Typical problems during web development process and how to avoid them

In an ideal world, everything goes according to plan and problems don’t exist. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. During website or web application development we can encounter problems. Let’s go over some of those problems and their solutions.

Common Problems in Website Development

Below you can find a list of common problems which may occur during website or web application development. 

1. Website/web application cost.
2. Wrong definition of requirements.
3. Website/web application security.
4. Missing or bad-written SEO.
5. Bad performance.
6. Sloppy code.

We have our list and now let’s answer the main question. How to avoid these problems?

Problem 1: How much will the web application project cost?

Everything comes down to price. If we want to have a well-built website/web application, we must reckon with cost. Every company has its budget limit for web development, and it usually cannot be changed.

Web development cost factors:

There are several factors that influence cost such as functionality advancement, website size, and web design advancement. The cost has a wide range. We must remember if we want to have a well-written, working and secure website/web application the cost must correlate with quality.

On the other hand, we need to remember that the budget can change during the web development process. In most cases, we are not ready for it, and this causes a lot of problems. Mostly because when we have a tight budget, any surprise can break the bank. Also, if the budget was agreed upon in the beginning, it should not change if the requirements haven’t changed.

Solution 1: Get to know what you are paying for

Every website/web application has its fixed costs:

• web server or hosting,
• domain,
• plugins,
• licenses.

With these things, you can be 100% sure how much you will pay for it, whether it is a one-time payment or a subscription. So with services getting to know how much something will cost it’s easy and fast. Besides it we also have to consider another things:

• creating a website/web application design,
• coding a website/web application,
• deployment to the production server,
• SEO.

Having a fixed rate for the project might seem like a good solution for us. First of all, we know from the start how much we will pay. Does it work in every case? During the development process, many things may change. It can be design or business requirements. Every change affects the budget. Sometimes the budget is increased and sometimes is decreased.

Let’s say you have a specific budget for the project. However, during the development, it changes, and you have more or less money to spend. When we have a fixed rate, it’s hard to adjust project development to budget changes. The same thing is with the changes in design or functionalities. For many projects, besides the fixed rate, there are always some additional costs. Does it mean that a fixed rate is bad? Is there a better solution? My answer is: yes and no.

Website & web applications price options

Fixed-rate vs. Time and material (T&M)

The opposite of fixed-rate is T&M. Projects in T&M mode, you are paying for the time that the web development team spent on the project. The payment is hourly based. As opposed to paying for the whole development process. For example, in June, the team worked 80 hours. You are billed only for those 80 hours – no more, no less.

Let’s compare price quotations of projects using both approaches:

Fixed-rate

You came to the agency/software house with your project. First of all, you need to have a well-written brief. You should know upfront what the website/application should look like. Also, what functionalities it should offer. Without this information, it’s very hard to evaluate how much the project will cost. After creating a brief, the agency/software house tells you about the total cost, and then work starts. At this moment, if your budget changes or your requirements change, it’s hard to change the overall cost. This demands a change in the brief, which also demands a change in cost. A fixed rate is not flexible. Also, every new functionality will generate additional costs. In this case, the fixed rate is not fixed at the end of the day.

Time and material

In this scenario, it’s also important and helpful to have a brief. However, if some information is missing, it is a not big problem, like with a fixed rate. Knowing your requirements, the agency/software house can give you a range of hours. For example, doing project X will take from 500 to 700 hours. If it takes 500 hours, you will only pay for these hours. If it takes less than the estimated range, for example, 450 you will not pay for 500 hours or more. But you may ask: What if it takes more time?. This can happen. If your project requires more hours than the top range, chances are you will know about this issue much earlier. The big advantage of T&M is flexibility. If your requirements change, adjusting the quotation is simple.

T&M for web development also has another advantage. At the end of the month, you will be informed how many hours were spent on the project. Moreover, you will know how many web developers were working on it. Also, depending on the developer, each hour will have a different cost. For example, one hour of work for a junior developer is less expensive than for a senior web developer. The project manager or QA tester also charges different rates. So depending on the type of work or experience, the hourly rate will vary.

Fixed-rate or T&M?

Well, this depends. The fixed rate is a better solution for small projects. For example, websites where the number of hours will be 400 max. For this kind of project, the specification, and requirements are simple. If the project is more complex and requires over 400 hours. Choose T&M. Large projects, with a fixed rate, would generate a bigger cost. Certain tasks would be out-of-scope (OOS), which increases the overall price. T&M offers you more flexibility.

Time and material are a good choice if you have an existing project that needs changes/fixes/new features. In this situation, it’s hard to estimate how much time something may take. This is especially true if our web developer did not code your project from the beginning. Our web developer may need time to learn your project. A fixed-rate will not work. The price estimate may be inaccurate because of the time it would take to learn the existing code.

