We’ve mentioned before that we like to compare websites to cars – if you want it to have awesomely robust features and suit all your needs, it will affect the overall price accordingly. Your website can even physically take your business to new places by increasing your advertising reach. And, unfortunately, both cars and websites are prone to crashes if you do not operate them correctly. Here are a few other ways websites and cars can be similar:

Regular maintenance is mandatory. With cars, you won’t get very far without gasoline. If you do have enough gas, you have to remember to get your oil checked regularly. Don’t forget about the annual inspection, and replacing worn-out parts. If you use this vehicle for business, you can put your company’s name, logo and contact information on the outside of it. The visibility could lead to more clients.

Websites are not much different – without regularly adding new content, your website will not be very effective – think of new webpages and blog articles as the equivalent of gasoline and oil changes. Performing an annual inspection, or complete site review, isn’t a bad idea either. How will you know if your website is working properly if you don’t check on the numbers every once in a while?

You get what you pay for. You need to be able to transport large cargo, or host large files? What about speed – is that a priority? Will you need a cap for the bed of your pickup truck – is there going to be a private area for clients to log in? Will you need keys or passcodes to protect your cargo? As you can see, the similarities are endless. You most likely need a unique combination of features that address your personal needs.

Be careful to work with reliable professionals. Many mechanics and web developers are good, honest, hardworking people. However, you cannot assume that will be the case with everyone. The harsh truth is that there are people out there looking to lie to you and swindle you out of your hard-earned cash. Much like the stereotypical “bad mechanic” who lies to you about the work your car actually needs, overcharges you, or worst of all, damages your vehicle’s working parts so that he can get more of your business to fix them… you have to recognize that some web developers are full of big promises that they just cannot fulfill in real life. One great example – run away from anyone who has an SEO guarantee! And run fast! That so-called guarantee is a huge red flag (and a big fat lie!) because corporate search engine algorithms are kept completely secret.

So how do you find a reliable web development partner? Check out some tips from Matt below, or contact us with your questions!