Website Design: Why Do You Need Help From An Agency?

Are you tired of not having a beautiful site that reflects the values of your business, generates traffic, and why not potential customers? If you are starting a business, there is a good chance that you are thinking of creating your website at a lower cost because you are probably already wondering how you will optimize your budget between all the initial investments.

This is the time when you start your different searches in google to see the different options available to you. Fortunately, you came across this article " Website design: Why should you be accompanied by an agency?"  In addition, here you are reading it. So here, we will see the different choices that you have when you decide to start designing your website. As much to be completely transparent from the start, this article will bse based on my experience as a web consultant who, at web designers Galway in Cliqued Media web design agency, receives requests of this type regularly. I now finish my introduction (because at this rate it is no longer an introduction but a novel ...)

THE DESIGN OF YOUR WEBSITE:

As I said above, you have several choices available to you when deciding to design your website. You can either go through a content integration platform ( I said content integration and not a development platform itself ), or use a content management system (CMS for Content Management System) like WordPress or Joomla, etc. Let's go through every options:

DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE ON AN INTEGRATION PLATFORM:

The integration platform has a huge advantage in that it is not expensive, or even free. In addition, it is perfectly suited to beginners who are timidly embarking on web design wanting to do as much as possible on their own to both understand how it works and saves a little money.

Among these integration platforms, we can name Wix (one of the best known in North America), Webley (fairly widespread in Europe), or even sites like Shopify for those who are launching into online commerce. The principle of these platforms is based on the fact that you design your site by choosing among the various pre-established models that you just have to assemble to obtain a "semi-personalized" site. It is fast, cheap, and relatively easy for anyone who wants to get started on the web.

For my part, I find these platforms quite well made and very practical for people on a budget because they allow them to start their learning at a lower cost. Some agencies see these platforms as direct competitors in the web design industry. For my part, I see them above all as the first step towards online communication for these entrepreneurs who need to go at their own pace.

As I said above, almost every day I receive calls from people using these platforms and wanting to go a little further in the customization of the design or who want to fix a particular bug. It is true that the main disadvantage of these platforms is that you quickly find yourself alone with the problems that you might encounter. In this case, you can look for the solution on the internet (forum, platform support, etc.) but you will start to realize that yes, this platform is very practical and not expensive but that it still requires a lot of time if you want to customize your site a bit more.

This is when the help of an agency can come in handy because even if you have designed 80% of your site, you may be running out of time, imagination, or knowledge to complete. the remaining 20%. This is what happened to Ma-demoiselle.ch who contacted us to help them finalize their site.

As we do for other clients who contact us, we offered her a bank of hours that she could use as she wanted between the web design team (to resolve bugs on her site), the design team (to improve the visual rendering), the content writing team (to improve the textual content) or the natural referencing team (to increase the traffic of its site). In this way, she was able to learn on her own and let us finish her site with our technical touch.

DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE VIA A CMS:

The other very popular method of designing your website independently and again inexpensively is by using a content management system. The best known are WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, and Moodle (especially for online training). This option is increasingly considered by businesses (small or medium) as it is the most flexible way to manage your website. Indeed, their interface allows access to very advanced functions to modify, manage and develop your site. Whether you have an online store, a multilingual site, or even a simple showcase site, choosing a CMS is the choice of flexibility and autonomy.

However, you must pay attention to the choice of the theme because it must respect certain rules: it must be responsive (adapted to all screen resolutions), allow the integration of the functionalities you want, and benefit from regular updates security level. The best site to choose your theme is Theme Forest.

Here too, the help of an agency can be judicious insofar as they often know these platforms very well (My Little Big Web.com is made under WordPress). It can therefore help you improve the design of your site, choose the right modules, or train you to be more independent. As far as we are concerned, we can offer you a bank of hours to help you on specific points or offer you a single rate to take care of the design of your site from A to Z ( contact us for more information )

FRED: THE FRIEND WHO CAN DESIGN YOUR SITE FOR "CHEAP"

We all have a geeky friend who we call when we wonder which computer, phone, or tablet to choose. He always provides good advice and knows a lot about IT because it is his job ( even if “IT” is not a job in itself ). It is therefore natural to ask him for advice, or even to take care entirely of designing our website. Little advice for those who are considering calling "Fred".

