You are an entrepreneur and just started your own business, or you are the CEO of a multinational corporate company. Regardless, you and your business need a website if you ever hope to compete in the digital world. And for that, you might want to consider hiring a professional web development agency or a freelancer.
But, you probably have some reservations and are asking yourself “Should I hire a web agency?” or, you might be thinking “I heard so many rumours about working with a development house, is it worth my time and money?”.
And you are not the only decision-maker in that position. Many of our clients asked themselves the same questions, even though, just like you, they knew they needed a website and that building it on their own is not an option if they plan to scale their business.
The root of this doubt is that there are a plethora of myths around working with a web development company, we understand where you are coming from.
So, in this article, we will debunk 7 of the most popular myths about working with an agency like Wiredelta and put your mind at ease.
Let’s take a look!
1. I can’t afford to work with a web development agency
The most common myth about working with a web development agency is that it is always too expensive, especially for startups and small businesses.
And it is understandable that regardless of your business’ size, you always want to reduce costs and expenses. This is why, it is always recommended that before you invest in a web agency, you make sure this is the right thing to do for your company.
But keep in mind, around 59% of the companies out there are outsourcing development tasks instead of using DYI solutions or an in-house team. And the biggest reason for this is that they actually found that outcrossing reduces costs and saves time for them, instead.
More importantly, most development houses today work with Agile development, which means they work around your budget and they can help prioritize tasks, build a simple MVP to get you on the market quickly and cheaply and get you off the ground at the vest value for money you can get.
2. I need to grow my business before I even think about a website
The second most common myth that might cross your mind is that having a professionally made website is only for those big, worldwide corporations, or for online stores.
That might have been true thirty years ago but if you have even a small hope of scaling your business in today’s digital world, you need a digital platform. Building a website for your business is not only a huge part of your branding but also your biggest chance to get your company off the ground.
You could choose a DIY solution for this, of course. But none of those options is scalable, and they become very limiting and very expensive quickly. In contrast, hiring a professional development agency will provide you quite a few benefits:
- It will save you time and money in the long run;
- They will build you the website you need to get your business off the ground;
- You don’t need to learn about coding, technical SEO, link building, Google ranking factors, etc.;
- You can start small and build on top without technical limitations or extremely high extra costs.
3. It is easier and faster to build my website on my own.
Speaking of DIY solutions, many small businesses and startups think that, if they use a solution like Squarespace, Shopify, etc. they will save a lot of time and money. But the problem with website builders is that:
a) You can only use the designs, layouts and functionality they provide and not all of them are included in your yearly subscription;
b) Each feature and element you can add usually comes at an extra cost;
c) The subscription fees for the website builder also grow as you gain more traction;
d) They are closed source, which means that if you want to move away from these tools, you will have to rebuild your site from scratch.
4. If I hire a web development company, they will take care of everything
Another common myth or more general misunderstanding is that nothing can go wrong as long as you work with a web development agency. Basically, if you hire them, you tell them what you want and they go on their merry way for two, three, six months, after which, magically you have a website.
That is not true and should not be a norm, not even for the simplest of projects. And if you have met an agency that is willing to work with you that way, you should be worried.
As most agencies work with Agile, this means that you should be actively involved in the development process, and work side by side with the project manager to ensure that the team know what you want and need and that they meet these requirements. Remember, while developers are often called wizards, they can’t actually read minds.
In fact, they will have questions, they will want to discuss issues that occurred during the development process, They will point out accessibility and responsiveness issues they found with the designs.
And we know what you think – “well, the project manager can take care of that”. Yes, the project manager takes care of about 90% of these questions, but they cannot make big decisions for you, like committing to a change in the user flow or in the designs without consulting you, paying for or subscribing to third-party services, or choose a hosting solution for you.
The agency will do everything they can to keep it simple for you. But building a strong relationship with your project manager and actively involving yourself in your own project is a must.
5. My users’ data is not safe with web development agencies
Data security is another major concern that you might have. And understandably so. A lot of businesses that respect their users’ privacy have the fear of losing confidential data. However, one thing that you should also know is that web development agencies know this, and we are actually taking this more seriously than you can ever imagine.
One of the first steps in web development is database design, which is a fancy way of describing a process where we ask you:
- Who are your users;
- What data will you collect from them;
- Why do you collect data;
- How sensitive is that data;
Depending on your answers we then make some very elaborate tables that talk to each other in a complicated way only database designers understand, and then we start poking holes into the security measures to determine every security risk we can think of.
And, we don’t stop there. Project managers and experienced testers have a special place in their hearts for stress testing web and mobile apps for security – really, it is quite fun.
6. My website is live, the job is done
Many of our clients had the misconception that once we built their website, it’s over. That website will run smoothly forever on the internet. Unfortunately, this is not true.
On the contrary, websites need to be updated, evaluated, and optimized constantly. And you might be thinking – well, of course, it needs content so I will hire a content manager. Yes, but that’s not what we mean. We are talking from a technical perspective.
You will need to adjust the content and layout according to your users’ behaviour, there are a lot of things you will need to keep tracking and working on after it goes live. But you will also have to make sure your technology is up to date.
For example, if you run a WordPress website, you need to make sure you always use the most recent WordPress version, the same goes for your plugins. But even for this seemingly menial task, we still recommend you reach out to a WordPress expert.
If not, you risk updating your WordPress version and breaking several plugins or even your theme. Or something could go wrong during the update and you end up losing all your data. Is it really worth the risk?
7. I only need to work with an agency for a short amount of time
If you have never run your own website or app, you might think that working with a web agency is a short term engagement, where you hire them for a few months and that’s it.
But, as you now know. websites need constant evaluation and optimization. Aside from that, you need to consider the overall site accessibility which is constantly changing, but also the content quality, keywords, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
So, finding an agency that can help out with the technical side of maintenance would be quite useful. And wouldn’t it be nice to have a company that you know and are comfortable with instead of going through the hiring process every time you need an update?
Conclusion
There is a lot of misconception when it comes to working with web development companies. However, trends show that more and more companies have already moved past these myths and have seen positive results.
They saved money on building and maintaining the platforms in the long run, and they saved so much time that they could then spend on growing the company.
So, if these myths have stopped you from achieving your dreams, we hope that this article helped you understand the truth behind working with a web development agency and clear all these ill-informed rumours. And if you need a useful opinion or you are looking for some more suggestions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us and book a free meeting with one of our experts.