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Not all web developers are created equal. One way to tell which is right one for your project is to ask some initial questions. This will help you determine the developer’s skill and expertise level and if they can meet your expectations.

Here are some questions to ask each candidate:

1. Do you do the work yourself or do you outsource the work to someone else.

You should assess whether or not the quality of the website will be consistent with any samples you have been shown.

2. Do you have samples of live websites that you have designed in the last six months that are similar to what I have requested?

It is important to check on the current strength of their work.

3. How much business do you do in a year?

4. Do you get any repeat business?

5. Do you write your HTML with or without a program?

Websites written without a program tend to function better. Also, it can show you the knowledge level and skill set of your potential developer.

6. Can you fix this sample of broken code?

Send the candidate a piece of broken code and ask them to go through it line by line, fixing all that is flawed; this is a good competence test for your developer.

7. Do you validate your code?

The answer you are looking for is yes, so your information is less likely to be stolen and the search engine bots that rank your pages see your site as being credible.

8. What kind of style sheet do you use?

We suggest they use CSS or table-less XHTML because these cross more platforms and are user-friendly.

9. What blogs or industry sites do you read regularly?

This can give you insight into how a web developer might approach a topic and if the two of you are at the same level of expectation as to what defines an expertly done website.

It may seem like a lot to ask, but there is no harm in conducting an interview like this to find the professional you want.