Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Technical Partner Before Building Headless Website

Headless CMS makes it possible to add, test, update, and distribute content on multiple presentation layers. Traditional CMS doesn't have these capabilities due to its rigid and inflexible nature. This explains why it has long been a thorn in the flesh of site owners. Not anymore. Not only do building headless websites faster, more reliable, and easier to maintain than traditional CMS sites, but they also offer greater flexibility in terms of website design, front-end technology, and scalability. The result is a seamless, visually stunning web experience that customers love.

Once you've decided on building a headless website, you'll need specialists for building, implementing, and maintaining your new site. Unless you have an in-house team of engineers who can design and build a scalable and easy-to-maintain solution, you'll need a dedicated partner. Such a partner will bring years of experience and top-tier expertise to your project, ensuring its success from the get-go.

Selecting the right implementation partner for building headless website needs can be a challenging task. Although submitted proposals have a huge impact on your decision, interviewing and knowing the right questions to ask can help you gather the needed information to select the best agency for your needs.

In no particular order, we've come up with a list of 10 questions to ask a potential technical partner before choosing who will handle building a headless website project.

Key Questions to Ask Your Agency for Building Headless Website

The questions in this section are crucial, so make them the focal point of your interview.

1. Is Building Headless Website Even the Right Solution for My Website?

Headless architecture can provide many benefits, but it may not be the right solution for every website. If the move is not well-considered, it can quickly turn into a double-edged sword. Even though building a headless website ensures a superior front-end user experience and boasts incredible flexibility and scalability, it can increase the need for a larger resource pool to cater to integration, maintenance, and (possible) downtime costs. Besides, it increases the probability of bumping into several CMS challenges down the road.

Consult with the agency to understand their recommendations and whether building a headless website is suitable for your project.

Here are a few questions you can ask the agency in that regard:

• What initial set-up costs are needed for a complete overhaul of our traditional website architecture?
• What use cases do I need to define to take full advantage of the headless approach?
• How steep is the learning curve?
• How digitally mature does my company need to be to cope with new use cases when they're being defined?
• Should I anticipate any CMS challenges post-implementation? Do we need to migrate to a new CMS platform for our website to live up to its full potential?

Don't settle for half-baked or poorly-elaborated answers. Remember that if you adopt headless architecture without first ascertaining its viability for your company, you might not realise all the intended benefits. And that, quite frankly, is a bummer.

2. How Many Experiences Have You Had with Headless Website Development?

Like so many things, experience is everything. Think about the first time you tried swinging a golf club or driving a stick shift. Did it go perfectly? Probably not. When it comes to building headless website development, you'll want to make sure your agency has years of experience. After all, you want your new building headless website to be a masterpiece, not a practice run. Keep in mind that while headless and composable are the latest buzzwords, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone knows how to deliver the right results on this architecture.

Here are a few questions to ask to determine the agency's level of experience:

• Tell me about the building headless website projects you've worked on in the past.
• How did you approach them?
• Can you describe a completed project for a company like mine?
• Have you got a portfolio of work?
• How long will it take to complete my new website?

By the time you arrive at the last question, you'll have gotten a clear picture of the agency's experience and expertise. Any compromises at this point can sabotage your entire project, so don't risk it.

3. What's the Right CMS/Tech Stack for My Project?

Considering just how beneficial headless architecture is, it may seem like an obvious decision to commit to a specific CMS. But it's not.

To ensure you don't end up investing in the wrong CMS or technology stack, ask the agency for clarity. A wrong selection can cause your business to accrue an insurmountable technical debt over time, which can be incredibly hard to come out of. In simple terms, technical debt is the sum of money, flexibility, and opportunity lost when a company makes a poor investment decision. Asking this question also offers the perfect opportunity to further gauge the agency's technical prowess and genuineness.

A critical decision you'll need to make sooner rather than later is deciding between open-source CMS or closed-source CMS. Developing open-source headless website projects may require a substantial investment to make them suitable for production, as the concept of headless architecture is still relatively new. Commercial options are currently more developed and suitable for commercial applications. From a technical standpoint, open-source CMS solutions allow developers to access the code if need be, while closed-source CMS platforms are fundamentally cloud-based.

An agency worth its salt will also educate you on any additional technologies you might need to successfully run in building a headless website. GraphQL is one such technology, which aims to make APIs fast, flexible, and developer-friendly. GraphQL APIs are commonly used in building headless website CMSs to streamline the entire customer experience and UX.

Other technologies worth enquiring about include:

• Languages: Popular ones include JavaScript, SQL, and TypeScript
• Frameworks and libraries: React.js, Next.js, and Gatsby.js are quite popular at the moment
• Third-party services: Static site generators (SSG) and authentication are worth scrutiny

The next level of headless architecture involves dividing the back end into microservices. These are essential parts of an e-commerce website and may include search, catalogue, shopping carts, and others, which operate in isolation from one another. Ask about emerging technologies, too, to make sure you're not missing out on anything and that your final tech stack is the best one you could assemble.

