Website Development- Looking for feedback from those that are happy.

[F350]

Hello,
I hope this is ok to post here. I'm asking here because I figured I could get a wide background of different businesses for input and feedback. If I search those known in my niche some start to have tunnel vision and don't take into consideration all the different users.
My business has grown significantly over the past two years. My site is not bad bud it needs to be redesigned and updated. We have outgrown it at this point.
Im wondering the following:
What do you look for when interviewing web development companies?
Is there anything I should avoid? I learned years ago check which code they write in as the code used in an old site was impossible as very few people built in it so use something common like Wordpress so anyone can edit/ fix it.
How do you search them out on the google indexs etc? Keep getting the same generic template-type sites (wix, godaddy etc)
Can you share your website as an example if they built yours?
Would you be comfortable referring a builder to me?

Is anoyone familar w Shopify? Is there an advantage to use this over Wordpress for ex as Im only somewhat familar w wordpress? I will have a shopping cart on it. We do not do alot of sales over the site right now but will be making a move to do more online sales this year.

Any help/input/ direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Staceyanom]

From my experience, one thing to watch out for is to avoid anyone who tries to push their favorite way of doing things without really listening to what your business needs. It’s your site, so they should work with your goals, not theirs.

 

[Monkeyne]

I’ve been through this process, and one thing I learned is to pick a developer who doesn’t just build the site and disappear. You want someone who’ll stick around to help with updates and fixes later, not just hand you the keys and leave you hanging.

 

[Monkeyne]

I’ve been through this process, and one thing I learned is to pick a developer who doesn’t just build the site and disappear. You want someone who’ll stick around to help with updates and fixes later, not just hand you the keys and leave you hanging.

If you're thinking about Shopify, it’s pretty solid for ecommerce. I made the switch when I wanted to get serious about online sales, and it made a big difference. I came across https://refinedcommerce.com/hyva-agency/ , and they seem to really know their stuff with Shopify builds, so might be worth checking out.