Beware of such website developers

When choosing a website development company, there are a few things to consider.

When you need to build a website for a new business or want to update your website, it may be difficult to choose a company that is suitable for you from among the many companies around the world.

But even in this case, you can identify a few points to avoid when choosing a website development company.

Website development company, but its own website does not support SSL

SSL support, in short, is to enable SSL for the website (install SSL certificate) and display the website as “https”.

It prevents the communication content from being eavesdropped and tampered with, and is expected to improve the security of the website. From the perspective of search engines, “https” websites are more likely to receive priority rankings in search results due to the influence of ranking signals.

However, website development companies can create websites and homepages according to customer requirements, but there are also many companies whose own websites do not support SSL.

From the perspective of security compliance, such website development companies can be said to be unreliable.

The website development company’s own website is not compatible with smartphones (responsive)

Currently, “mobile first” has become the mainstream of search engine evaluation. When browsing websites using mobile devices such as smartphones, “whether the website has effective usability for mobile users” is crucial.

For effective usability, an important factor is whether the website’s display is converted for mobile devices, and smartphone-compatible and responsive websites are now the norm.

If the website’s display is the same as the PC version when browsing on a mobile device, it is difficult for users to see clearly.

Therefore, if the website production company’s own website is not compatible with smartphones or responsive, it can be judged that the company is “unaware of these trends, lacks technical capabilities, or is not interested in these trends.”

Information on the company’s website has not been updated for a long time

Suppose that the website production company has an “announcement or blog page” or “official SNS account” on its own website.

Be wary of companies that have not updated or ignored these media for “more than a year”. This is because you cannot tell whether the company itself is actually operating.

Of course, there may also be reasons such as “company members are too busy to update”, but as a website production company, they do not seem to care about external dynamics.

Slow response or no response after new project consultation

This situation is not limited to website production companies. From the perspective of customers, they expect to get some kind of response within “2 to 3 business days” at the latest.

In addition, even if customers contact them to consult about the project, the response speed is slow, and the user’s expectations and enthusiasm will be reduced, and they may even think that “I will not consult or look for this company in the future”.

Therefore, if the company is in this situation, even if it really enters the contract and work stage, they can be said to be a company that always responds slowly. Moreover, it is even more unrealistic for a company to reply a week after consulting about a new project.

Abnormally low website production cost

It is common for enterprises and B2B customers to get quotes from different website production companies. After getting the quote, you should choose the right company by comparing the plans and costs of each company.

However, it should be noted here that the company marked “abnormally low website production cost” in the quote. Of course, if you ask a familiar company for a quote, they may lower the quote in the name of “acquaintance fee”.

However, even if it is an “acquaintance fee”, the reason for the low quote is that the quote contains the words “we only accept this amount”. Even if it is a company you know, the other party is a company after all, and it is impossible to always take the initiative to cooperate with you.

Therefore, if you decide whether to entrust a website to be built based solely on the quoted amount, be careful because after the website is released, enterprises and B2B customers may not receive satisfactory after-sales support or may even have problems.

In addition, although it is usually cheaper to entrust a freelancer (self-employed person) to build a website, they may not receive the same support as a corporate website construction company because they are self-employed. It is crucial to choose the right company according to the purpose of the website you entrust.

Website construction company unfamiliar with servers and systems

To create a website and publish it on the Internet, a “server” is always required.

In the website construction industry, many website construction companies will think: “I am familiar with design and code, but I don’t know much about servers. So I will introduce a cheap rental server.” The reason for this is simple. From the company’s point of view, the construction work is simple and convenient.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using a rental server to build a website, but if the customer is an enterprise or BtoB company, the website construction company must clearly explain the advantages and disadvantages of the rental server to the customer before introducing it.

If the website production company knows nothing about “VPS” or “cloud server” except renting a server, even if it is outsourced, it is best to confirm whether they have established a cooperation mechanism with a server management company that is proficient in this field and technology.

For some reason, the website cannot be displayed after clicking, or an error is displayed

This is also similar to the “unfamiliar with the server or system” mentioned earlier.

Occasionally, the website of the website production company will display “cannot be displayed after clicking or an error is displayed”.

Normally, if the user’s smartphone or computer pays attention to security, he should always use the latest operating system and browser to click and browse the website.

However, if the user cannot browse the other party’s website with a smartphone or computer that is always up to date and highly secure, it can be determined that the server settings running on the other party’s website are not updated or there is a problem.

For example, if the “ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED” error appears when you click or browse the other party’s website, there may be many reasons, but the main reason is likely to be related to “specifications and settings on the server side”.

The “ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED” error occurs when the connection between the user (client) and the server is unexpectedly disconnected, but this may be caused by incompatible TLS (Transport Layer Security) versions.

Due to security issues, many browsers no longer support older versions of TLS (such as TLS 1.0 and 1.1), so if the user (client) requests a newer TLS version, the website connection may be rejected.

In other words, if this phenomenon occurs, it means that the specifications or settings of the company’s website’s server itself may be outdated or neglected, so caution is also needed in this case.

Summary

We have introduced a few points to avoid when choosing a new website production company.

If you follow the points in this article, you should be able to find the website production company that best suits you.

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