Choosing the right and creative professional person for your website and web design is something to consider wisely. With some many online builders solutions available nowadays it might become tough.
Choosing the right web designer may be more challenging for business owners, but when it comes to selecting the right fit for your business I believe as Freelancer, that the more options you consider initially, the more informed decision you will make. In the end, investing in a new website design is not only a considerable time and financial investment for a business owner but also critical in driving their business forward and meeting sales and marketing goals.
Before choosing the right web designer, it’s best first to determine, who will be able to meet your needs best and deliver your expectations.
Some businesses opt for an established agency with the experience and full-scale design and development team to carry the project from conception through deployment, while others prefer to work with a freelance web designer.
Each partnership offers unique benefits and challenges. It’s important to understand the nature of each relationship before committing time and money to the project.
Working with a Web Design Agency
Website design agencies, in general, are more credible. Agencies, big or small have established a reputation within the web design industry and strive to uphold that reputation amongst their community and industry peers.
Web design agencies will more often get reviews, which, ultimately hold them accountable for their services and client relationships.
Web design agencies tend to offer more diverse expertise. Large web design agencies often employ their SEO copywriters, web developers, and website designers which means their clients do not necessarily need to worry about hiring multiple professionals or freelancers to complete their project.
Web design agencies can provide more resources.
Agencies enjoy larger project budgets to devote to project resources and better technology. Additionally, our web design agencies can offer fully managed WordPress hosting on a dedicated server keeping our client’s websites safe, secure and providing the ability to scale services up or down as needed. Some freelancers also provide those services too. Just ask them.
Website design agencies May offer better, more focused web support.
Offering web support is a huge advantage a web design agency has over a freelance website designer. Many agencies have personnel to provide dedicated web support. Clients that are committing significant resources to their website and digital marketing materials except that the web design agency they choose to partner with will be able to support their website after deployment.
The Cons of Working with a Web Design Agency
Web design agencies are usually WAY more expensive.
Depending on the agency you choose to partner with they may have multiple people working on your web design project and fixed costs to assume.
By nature, this full-service approach will often incur higher rates to account for the dedicated resources on the project. Additionally, many web design agencies have flashy studios that carry with them significant overhead.
With some agencies comes bureaucracy.
Within large scale web design agencies we often see additional processes and deeper project management hierarchy. In my opinion, this practice does not offer any benefit to clients as projects tend to slow down and require more budget.
Working with a Freelance Web Designer
The Pros of Working with a Freelance Website Designer
Freelance web designers are inherently cheaper.
Freelancer web designers can set their own hourly or per project rates allowing them to be more flexible when it comes to budgeting than a web design agency.
Freelance designers usually don’t have to worry about overhead, office space or employee salaries which allows them to offer lower rates than a full-scale design firm. Not assuming such fixed costs as an agency allow them to offer their services way cheaper than an agency. Much more flexible and available than an agency, you can contact them anytime to help you to solve a problem.
Freelance website designers can be more specialized.
Freelancers are sometimes more specialized in a specific area of design or niche creative services. A freelance web designer can be a great fit if you’re not looking for a total website overhaul, but more focused on a particular feature to add to your website.
Contrarily to an employee, a freelancer puts his reputation in the line constantly and makes sure to deliver a flexible and quality service. The word to mouth publicity will help him to grow his reputation. The freelancer won’t look for charging you extra hours and will less regarding adding you extra options for free.
The Cons of Working with a Freelance Web Designer
No creative team, less creative resources.
Freelance web designers are most often working solo and do not have the support of a larger creative or development team to support them. The singular approach means that you are usually at the mercy of their schedule given that they can only take on one or two projects at a time. In contrast, working with a web design agency most often affords you a dedicated creative team for your website project. In some cases, website design and development can be a big job depending on your project. Your project might requires hiring more than a single freelance web designer to complete. You should expect to also hire a website developer and maybe a content writer or photographer to help drive your project across the finish line.
Project management falls upon the business owner.
In the case that your business hires multiple freelancers to complete a website design and development project, you must be prepared to play the role of the project manager. Project management is no easy task, even for those with experience in the web design industry. As the project manager, you must also be prepared in the event that all the freelancers you plan to hire do not work well together or have overlapping skill sets and methods of completing their tasks. If everyone doesn’t fit together nicely, you could be looking for a replacement which will cost you more time.
My advice, contact both. Ask for some quotes and will see by yourself the prices differences. In my opinion, the first impression matters, as the look of your website. You might have a feeling with the person and might have been referred to the person you will enter in contact with.
The problem as the web agency, despite paying the double, will be that you might end up have several persons to speak with. With a freelancer all your communication will be easier.
Bear in minds that several Freelancers used to work for agencies and are as competent as agencies.
Obviously, depending on your budget, the choice will be different.
Any question don’t hesitate to share a comment.
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