4. How Can the Cost of My Tech Stack Change When the Business Grows?

When considering your tech stack, it's important to think about how it will scale as your business grows. Some headless technologies may be more expensive to scale than others, so it's worth asking the agency about the potential cost implications down the line.

CMS is one area that's often overlooked from a scalability standpoint. Most business owners are so excited to launch their first product online that they tend to choose a familiar CMS over the others. They then add another CMS to support mobile, another when they add an app and yet another as they expand their product line. The bigger their business grows, the more their technical debt accrues which also results in more burdensome content management. To avoid falling into this rather costly trap, ask the agency the hard questions.

A critical decision you'll need to make sooner rather than later is deciding between open-source CMS or closed-source CMS. To ensure you don't end up investing in the wrong CMS or technology stack, ask the agency for clarity.

5. What's Your Approach to Content Management and Content Structuring?

Structuring content ensures it's discoverable, clear, precise, reusable, and highly flexible for a variety of different interfaces and end projects.

If you don't take content structuring seriously from the onset, you risk accruing enormous in the long haul, which happens when unstructured, outdated, low-quality accumulates across your platforms. This isn't good news from a user experience standpoint, as it makes it more difficult for users - as well as your content editors - to access the information they want. Further, your brand reputation will suffer a great deal, because let's be honest, no one wants to be associated with a company that's outright unprofessional and reckless.

That said, a content structuring model that works well for another website may not work at all for yours. The right agency will guide you via workshops and planning and will help you choose the right model. In its simplest form, a content model creates a sound, logical taxonomy structure for the content you create and produce online.

Building a headless website CMS is the best example of content structuring done right. Content is typically organised based on its meaning and purpose. Things such as the landing page may be broken down into smaller chunks (content types) such as a hero section, client logo section, and client quotes section. In turn, these chunks, keeping in mind that content is being treated as data and isn't attached to a certain presentation layer, can then be used as building blocks for other landing pages that may appear in a variety of interfaces (such as websites, chatbots, smartphone apps, or wherever). Essentially, a headless CMS works to extend the flexibility that comes with using structured content and reusable components.

6. What Level of Control Will I Have Over My Website?

In building a headless website, you have more control over your website's content and functionality, but this also means you will need to manage it more directly. Ask the agency about the level of control you will have over your website's content and functionality and how you can manage it after the project is complete. Depending on how much control you want, this question can enable you to whittle down your list of prospective agencies to a few or just one.

Additional Considerations

Before you select a technical partner for building headless website project, take time to vet them further so you don't end up with the wrong fit. Here are extra questions to guide you in that quest:

How Scalable or Popular is the Chosen Tech Stack?

Choosing the right tech stack could be the difference between developing a robust, scalable headless website and setting your business up for a lifetime of headaches. So be sure not to fumble on that front. Most times, the right tech is often the most scalable and possibly also the most popular.

A popular tech stack is widely used and actively maintained by a community of developers. This ensures that there will be ongoing updates and support available for the technology, and reduces the risk of getting stuck with outdated or unsupported software.

How Fast Can You Roll Out New Features?

One of the advantages of a headless website is the ability to roll out new features quickly and without hiccups. However, this is dependent on the agency's development process and capabilities. Ask the agency about their development speed and how quickly they can implement new features. Note the answer down so you can compare it with other prospective agencies on your list.

What Security Measures Will Be in Place to Protect My Website?

It doesn't matter if it's a traditional or headless website; security is one of the most important aspects of running an online presence. As a subtle reminder, a hacked website can lead to data loss, income loss, credibility, and potential lawsuits. So really, taking website security for granted is pretty much the fastest way to sink your entire brand.

As such, it's important to ask the agency about the security measures they will implement to protect your website from potential threats. This includes measures such as secure hosting, regular software updates, and ongoing monitoring and maintenance.

What Kind of Support and Maintenance Will Be Provided After the Project is Complete?

This is such an important question to ask because if the agency just leaves you to it after the launch if anything goes wrong, how will you sort out the problem? It could end up costing your business a lot of money.

Beyond the obvious cost implications, ongoing support and maintenance are necessary to ensure that your building headless website continues to perform well and meet your business needs. Ask the agency about their support and maintenance services and what kind of ongoing maintenance will be required.

Conclusion

Going through the process of a new headless website is an exciting, but often stressful process. Your development partner will be key to whether the building and eventual implementation of your new site is a nightmare or a dream.

From determining whether headless is ideal for your company to vetting the agency's experience, approach to content structuring, and security capabilities, the questions in this blog can undoubtedly help you choose the right agency for your project. So before you start your next headless website project, use these questions as a starting point for conversations with potential agencies—thank us later.

Looking to build a new headless website? rVise would love to partner with you. (We'll even start by answering these questions). Our obsession is you, your business, and making your brand memorable. Let us re-platform your website to the latest and the greatest. Go headless, today!