You should always plan and consider all possible costs. You should also remember additional costs like servers, plugins, licenses, or support. For more information, talk to 👉 our web developer specialist 👈 I can guarantee that we find the best solution in a specific budget to suit all your needs.

Planning & price estimation with our web developers:

Before we start work, it is important to plan and take that day or two to do so. So here are key things to include in your brief:

• web design details
• a list of subpages (About us, Services, Contact us)
• Functionalities

Ask our developers about the following:

• cost of plugins
• price of integrations
• cost of domain name
• fee of web server

Based on all this information, we can provide you with an overall cost. This way, you can create a website or web application budget.

You should also remember that good development takes time and has its cost. Consider this chart below 👇

Let’s take a look at these scenarios:

Good and cheap scenario

Let’s say we find someone who has skill and abilities and is willing to do our projects at a low cost. But this project will be completed over a long period of time. Can you afford to wait?

Good and fast scenario

If we can’t an extended period of time for our project to be complete. We have to reckon with costs. A high-quality web developer may charge more, but it will be worth it.

Fast and cheap

If something costs less than the average market price and the contractor offers to do it quickly, the outcome will not be good.

However, with good planning, your project can be created in a reasonable time frame for the right price.

Problem 2: Requirements aren’t clearly defined

The size of the website or web application does not matter if we don’t know the full specification. We need to be able to plan your web development and set goals. Every detail that you can provide us is vital. Also, remember to ask our web developers questions. There is no such thing as a dumb question. Remember, chaos in the project is your biggest enemy.

Solution 2: Set goals with a web development agency

Before I start doing something complex, I like to make a list. Are there things I need? What do I want to achieve at the end of the process? What are my goals? Can something go wrong? etc. Before you start a website/web application development, learn your needs. Talk about it with our web developers and ask them if your goals are achievable. Be sure you mentioned everything and ensure that the specifications are clear for all parties involved.

Problem 3: Content management system/e-commerce site got hacked!

Websites on the internet are based on content management systems. CMS security can be a big problem for developers. A poorly chosen plugin, an incorrect code, or not doing updates can have costly consequences. Some consequences of not securing a website/web application include:

1. Finding all corrupted code may take a very long time.
2. We may lose data.
3. Sensitive data may be shared with a third party.
4. Our website/web application may be down.
5. Confidence in the company is declining.

Websites & web app security are very important. No one wants to lose the hard work of developers, SEO specialists, or copywriters. So how do we protect the website from hacking?

Solution 3: Back up the site and take care of security measures.

There are 8 easy steps to make a secure website:

1. Make sure the code is well-written and prevents common hacking methods (for example, SQL injection).
2. If you are using a content management system like WordPress, be sure your website as well your plugins are always updated to the latest version.
3. Don’t install outdated plugins while using the content management system.
4. Don’t install plugins from uncertain websites (for example. Torrents).
5. Take care of your passwords. Don’t set up easy to guess usernames and passwords like admin/admin123. Your password:
   • should be at least 8 characters long,
   • have at least one big letter,
   • have at least one special character
6. Don’t share the same credentials between a few applications. If one application’s database is leaked, the hackers may try to log in with obtained credentials to login into other services. If you have the same login and password everywhere you make it very easy to break-in.
7. Be sure your website/web app has its backup. This backup should be on a different server than your website.
8. Don’t give access to the website panel/web server to everyone. A good practice is to sign NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) with everyone who will get credentials. By doing this, you are securing your data. Also, you have legal options to hold people accountable in case of any violations.

If you want to prevent your website from hacking then take a look at our 👉 support plans 👈 We will audit your website and if we find any vulnerabilities we will fix them. Besides that from the day the support will start, we will take care of website security and make sure it’s working properly. 

Problem 4: Missing or bad-written SEO

SEO of the website it’s very important. Your website should be created according to SEO guidelines. This way your webpage will be higher in Google ranks. A high Google ranking leads to more web users.

One key element that makes a website hard to position is those with built-in theme-builders. For example, Elemantor or WP baker. They are great for website editors, but code readability makes for poor performance. It’s better to invest in a custom website that is optimized.

Web professionals should know how to build 👉 well-optimized websites 👈 Some important factors:

1. Every page should have a unique title and description.
2. Avoid 404 errors. Any non-existing pages should be redirected to new URLs.
3. Every page should have only one h1 headline. Other headlines should follow the proper structure
4. Every image should have an ALT description.
5. Content should be unique.

Solution 4: Use plugins to boost SEO and take care of the structure of the website.

