Web development agency red flags you should avoid at any point

Rajesh Bhimani
5 min readDec 29, 2022

Are you in the phase where you are second-guessing every web development agency that comes your way? Will they be able to meet your requirements, will the outcomes be as per your expectations, are the web designers skilled enough or not, and what not.

These thoughts are normal when you want to hire a web development agency for your business. Thus, we have curated this article to save you from falling prey to any scams or fraud while finding your ideal web development agency.

Read on.

Red flags while hiring a web development agency

There are good companies, there are bad companies, and then there are fraud companies. You need to watch out in your search that you filter out the bad and the fraud ones leveraging the below given red flags regarding a web development agency.

The price seems too good to be true.

Businesses usually fall prey to the cheap web development services available online. It’s often a scam that is too good to be true.

web development agency red flags

If this is true, customers are frequently stuck with agencies that lack skilled coders. They don’t get your work done as per the designated deadlines. Quality remains questionable, and you won’t get the desired outcome.

In many cases, customers have to rehire a freelance website designer or another web development agency, paying more than they did for the one hired previously, to get the website ready. This way, customers end up paying double or triple for the website.

Understand that good work isn’t cheap. Consider the money that goes into hiring a web development agency for your website as an investment. Let skilled professionals work on your website so that things get done right the first time.

You don’t get to meet the team

As a customer, it’s important to know the professionals that are working on your website. Once you finalize the web development agency through a sales rep, the balls would be in the court of the web development agency. It would be their choice to connect you directly to the experts for building your website, which in many cases is off the list.

So as your sales rep proceeds the discussion towards closing the deal, ask them to connect you with the project manager or the team that will be working on your website. If they don’t, consider it a red flag. Highlight it as a requirement on your list that isn’t compromisable while hiring a web development agency.

Note: You’re not paying to talk to a salesperson with zero website experience. It’s important to be able to connect directly to the project manager about your business website needs or revisions at any point of time during its development.

Quick, guaranteed results in a short period

Promises like quick results in low prices are shallow and never offer desired outcomes. They are often a scam and are only there in the market to steal your hard-earned money.

As a business, every owner has a different set of ideas and customization they want in their web design project. Hence, based on the level of customization and the data of the client, the launch time of the website may vary from weeks to even months.

Thus, companies advertising that they would take less time is often a scam and should be avoided at any point.

Authentic customer testimonials

Before you connect with the sales rep of a web development agency, it’s important to do a pre-checkup on their website. Go through their customer reviews to know the experience of previous customers with the agency.

Track the reputation of their existing and previous customers. It will give you a brief into the expertise and an idea of its capabilities. You can even connect directly with the people who have taken services from the agency to know their experience with them. This will help you eliminate any second thoughts regarding the web development agency.

Communication gap

Unresponsiveness from the agency is very disturbing. There are times when agencies stop picking up your calls or answering your emails once you finalize the deal with them or in case you have asked for a revision from their end.

It is completely unacceptable and unprofessional that wastes the time of both parties. Ensure that you schedule daily or weekly meetings with the developers as per the demand of the project to get timely updates and revisions on it. It will keep the website development on time, and you will be able to make the most out of your money invested in it.

Thus, if an agency has a communication gap from the start, it’s not advisable to move forward with them for your website.

No expertise in Content marketing or SEO

When you look out for agencies for your website, it’s not just the developers that will be working on it. It is crucial that they also reside SEO and content marketing strategy experts to ensure that when your website is ready, it’s fast, user-friendly, and intuitive for the users.

It’s a big NO, to move forward with an agency that is only offering you just the website development part i.e. Magento development, and WordPress development for your website. Look for a finished website and not just something that’s live on the web and isn’t serving any other purpose that it’s meant to serve.

What’s more to look out for?

Apart from the above-mentioned points to note, here are some additional red flags to add to your list.

  • No physical staff and office
  • No phone calls or meetings/Meetings through chat and email only
  • The company’s website is not designed professionally
  • Customer reviews of the agency’s website don’t seem authentic

These are the most important things to check out while hiring a web development agency. We hope this article would help you get the ideal choice for your requirement.

If you wish to take the help of the industry experts in this task, connect with us, and we will help you from start to end.

--

--

Rajesh Bhimani

Rajesh Bhimani is the Founder at Skynet Technologies, Website Design and Development Agency. He has 21 years of experience in Technology and Marketing industry.