If you’re on the hunt for a website designer, you will be faced with the question—to choose a website design agency or a freelancer for your project? Sure, at first glance they might seem like two peas in a pod, but trust us, they’re more like a grapefruit and a lemon—both tasty, but with distinctly different flavours.
It’s essential to choose a reliable website designer that offers great communication, professionalism and can create a website that’s both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Because let’s be honest, a website that’s as ugly as a mud fence isn’t going to do you any favours!
In this blog, we unpack the deciding factors on why you might choose a website design agency or a freelancer. By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to make an informed decision that will leave you feeling calm and confident with taking the next steps for your business.
The importance of your website
In today’s digital age, having a website is an essential extension of your business. It’s the first point of contact for many customers and often serves as a virtual storefront. A website not only provides customers with information about your products or services, but it also showcases your brand’s personality and values
If your website is outdated, difficult to navigate or isn’t consistent with the physical business’ personality—it will leave your customers feeling disoriented and will most likely see them leave your website, clicking on a competitor’s website instead. Learn more about optimising the user’s experience in our blog How Website Design Affects Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It’s vital you invest in your website in order to grow your business.
With the majority of consumers using the internet to research businesses before making a purchase, having a website that’s both engaging and informative is crucial to building trust with potential customers. In short, a website is a vital component of any successful business strategy, and neglecting it could mean missing out on a significant number of potential customers.
Agency VS. Freelancer
There are several main benefits with choosing an agency over a freelancer. Although businesses are tempted to support the local freelancer, for big projects, this option isn’t viable and you might find you’ll need to invest in agency support later down the track. Read the benefits of choosing a website design agency below.
1. Team of experts
A website design agency has a team of experts with diverse skills such as designers, developers, project managers and marketers. This means that you’ll have access to a range of skills and expertise that a freelancer may not be able to offer.
There’s a lot that goes into building a functional website that for one individual to possess all of these skills is impossible. Choosing an agency allows you to feel at ease knowing that it’s not one person that is overseeing the project but instead a team of experts who are each specialised in a different area
As your web design project progresses, you’ll realise just how important this factor is throughout each step of development.
2. Scalability
A website design agency can scale up or down to meet your needs. If your project requires more resources or manpower, an agency can allocate additional resources to your project. This is particularly useful if you have a larger project or a tight deadline you need to meet
During the website design process, businesses will often want to add more features to the website or tweak development to suit their unique needs. Working with an agency, these changes can be completed with ease, efficiency and finesse—offering a level of customisation that will position your website from competitors
For freelancers, unfortunately, often they can’t meet these requirements and will outsource skills to complete the project. This can lead to longer wait times, complicated errors and major issues that will dramatically affect the production of your website.
3. Consistency
An agency has a defined process and a standard of quality that ensures consistency across projects. This means that your project will be completed to a high standard, and you’ll have a consistent experience working with the agency.
As an agency ourselves, our process of designing and building a website follows a strict timeline. From the initial strategy, to the collaborative design, to the reviews and final production—we have mastered the recipe to creating and building a website that exceeds the client’s expectations.
It has taken many (many) years to master the timeline of production. With decades of experience under our belt, we’re able to offer a consistent experience to every business we work with.
4. Support and maintenance
Depending on the complexity, the size and the features of the website, will determine the amount of support and maintenance required for the website. What is guaranteed, is that when you’re working with technology, a level of support is essential to ensure you’re ahead of any updates (which happens often
An agency can provide ongoing support and maintenance for your website. This means that if you have any issues or need updates, you can reach out to the agency for help. Freelancers may not be able to provide ongoing support, which could leave you stranded if something goes wrong with your website.
Additionally, when working with an agency, these updates are timely and will happen in the background without you even knowing. For freelancers, often they can’t keep up with the constant changes and won’t act on the update unless asked by the business. Of course, this is dependent on the freelancer but it’s important to confirm with the individual their level of support before agreeing to the website design.
5. Accountability
An agency is accountable for the work they do. This means that if something goes wrong or the project is not completed to your satisfaction, the agency is available to fix it. With a freelancer, you may not have the same level of accountability.
For us, your satisfaction is everything. We want you to feel confident using your website, proud to showcase your digital presence to customers and genuinely feel like your web-store is an accurate extension of your physical presence. If you want anything changed, added or fixed—we’re here to action your requirements.
Do you choose an agency or freelancer for your website?
Choosing between a website design agency and a freelancer will have a significant impact on the outcome of your website project. From the communication, to the design and features and to the final product, making this decision will decide the course of your web project.
In our experience, we’ve found that many small businesses choose a freelancer they know personally to complete the web project. This is a cost-effective option that is great for uncomplicated one page sites. However, larger sites that might require more pages, e-commerce integration, or simply a more professional USX—we highly recommend you choose a website design agency.
Choosing the right partner for your website project is essential to ensure that your website is both functional and aesthetically pleasing and delivers a great user experience to potential customers. If you’re looking to start your project or find out more information, get in contact with our team today!
