Website Design — Agency vs. Freelancer

There are a multitude of website design companies: There are companies that focus solely on website design. There are marketing agencies that incorporate website design as part of their offering. There are growth agencies that develop websites as part of a strategic initiative to grow sales and profits for the business.

There are also website design companies that cater to the Do-It-Yourself clientele. And there are individuals who work as freelance website designers.

Matching the objectives for your next website design project with the skillsets of the various website design companies will help you select the right type of company for you.

Choosing the Right Web Design Agency – Questions to Consider

• Do we need a partner or is this a transactional relationship?
• What level of consultation do we need?
• How much are we willing to invest?

Let’s take a closer look at a couple of the website design options available to you.

Freelance Website Designer

Freelance web designers can be found in a simple Google search. Multiple companies act as agencies for their designers. You complete a questionnaire of the type of work to be completed and web designers will compete for your business. You can expect to pay based on the work performed—based on the exact specification that you provide.

A freelance web designer can look appealing for small businesses that are just starting out or who haven’t planned for website design costs. But we caution you…unless you have some experience you could be walking into a headache.

For example, do you know which platform you want your site to be built on? Do you need a full-stack, frontend, or backend developer? Are you prepared to work with the website hosting provider to handle the website hosting, security, and maintenance?

First, let us point out that freelancers’ skill sets can vary significantly. We are not saying that all freelancers’ work is subpar. But some are. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to validate their skill set prior to contracting with them.

This leads us to our next set of points. You’ve hired a freelancer and they are missing deadlines. Many freelancers who are providing web design services are doing so as a second job. This means you are not their first priority.

You are now committed to the freelancer’s timeline and not your own. And because you have contracted with an individual and not an agency, you cannot switch out designers.

Maybe you are looking for more interaction and oversight with your website design project. Let’s look at the offerings of a website design agency.

Website Design Company

Website design companies are specialists. They are a more formalized version of a freelancer who employs or contracts with professional designers.

Their web design services typically will include website update packages as part of their web design costs. This could include integrating media elements such as videos, audio, and images. They will conduct speed and performance testing to ensure these elements don’t cause a lag in loading.

If you are looking for hosting services as part of your design project, a website design company can be a better choice than a freelancer.

But note, website design companies typically offer no or very limited consultative advice on integration with other marketing programs.

These are just two examples of website design options available to you. They may meet your needs and they may not. We will cover the differences between a digital marketing agency and a growth agency in our next article.

Free Guide to Website Design Companies

Ocean 5 Builds Outstanding Websites for Business

Ocean 5 creates websites that are fully custom, technically advanced, responsive (mobile-friendly), professionally designed, and provide an outstanding user experience. We use Growth Driven Design to build a digital platform for accelerated lead generation.

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