Web Design: Hiring vs. Doing It on Your Own

One of the most widespread questions people tend to ask about creating a website for their businesses is whether they should do it on their own or hire a professional designer. In short, the answer will be as follows: it depends on your situation, what kind of business you run, how big it is, what industry you work in, how much time you spend on your core activities and so on. So let’s take a closer look at different aspects so that you can make a more informed decision.

1.    Speed

While the appearance of many tools like WordPress gives even a complete newbie an opportunity to create a website without spending time to acquire any additional knowledge, it doesn’t mean that the results will be any good. It all depends on how high your standards are, whether you possess any personal taste in design and how well you understand your clients and people in general. In addition to that, an entrepreneur usually has a lot of things going on, and it may be virtually impossible to set aside time for website building, no matter how simple it is. Hiring somebody working full-time on it seems to be a much more sensible and secure way.

2.    Price

Services of web design companies don’t come cheap, but you may seriously exaggerate just how expensive they are. High quality doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand with exorbitant fees – many teams manage to offer both reasonable prices and highly professional approach to their work. Take MagicDust, for example, a web design Sydney agency that has been around for over ten years – despite having an excellent reputation and highly experienced staff, they don’t charge their clients and arm and a leg. In addition to that, website builders often cost more in perspective.

3.    Quality

Making a website using a WordPress theme may be quick, cheap and easy, but there is one thing it cannot help you with: originality. The Internet today is rife with websites that look like a horde of clones: the same arrangement of elements, the same number of columns, the same design of menus. Colors, pictures and logos may be different, but it doesn’t save them from the overwhelming feeling of sameness. Only by hiring a professional team can you make sure your website will in any way stand apart from all the others.

4.    Expertise

Ask yourself: how computer-savvy are you? What do you know about SEO, online marketing and advertising? If you are not very good at any of these things, can you afford time to learn it on the go? Will your business wait while you do it? If you feel that your own expertise is not likely to be enough and improving it will take too much time and effort, it may be a good idea to concentrate on the core activities of your business and delegate website building to someone else.

5.    The Image You Want to Convey

What kind of business do you run? If it is something that heavily relies on how professional an image you maintain, using a website builder may not be a very good idea, for the result will have a DIY feel that may cause doubts in your potential clients. However, if you go for a human touch and homemade look, website builder may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

There is no such thing as an optimal solution to fit every situation – and it is perhaps yet another reason to hire a professional to do the thinking in this area in your stead. Expert designers know how people think and how they perceive things, while for you it will be too long to learn this from scratch.