Short answer: evaluate a web development company on the measurable performance of sites it has already shipped (speed, mobile experience, search visibility), its SEO and accessibility practices, transparent milestone-based pricing, written code ownership, and what support costs after launch. Design taste matters — but performance, findability and maintainability decide whether the website earns money.
1. Run their past work through PageSpeed Insights
Take three sites from their portfolio and test them at pagespeed.web.dev. If most score under 70 on mobile, that is what your site will score too. Core Web Vitals are a Google ranking factor — a slow site is invisible no matter how good it looks.
2. Check whether their sites rank
Search the client's industry keywords. A web development company that understands SEO architecture — semantic headings, structured data, clean URLs, internal linking, image optimisation — leaves visible results in search.
3. Confirm mobile-first, not mobile-also
Over 65% of Indian web traffic is mobile. Open their portfolio sites on a phone: check tap targets, menu behaviour, form usability and layout shifts. Anything that feels desktop-first will cost you conversions.
4. Ask what stack they recommend — and why
Modern frameworks such as Next.js or Nuxt deliver fast, SEO-friendly sites; WordPress remains valid for content-heavy marketing sites. The right answer depends on your team, your content workflow and your budget. Distrust one-size-fits-all answers.
5. Insist on CMS handover
Your marketing team should be able to edit pages, publish posts and swap images without paying a developer. Ask for a demo of the exact CMS you will get.
6. Demand milestone pricing with acceptance criteria
A typical business website in 2026 runs USD 3,000–15,000; e-commerce and web applications range USD 10,000–50,000+. Whatever the total, it should be split into design, build, content and launch milestones, each with a defined acceptance test.
7. Verify process certifications
An ISO 9001 certified web company follows an audited quality process — requirements are documented, testing is systematic, and delivery is repeatable. ISO 27001 certification matters when the site handles customer data, payments or logins. Verify certificate numbers with the issuing body.
8. Review accessibility and compliance basics
Alt text, keyboard navigation, colour contrast, cookie consent and a privacy policy are baseline in 2026 — India's DPDPA, the EU's GDPR and similar laws apply to websites, not just apps.
9. Get ownership in writing
Domain, hosting account, source repository, CMS admin and design files must belong to you. Companies that keep the hosting in their own name are building a lock-in, not a website.
10. Price the second year, not just the first
Ask what maintenance, security updates, backups and small content changes cost annually. A cheap build with expensive maintenance is not cheap.
Quick evaluation checklist
- Three portfolio sites scoring 80+ on mobile PageSpeed
- Evidence their clients' sites rank in search
- Milestone-based quote with acceptance criteria
- Verifiable ISO certification
- CMS demo and written handover plan
- You own domain, hosting, code and content
The bottom line
A website is a revenue asset: judge builders on measurable outcomes of past work, not mockups. ITSolvez designs and builds high-performance, SEO-architected websites and web applications under ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and ISO 20000-1 certified processes for clients across India and 5+ countries.