Most businesses realise that a good website can significantly grow their business. This is why it pays to have a budget large enough to develop a top website. Unfortunately many businesses try to save money on web development by doing it themselves, or by using one of those free online website builders. It is better to outsource web development to a professional, and here’s why.
There are two main ways to create a website in house, but all have disadvantages that make it is better to outsource web development to a professional web developer.
Website building software
The first in house method is the cheapest. There are several low cost apps and online services that enable non-technical people to create websites. These feature many good looking templates from which to choose. Choose a template, paste some content and images and, in very little time, you have a functioning website.
With many of the companies offering these services you do not even need to go to the trouble of finding a hosting company, as hosting is included in the cost of the ‘web designer’ service.
The disadvantage of using website builders is that there is limited control over the layout of the templates. Some web creators will include advertising links to their services and there is no way of getting rid of this.
The finished website may look decent but it will not be the best that you can have. Your competitors will probably have better websites or, worse still, the exact same website as you because they used the cheaper option as well.
In house web developers
Some businesses hire web developers or web development teams. This may make sense at first. In house developers can have a wide knowledge of your business and are always accessible for meetings. But hiring web developers is expensive when you add up their salary, national insurance and paid holidays. It is also difficult to recruit the best web development team when you don’t really know what to look for, or what questions to ask.
As the company website is being developed your in house web developers will probably be working flat out. The difficulty then comes after the website is launched. Maintaining and updating a website takes a lot less time than the initial development. Until a major update is needed, you may be paying your in house web developers to spend their time on social media sites or playing video games.
The advantages of outsourcing
A successful website needs a variety of skills. There is the design of the website, how it looks. Then there is the content, what the website communicates about your business. The user experience needs to be fine-tuned, which involves looking at how users interact with the website. Can they navigate to each section easily? Can they easily find the information they need?
Search engine optimization is needed, which is the art of getting the website ranked high in the search engines.
Umless you are a very large company who can employ experts in all these fields, it is better to use a web development business that has expertise in all areas of web development, content marketing and SEO.
It is tempting to reduce web development costs by using website builders or paying employees to build a website. Hiring a professional web development agency makes more sense. It may cost a lot of money to use a top website development company but it will be a good investment. Many companies have reported a doubling or more of their sales after the successful launch of a new website.
Finally, if you are considering using one of those cheaper online website builders – you may need to read this.
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Nice article! Thanks
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