more importantly it has to say everything you want it to in order to get your message across. This is where the right web programming skills are essential and if you or your team lack these skills, it is important to hire the right web programmer for your website and your business.

Finding the right web programmer for your website is not necessarily a case of spending the most money. There is too often a thought that spending a lot of money will bring success but this isn’t always the case. When it comes to building your web site in the way that is right for you, your needs and your visitors, it is important that a web programmer can deliver what is best for these needs. This means that your programmer needs not only to have the skills but also the ability to bring your ideas to life and the confidence to volunteer ideas of their own if they think this is what is appropriate or necessary.

If you are inexperienced in what to look for when searching for a reliable web programmer for your website, the following areas are all key aspects that you should focus upon to give you guidance in your search.

Experience is always a good sign

Even though all good programmers have to start somewhere, you will probably feel that your website is not the place to let a newcomer try things out. This is why you should be looking to find someone with reasonable web programming experience. A web programmer should be able to point to a portfolio of web sites that they have worked on or even provide references from people who have hired them in the past.

Given that web programmers can create their own sites alongside working for clients, there is no excuse for a good web programmer not to have a good number of websites that they can show you. A proactive website programmer that creates numerous sites to show off their skills will be one that is likely to have a good work ethic, which is also important if you are going to be relying on them. The idea of deadlines may go against the creative notions of some people but in the world of business, deadlines are important and you need to know that your web programmer can meet these while creating good work.

Look for a varied skill range

When you look through the portfolio of a web programmer, you will hopefully find a number of different programming skills or aspects. If a programmer is skilled in one aspect, this is good but it may limit their abilities to meet your requests for other work carried out. This is why you should be looking to find a programmer who is confident with different techniques and who can bring your site to life in many different ways. They don’t have to be able to reel off every different programming technique and style under the sun but having a wide skill set will give you greater confidence in their ability to create what you need.

An aspect that goes hand in hand with different techniques is the fact that a programmer should be up to date with what website programming skills are currently being used for today’s technology. Web development moves at a fast pace and it can be all too easy to rely on outdated techniques. There is a need to stay fresh because this is what will often catch the eye of visitors to your site. If your web programmer knows what is going on in the world of programming, they may be able to take advantage of new developments which will make life easier for them and you. A web programmer doesn’t and shouldn’t only use the latest techniques; they should use the techniques that provide simple and effective solutions to creating a great site.

In addition to this, it is expected that a good web programmer will always keep you fully informed of the project and its status. You may not need to know a step by step guide of what is going on but it is important for your programmer to check in at regular points and provide you with progress reports. Similarly, you should be able to communicate freely with a programmer, providing feedback and helping them to stay on track for the project.

Staying on top of deadlines and being accountable for their work is as much a measure of a good programmer as is the quality of work they produce. This is why you should be able to communicate freely with a web programmer and hopefully you will reap the benefits.

For further information on how to find the right web programmer or any other aspect of today’s web technology, please don’t hesitate to contact me.