Do you need a new website for your business? Or are you looking at a huge website rebuild or update for your business? If so, then you’re likely weighing whether you should hire a freelancer or an agency for your website development needs.
Here’s the deal: you don’t want just anyone. You want experience, design expertise and someone willing to turn your project around as quickly as possible. You can find both with certain web design agencies and freelancers. So who do you choose? Often, it comes down to weighing the following pros and cons.
Hiring a Freelancer
A freelancer isn’t committed to a certain company or agency. Instead, they’re self-employed and take on several projects for different entities at a time. Often, freelancers work from home, juggling all aspects of their business on their own.
Pros
- Lower costs: A freelancer doesn’t have many overhead costs to consider when setting their prices. This means they can charge less for their services, putting them at a competitive advantage from a cost standpoint.
- Direct access: When you hire a freelance website designer, you communicate with them directly. This gives you direct access to the person working on your site, which you don’t always get when working with an agency.
Cons
- No set work hours: Freelancers often have flexible schedules that vary day by day. This means that communication with them may lag, and response times and turnaround times may vary widely.
- Your project could be “on the side”: Sometimes, freelancers end up “moonlighting” after they leave their 9-5. This means that your website development project could be worked on at night after the freelancer has already put in a full day’s work.
- You’ll need to find more freelancers: A web design freelancer is one person who is good at one thing—web design. But if you need more detailed development work or copywriting services or SEO services, you’ll need to find additional freelancers to make up a full team for your project. This will also require more hands-on involvement from you to ensure everyone’s on track and delivering work to you.
Choosing to Work With an Agency
A website development agency is a team of individuals working towards a common goal: your website development project. Often, an agency includes graphic designers, web developers, copywriters and more to fulfill all aspects of your website.
Pros
- Actual working hours: An agency has actual working hours for communication purposes. This means that from the hours of 9 to 4 or whatever your agency’s hours are, you can get ahold of your website development team.
- Dedication to your project: Within an agency, you have individuals dedicated to your project from start to finish, ensuring each step in the process is completed successfully.
- Higher level development solutions: The agency offers highly customized and enhanced development solutions including security and ongoing updates that a freelancer just cannot manage for you.
- Less time involvement from you: An agency brings with it project management expertise—someone on the team will keep track of all moving parts and keep you informed of progress. This frees you up to focus on what you’re good at—your own business.
Cons
- Higher costs: When you give your website development project to an agency, there will be a cost difference between a freelancer and a team. However, you receive experience, high levels of communication and greater development possibilities in return.
If you’re looking for a professional website, the ability to communicate about your project frequently and a greater amount of resources at your disposal, hiring an agency is the best option for you. The cost is offset by the experience, the ongoing support and the higher level solutions you’ll receive.
Ready to Get Started? Call Us Today!
Ready to hire a team that actually answers the phone? We’re ready to get started on your website project today. Give our team a call at 763-350-8762 or send us a message online!
