Should you hire a web design agency or make a DIY website?
In the digital age, websites turn the wheels of their businesses. It’s impossible to imagine even a small startup without a decent online presence. When you decide “I need a website built,” you may be overwhelmed by numerous options as you take the project from an idea to a website.
Probably the first question is: should you hire a web designer or do it yourself? Your second question might be: how much does a professional website cost? Before we move on to the main discussion, you should know that there are always affordable solutions from a website development agency.
The choice between the option to hire a web design agency vs making a DIY website is the focus of our today’s post. We discuss this choice in more detail.
What does a DIY website mean?
The term DIY is short for “do-it-yourself” and is used for websites made on the basis of free site building tools without the participation of a professional developer.
Builders of this kind usually offer a number of predefined templates to choose from and customization settings. This may include changing the header, logo, title and headings, photos, color scheme, block layout, and similar things. They are usually pretty user-oriented with drag-and-drop features and, of course, no coding.
Speaking about free options, we will not include enterprise-level CMSs (Drupal, WordPress, etc.). They are also free but offer way more functionalities and require you to hire a web design agency to use their powerful capabilities fully.
Common issues with DIY websites
The idea of a DIY site sounds very tempting — certainly less expensive compared to hiring a web design agency. “It’s free” — isn’t this the phrase everyone wants to hear? Indeed, these sites are free to create, this does not take much time, and the result is immediately in front of you. However, this is probably where their benefits end.
In addition, DIY builders are not as free as they look at first glance — they often have:
- premium versions
- paid options
- additional domain name or similar costs
- and more
However, the greatest regret you may have from choosing a DIY route is the potential profits that a professional, well-performing website could make if you chose to hire a web design agency instead. Just remember that every click matters — and well-built sites are great conversion boosters and brand visibility promoters.
Here are most common customer complaints about DIY solutions:
- Very similar looking sites across the web
- Lack of website extensibility with new features
- Many ads in the free versions
- No template that fits their business perfectly
- Lack of variations within one template
- Troubles with SEO
- Limited customization options
- Difficulties with moving to another platform in the future
- Many restrictions in the free plans
Why hire a web developer? Web design agency vs DIY websites
If you have started your business to stay, have plans for the future, and want to outdo the competition, you will benefit much more from the decision to hire a web design agency instead.
If you think it is very costly to hire a web design team, you may be surprised — they usually do not do development from scratch today. Our team works with Drupal and WordPress, two CMSs used to create enterprise solutions of any complexity. Using a CMS as a basis and customizing the website with professional code where needed is often the optimal solution in terms of affordability and speed.
So here are the reasons to hire a web design agency:
You get a unique website design
Professional website designers can create the unforgettable look and feel for your site that will help you stand out from competitors. Avoid the limitations of the free templates and builders! If you hire an expert team, your design will create your brand identity and follow the latest web design trends. Professionalism in design also tells your customers and competitors that you have serious intentions.
A higher level of user experience
Another reason to hire a professional web designer is providing your audience with a UX that is fully tailored to their user journey. User goals will be achieved easily and smoothly across devices. Every button, link, layout block and form will naturally lead them to a conversion. To achieve this, they use their extensive expertise and also conduct usability testing and help you raise your customer satisfaction skyhigh.
Any features you can imagine
A DIY website is limited to the capabilities of its platform. If you hire a web design agency, you can get your website to do literally anything. Integrations with your CRM of choice, sharing the data to a mobile application, e-commerce with the specific payment providers, custom editorial workflows and user roles, helpful chatbots, and so on — anything you need now or may need in the future is possible.
Unlimited growth
If you are headed for growth, a DIY solution may limit you. You may just reach the ceiling of its capabilities with no prospect of a migration — many customers have complained about the problems with transferring this kind of site to another platform. So it’s better to invest into a scalable solution that is able to grow together with your business. Hire a professional web agency for this.
Only the needed functionality
Free website builders usually have predefined features that you may or may not want to use. This is another con of a DIY website when compared to professional web design services. Experts will give you exactly the functionality you require, with one custom plugin often able to replace a few others. Having nothing extra on your website is beneficial for its speed (and, as you know, slow website speeds can cost you money).
Mobile-friendliness
When working with your website, professional designers and front-end developers will pay special attention to the way it is displayed across mobile devices. Thanks to this, all your users are provided with the best viewing and browsing experiences. This is a must-do today in terms of increasing your audience, traffic, and conversions.
Better SEO
Professionals use the best practices of search engine optimization so your website is visible to your potential customers. Our web design agency has SEO experts on the team who closely cooperate with developers to consult them on the URL structure, meta tag creation, and much more.
How much does a website cost to build with experts?
If you would like to hire a web design agency, you may have been lucky enough to land on the page of the WishDesk team. We care about our customers in times of crisis and will be glad to offer web development and design solutions at a very reasonable price.
We have customers of various business scopes, and we also would like to be one of the best website design companies for small business that helps it move forward in difficult times.
The answer to this question “how much does it cost to build a website?” largely depends on a few key factors. Here are the things on which your website costs are calculated:
- website type
- complexity
- structure
- number of pages
- specific or standard features
- development deadlines
and so on.
We can advise you on the cost-effective solution that suits your case. By using contributed or core modules/plugins where possible, it’s easy to fit any budget. The custom parts will be a little more costly but still affordable.
Website development basically includes such things as the CMS installation and setup, selection and configuration of modules/plugins, creation of custom features, custom design/theme. The more complex the project is, the more it is recommended to involve project managers on your team, and the more testing it needs, which also reflects in the costs.
Here are approximate figures by our agency for you to consider:
- brochure site — from $300
- business site — from $300
- blog — $300
- news or magazine site — from $800
- e-commerce site — from $1000
- university site — from $500
- government site — from $700
- personal site — from $300
Apply for affordable professional web design services!
We hope the question of whether to hire a website development team or do it yourself is answered pretty well in this post. But, of course, you have plenty of other questions that we will be glad to answer — just drop us a line. Our team will consult you on the best solution in your case free of charge.
Whatever your budget is and whatever project scope you have, be sure to contact us and let’s discuss more details!