SEO-related tasks are a two-team job. Some tasks are web developer-specific, while others are more for SEO agencies. SEO agencies can create unique content, titles, descriptions, and much more. While web developers can help with the following:

Recommend an SEO plugin

If your website is built with 👉 WordPress 👈 you have the option to install a plugin boosting SEO. We recommend installing SEO by Yoast. It allows you to take care of everything important to SEO from meta titles and descriptions to breadcrumbs. This plugin has a friendly user interface.

Proper site markup.

Web developers should take care of the structure of the website:

1. Every page should have only one h1 headline.
2. The remaining headlines (h2-h5) should be used in a tree hierarchy:
   
3. Using HTML tags like an article, section, header, nav, footer, etc.

Problem 5: Bad performance

This problem is related to problem number 4. For SEO purposes, your website should have good scores in Google Page Speed and/or GTMetrix. The better scores you have, the more SEO-friendly is your website. 

The first few seconds are crucial. If our website doesn’t load fast enough or will have a lot of errors the user will exit the website and move on.

So having a slowly loading website with errors generates two problems. First, the position of the website/web app in browsers results is poor. Second, the users don’t want to use our website, which leads to a lack of business.

Solution 5: Score at least 90/100 in Google Page Speed and 90% in GTMetrix.

Take a look at the results we’ve managed to achieve on one of our 👉 projects 👈

Can you how much green we have on those screenshots? The results of this project are amazing 🥳. The website is loading turbo fast (0.8s) on mobile as well on desktop. Most of the Google Page Speed and GTMetrix requirements about performance are fulfilled. In the end, we’ve got a beautiful website that catches an eye and also is properly optimized, and hits the best scores.

If you want your website to have better performance and optimization, 👉 contact 👈 us.

Problem 6: Website or web application code is not well-written.

It’s all about scalability. The website or web application may be small, containing one page with minimal content, or it may be large. A large website may contain an abundance of content. The key is to have a well-written code, regardless, of project size.

We can’t fix the problems mentioned above if developers do not create clean codes and clean file structures.

Solution 6: Quality of the code as the determinant of good web developers.

There is no compromise when it comes to website quality. Your website can be fast, and well-written while being modern, and beautiful.

The key is to have experience and knowledge about development on an advanced level. Senior web developers have to learn for a few years before hitting peak skill levels. However, developers are constantly learning and expanding their skills.

Practices of high-quality web developers

First, a good developer will share details about the website.

• How the website will be created
• What the process will look like
• What technologies can be used during website development

Additionally, a good developer will share his codes once all requirements are fulfilled from the contract.

Next to our web developers, you will find a QA tester. This web specialist is responsible for providing a flawless website or web application. The less buggy product you will get, the better the agency and the developers are.

Web technologies used by web developers to ensure good coding:

Here are some tools our web developers use on a daily basis:

• prettier – tool parsing code and enforcing a consistent code style across all files. Thanks to it, no matter how many developers are working on the code, the code is consistent.
• eslint – with this tool, we can be sure that our code will be written with good practices. If the code is not following rules, then errors appear.
• precommits – before any changes are pushed to the GIT repository (see our article about 👉 GIT repository 👈). We are checking the whole code to find any code that violates the rules and standards.

How to avoid basic problems during the web development process?

In this article, I highlighted a few problems which may happen during the web development process. I’ve also mentioned some valuable solutions. Let’s summarize them now.

Be sure you know how much the website/web application will cost before the development process will start.

Create a brief full of website/web app requirements and ask the agency about cost. Be sure you mention everything that you want to have. A good agency/software house will always inform you about additional costs (for example web server, plugins, etc.). With a good plan and evaluation, you will be able to plan your budget.

Always have a plan

Don’t let chaos enter your project. Everything should be well-planned and listed. Think about everything that you need on your website/web application and write it down. If you are not sure about something ask the agency/software house for help. If you provide a good list of requirements it will be easier for web developers to code. Furthermore, you will be happy with the final project.

Secure websites and web applications

Always take care of your website/web application security. Websites based on content management systems are vulnerable to being hacked. That’s why it’s important to install the newest WordPress and plugin versions. Another thing to consider is creating a website/web application based on Jamstack architecture. This solution eliminates many security-related problems.

Take care of SEO

Be sure your website is built in an SEO-friendly way and use plugins like SEO by Yoast to boost your SEO. With good SEO you will be displayed higher in search results and more people will get to know about you.

Do you want to check the health of your website?

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Keep high-performance

Your website should load smoothly and fast. The indicators of website performance are Google Page Speed and GTMetrix. Your website/web application should score at least 90/100 on Google Page Speed and 90% at GTMetrix. 🚀

The Code of your website/web application should be well-written

Take care of code quality in your project. Well-written website is more secure and easier to scale. Good code makes it easier to achieve good performance scores along with a proper website structure.

Developing a website/web application is more complex than many of us realize. Therefore, it’s good to know what can happen during the web development process and how to deal with problems if they occur.