Hiring a web developer in McAllen for a website rebuild

By Noe Guerrero III

If you're hiring a web developer in McAllen to replace an existing website, ask for a handover plan before approving the build. It should identify who controls your accounts, what happens to your email, where old links will lead, and who checks that customers can still contact you after launch.

A rebuild touches a business that's already operating. Customers may have bookmarked a service page. Staff may depend on appointment notifications. Your domain might be billed through a former employee's account. Those details belong in the project scope alongside the new design.

Start with an account inventory

Make a list of the services supporting the current website: domain registration, hosting, email, website administration, analytics, booking software, and any payment or customer management tools.

For each one, record the account owner, billing contact, renewal date, and person authorized to make changes. Keep passwords in a password manager, separate from this inventory. Use individual invitations or delegated access where the provider supports them.

Ask the developer to explain what the business will control at handover. Will you receive administrator access? Can another developer maintain the site? What files, content exports, and documentation are included? If a service remains in the agency's account, agree on how a future transfer would work.

Clear answers here make the relationship easier to manage from the beginning.

Give email its own continuity check

Don't let “move the website” become an unclear instruction to move everything attached to your domain.

Identify who manages email and whether that service is staying where it is. Before anyone changes domain settings, have the person responsible document the existing configuration and the specific changes needed for the website. Include the email provider in that review when necessary.

Agree on a test: send messages into and out of the business mailbox before and after launch. Check shared addresses and website notifications too. Assign someone who can confirm actual delivery, rather than relying only on a success message displayed on the website.

Decide what happens to old pages

Ask for a list of existing page addresses and a decision for each important one: keep it, replace it with a relevant new page, or retire it deliberately. Include links used in advertisements, printed materials, and business profiles.

When URLs change, Google's site migration guidance recommends mapping old addresses to new ones and using permanent server redirects where possible. It warns against sending many unrelated old pages to the homepage. Google also advises keeping redirects for at least a year in general and notes that search visibility can fluctuate during a move.

Make that work a named deliverable. A proposal should explain who builds the redirect map, tests it, and monitors problems after launch. Avoid treating a promise to “keep the SEO” as a complete migration plan.

Test the entire customer request

A working button is only the beginning of a contact flow. Use a clearly labeled test submission to follow a request through the new website and into the place your team actually works.

For example, a McAllen service business might need a quote request to reach both an office inbox and a customer management system. Check the customer confirmation, staff notification, saved record, and any attachments. Then have a staff member reply through the normal process.

Do the same for bookings, newsletter subscriptions, and other connections included in the project. Test on a phone as well as a computer. If customers can choose a language, follow the whole request in each supported language. Document who fixes a failure involving an outside provider.

Put names beside launch responsibilities

Before choosing a launch date, agree on a short written plan covering:

• Who approves the final pages and customer flows.

• Who saves the old site and checks the recovery plan.

• Who makes domain or hosting changes and when.

• Who can decide to reverse the change if a critical problem appears.

• Who checks email, forms, redirects, and integrations immediately afterward.

• How long launch support lasts and how urgent problems are reported.

Choose a window when those people are available. Schedule a follow-up review, too, so issues found during ordinary business use have somewhere to go.

When comparing developers, use their portfolio to start a conversation about relevant work, then ask them to walk through your handover plan. RGV Web Design is based in McAllen, and our web development services include ongoing website care. Bring your current URL and account inventory to the first conversation so the rebuild can start with a clear picture of how your business operates.