A website is the mainstay of business’s online presence, a powerful platform for reaching and delighting modern consumers. Alas, building a site from the ground up is a complex endeavour. Facing this challenge, companies usually opt for outsourcing. Still, they remain in two minds: to hire an agency for the task or summon freelancers to aid? Well, you should know right away that the answer to this dilemma is not really cut and dried. These two approaches have their unique pros and cons you have to weigh. Here are some key elements to take into account.
Ins and outs of the freelance tactic
One of the main advantages of hiring is freelancers is their affordability. Unless you go for top-of-the-game, seasoned pros, you end up paying significantly less than what an agency would ask for. The market is huge and it is possible to find capable individuals across all pay grades and skill levels. Booming hubs like Freelancer, Toptal, and Upwork are good places to kick off your hunt. They are full of people that have proven themselves in their respective fields.
The main drawback is the fact that barriers to entry are low, which means that quality varies wildly. To make it worse, you are unable to exert direct oversight and control over workflow. This becomes an even more difficult task for those who need to organize the whole team of freelancers across different time zones. Here, note that good and open communication lays the groundwork for long and fruitful relationships. It improves the ability to synchronize remote workers and keep them on the same page.
Furthermore, there are also some legal issues to bear in mind. For instance, in the wake of freelancer breaking a non-disclosure agreement, it might be hard to secure compensation. Then again, you do not have to preoccupy yourself with employment insurance and pension schemes. The key takeaway is that one has to invest extra effort and take on a burden of organizing to make it work. In order to minimize the risks, you should have a sound recruiting strategy in place: know exactly what you are looking for and set clear expectations from the start.
Agencies: A way to go?
When it comes to agencies, they have one substantial edge over freelancers— quality. There are many reputable organizations with impressive track records and portfolios. In case you mean to utilize WordPress to power your website, you should have no trouble finding a suitable agency for WordPress web design on websites that have them all in one place. But, it is not overly hard to locate an agency for creating a bespoke site from scratch either. In any event, it is easier to gauge trustworthiness and reliability of multiple services than with freelancers.
Moreover, when working with an agency, you are actually dealing with a team of professionals who have been working together for a while. There is no need to worry about different time zones or lack of proper communication and motivation of web developers, programmers, and designers. These problems are solved without you having to move a finger. After all, agencies already have established, tried-and-true processes and you are free to focus on other priorities surrounding the project.
On top of that, agencies open some new opportunities for internal knowledge sharing, cross-team support, and pair programming. That is why those who do their homework and steer away from fake agencies are almost guaranteed the quality of the final product. The only problem is that agencies tend to charge quite a bit for their services. So, a lot depends on your budget and how many overheads can you endure. Businesses operating on a shoestring budget might be limited to hiring low to mid-tier freelancers for the time being.
Cover all the bases
Most companies can have only so many people on regular payroll and outsourcing is a prudent course of action more often than not. When going about it, though, things are not as simple as choosing between the good and bad. Therefore, get to know your needs, assess all aspects of the process, and work out a budget. Provided that you can afford it, there are several strong reasons to hire an agency. It is a less risky option and you have better chances of putting together a professional-looking website. But, regardless of what your choice is, invest time into search and hire someone who will keep your brand’s best interests in mind.
