Outsourcing Web Design & Programming
[private].[/private]Web design and programming work is the backbone of your online business. Poorly written source code can bring a site to it’s knees and turn a well planned launch day into a nightmare.
Finding a reliable programmer is a task you will want to focus a good bit of your time on, because it’s really that important! I recommend sourcing programmers from a handful of trusted sites. Before I get ahead of myself I want to share a strategy that works great as a method to “screen” new programmers to ensure they are the person you want to develop a long term working relationship with:
First: Create 2 to 3 relatively simple projects that will be fairly straightforward and almost easy for a reliable programmer to accomplish. Offer to pay no more than $10-$25 for these projects.
Be sure to mention in the project description that you are looking for a knowledgeable and reliable programmer who is interested in working on several future projects upon successful completion of the current project.
Also, make sure you mention you’re only interested in working with programmers who deliver top notch customer service and are able to communicate project updates daily via instant messenger or email.
Second: Choose a programmer for your “test” projects based on feedback, experience, and their portfolio. Just because a certain programmer has low feedback on a certain site does not necessarily mean they aren’t a good experienced programmer. Be sure to look at their portfolios closely and ask for references.
You can sometimes find a great programmer for a bargain if they are simply new to a site and are eager to build up their feedback.
Once you have chosen a few programmers for your different test projects you’ll be ready to go on to the third step.
Third: Once you have posted a few different projects or multiple versions of the same project and selected a few programmers to compare you will be ready to proceed.
Keep in close correspondence with each programmer you selected and analyze them closely on at least the following subjects:
Communications
Quality Of Work
Timeliness – are they delivering on time?
Price – many programmers will bid varying prices for the same project
Ability to follow instruction
Add your OWN criterias here…
By following the simple three-step test approach described above, you will be able to find a great programmer for sure. If the first round of programmers all turn out to be duds, go ahead and run another test project. Just be sure that, when you are making up test projects, give the contenders small projects that will actually be of use to you so that you’re not throwing money down the drain!
Now that we’ve discussed an effective method of finding a reliable programmer who will be able to work with you for a long time to come, we’ll cover some of the sites you can use for your search of that perfect programmer!
The most well known sites for outsourcing web design and programming are listed below with thumbnail screenshots, just click the thumbnails to visit these sites. Sign-up is quick and easy:
Elance  | RentACoder  | ScriptLance  |
(The above sites are also great for finding copywriters, graphic designers, and writers . . . I could have mentioned them in any part of this “outsourcing” section but now was as good of a time as any!)