First, Fred may not be specialized in website creation, web design, SEO, WordPress, Weebly, or even HTML5. There is therefore a good chance that he will block on certain tasks but as he has agreed to help you, he will go to the end ( he is nice this Fred ). You may therefore end up with a somewhat wobbly site which does not quite correspond to what you expected ( Fred did what he could but he is not a magician either...). You will therefore either have to face Fred by telling him that you would prefer to change this or that element of your site ( Fred will then say to himself that you are questioning his talents as a graphic designer or a programmer.) or be satisfied with what you have. Either way, you won't be really satisfied.

Second, don't forget that Fred might want to do something more in his spare time than just create a website for you ( even if you're super nice ). What would you say to a friend who asks you to create Excel reports that take a good 40 hours of work? You might say yes initially out of kindness, but 10 hours (free time) later you might regret your kindness. It's exactly the same for Fred! He won't tell you but it is very likely that he will ignore some very important points of your website (design, SEO, security) to save time and put an end to this chore.

Going through an agency will certainly cost you more money, but you will get what you want and you will be entitled to request any changes you want ( after all, you are a client ! ). You will benefit from a team of experts who will pool their skills to design a website in your image. And that is what you are looking for when you decide to publish content publicly online. So entrust this task to experienced professionals. Moreover, if we compare the time that you save, the risks of disappointment that you reduce and the result obtained (a professional site will not have at all the same impact as a site made at a discount ), it is a safe bet that the "cheap" solution is ultimately the least profitable. Remember, quality is the cheapest in the long run!

WHAT IF I CANVASSED WEBSITE DESIGN AGENCIES?

If you've ever had bad luck in the past when trying to save on the "website design" budget, you must have recognized yourself a little in the examples above. This time, there is no question of reproducing the same errors: you will design your website with a web agency, a real one! If you are thinking of playing it safe by choosing an agency specializing in website design, know that there are all the same differences from one agency to another and each has its advantages and disadvantages ( definitely, it is really complicated to design a website! )

BIG KNOWN Web design AGENCIES:

Let's start with those that have been there since the dawn of time when buying a website was as affordable as a presidential ticket for the Stanley Cup final ( hockey fans, good evening!), The time where you had to sell your right arm ( and part of your left arm ) to be present on the internet. These agencies are well established in the industry and have over 20 years of experience. You can therefore be sure to entrust your website to the pros. The only 'little' problem is that paying for their services can cost you 10 times the price you could pay for the same (it's that you have to pay the rent of the offices in the city center and the salaries of those who were already present when Microsoft was still only a startup. ).

You got it, these agencies often handle huge contracts and your $ 4000 site isn't going to really impress them. I often hear clients tell me that this or that big agency shipped them in 15 minutes when they said they had less than $ 10,000 to make their website. I'm not saying they're all like that but it does happen.

SMALL, LESSER-KNOWN AGENCIES:

Lesser-known “small” agencies still have everything to prove. They set out to conquer the West and generally give 100% to building a portfolio. They will also tend to be more flexible as they do not yet have large production processes to follow. You can easily speak to the leaders to negotiate or to raise your questions.

I might as well admit it right away; I am not objective insofar as I belong to a medium-sized agency that seeks to democratize high-end web services at affordable prices. I really think that the best choice is to entrust the design of your website to a "normal" agency (in terms of size, age, prices, etc.) because it constitutes a good compromise in terms of quality/ratio, price.

On the other hand, take the time to come to their offices to meet the team and find out where you are going. It can also be reassuring to know who will take care of your website and how the agency is organized. Take the time to compare all of the submissions received and read between the lines (the cheapest agency on the submission may not be the cheapest in reality).

Web design FREELANCERS:

Freelancers can also be a good option as you can easily represent their “big client of the month”. This will therefore make it easier for you to negotiate the price and delivery times for your site.

However, pay attention to the skills required because it is quite rare to find everything you are looking for in one person (we always come back to the example of Fred). Indeed, design a website requires skills in PHP, JavaScript, HTML but also in web design, computer security, and SEO (if you want to appear in Google search results before the 5th page). Find out about the achievements already made before embarking on such a project on the pretext that the price is very competitive. Remember, if the price is that competitive, there must be a reason.

CONCLUSION

I have taken sides through this article but I will tell you that there is no right or wrong choice. You have to choose according to your budget, your feelings, and your goals. Just keep in mind that the cheapest version is not always the best because your website should reflect your image. It is often the first point of contact between your business and your potential customers.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article to the end!