Holy crap, get this: when doing research for this article, I learned that, as of February 2024, there were roughly 1.086 billion websites worldwide. Not social or email accounts. Full-blown websites. 1,086,000,000 of them. And what’s even more mind-blowing is that Sitefly estimates about 175 new websites are created every minute.
Read that first paragraph again. In the time it took you to do that, 175 new websites would have been created somewhere in the world. That’s absolutely bonkers.
Of course, it’s impossible to know exactly what types of websites were created in the last minute, but it’s fairly safe to assume that a good portion of those are full-blown business sites with a fair degree of customization.
Clearly, websites are a hot commodity. It’s why roughly 71% of surveyed businesses reported that they have one. But while having a website as a business is almost a given, you can’t just slap any old set of pages on the internet and hope to generate more businesses from it. [Editor’s note: this is, in fact proven by Freelance Squad founder Shannon Mulligan’s famed Geocities site where she listed all her grade 9 crushes in alphabetical order for the Internet to see.]
No, you need eyeball-grabbing website design, fast load types, content that’s optimized for search, and website copy that makes your visitors scream:
And unless you’re some small business and marketing superhero, it’s likely that you’ll need some outside help to stand out from the other 1.086 billion sites on the web. Generally, there are three options for that help:
- Do it yourself (DIY)
- Using an in-house team
- Hiring a freelancer or agency
All of those options have their merits. And the right answer truly depends on who you are, what your business's resources look like, and what your goals are from your site and marketing efforts.
In this guide, I’m going to help make the choice a little clearer for you by offering a deep dive into the pros and cons of each option. But before we do, let’s back up and talk about why a web presence is so important in the first place.
The importance of having a web presence
Say you’ve got a hundred dollar bill burning a hole in your pocket. What are the chances that you’re going to turn to the Internet—through your computer, phone, brain implant, or whatever—to research some stuff on which to spend that hundred dollar bill?
If you’re like most people, especially of the younger persuasion, those chances are pretty darn high. People research on the Internet before they buy, even for in-person purchases. They contact potential businesses online to start a purchase. And they may even buy directly from a website.
Commerce is very much initiated and completed on the web. If you don’t have a web presence—and especially a website—chances are you’re missing out on potential business. You don’t need a degree in advanced marketing to understand that.
But beyond being a necessity in 2024, a strong web presence offers many (many) business benefits, including:
- Increasing visibility and reach amongst your target market, which in turn drives more traffic and sales to your business
- Making you findable through various online channels like search, social, online directories, and more
- Creating credibility and trust by legitimizing your business and positioning you as a reliable and professional provider (cough, potential clients reading this post)
- Enabling scalable and cost-effective marketing and advertising by creating a tool to generate exponential traffic growth and inbound leads
- Being the platform through which you can develop and build your company’s brand and positioning
- Allowing you to test various messages and strategies amongst your target audience, and to capture and analyze data to make your offers and messages more compelling
So websites are important. That’s obvious. But what’s the best way to build one of these fancy website things? That’s what we’ll focus on for the rest of the article.
Deciding how to build your website: DIY, in-house, or agency
A website can be one page or one thousand pages. It can be a basic, templatized site, or fully customized. The variety and possibilities are very much endless. And so are the options for who you get to build your site—from doing it yourself, to entrusting an AI overlord, to hiring an outsourced team.
Let’s explore your options and discuss the pros and cons of each.
DIYing your website
First on the listicle is the do-it-yourself option, or DIY. This essentially means that you’re responsible for the full website build, strategy, launch and maintenance of the website.
There are lots of DIY website builders available today, with popular options including Squarespace, Wix, and Wordpress. Many businesses choose this option if they have some degree of website experience and want to keep costs to a minimum.
Here are some pros of DIYing a website:
- It’s cost effective, and generally cheaper than hiring professionals
- It’s flexible, and allows you to quickly and easily make changes and updates to the site without having to submit requests to a web dev department or agency
- You have full creative control over the design and content, ensuring it perfectly matches your needs, vision, and brand identity (as long as you have the skills)
- It’s a learning opportunity, providing a valuable opportunity to learn new skills in web design, development, and digital marketing. This is great for businesses that want to be hands on with their marketing efforts, and to develop web dev capabilities in-house
Of course, DIYing a project—any project—isn’t without its risks. Just Google “DIY fails” to get an idea of the possibilities.
While it’s unlikely (but not impossible) that you’ll accidentally glue your head to your shoulder like our friend Ralph during a website build, there are some other cons with this approach. (And yes, I really like Matt Groening, okay?)
Here are some cons of DIYing a website:
- It’s time-consuming. No matter how easy modern website builders have made the process, there’s still a learning curve. You still need to understand website basics, design and content best practices, how to purchase and deploy a domain, and how to properly optimize your site for search. All of that takes a long time to master the first—or even second or third—time around.
- It limits customization. Many DIY website builders are quite limited in terms of what you can customize. They’re great for creating templatized sites, but not the best option if you want something truly unique. To create something custom that’s truly your brand, you’ll need to understand website design and coding which, of course, many DIYers likely don’t have a lot of experience in.
- It may reduce the quality of the site. Unless you have a background in web design, development, SEO, and copywriting (and if you do, then you can just move right along), it’ill be very difficult to create a professional, high-quality site that looks, reads, and performs well.
- So many technical challenges. It’s pretty well guaranteed that, at some point in your website journey, you’ll encounter some sort of technical issue. Often, these will be very specific challenges that require help from someone with the right context and skillset to solve the issue.
While we fully encourage everyone to try their hand at building a website to help them learn the process and craft, DIY may not be the best solution for businesses with more complex needs, or if you want to get something up quickly while also balancing your hundreds of other responsibilities. In those cases, it’s likely better to hire the experts.
Using your in-house team to create a website
Deploying an in-house team means employing your own staff to handle all parts of website development, design, maintenance, copywriting, branding, and SEO. This team would typically include specialized marketing professionals who are employed, paid, and managed by your business.
Specific in-house roles that you would need for a full-scale website project include:
- Web developers
- Web designers
- Content creators
- SEO specialists
- Project managers
- UX/UI designers
- Copywriters
The main benefit of employing an in-house team is that you have all the required website skills and expertise readily available. There’s no need to spend hours of your own time DIYing a website build, and no need to outsource work to third party vendors.
The con? Cost. “But wait,” you may ask, “These people are in-house! They don’t cost us anything to work on projects!” Oh, you sweet innocent baby mirror cat. All of the roles listed above don’t come cheap; they’re each highly trained and skilled professionals that will typically command a sizable salary, not to mention benefits and vacation time. This increases costs to your business, and requires you to have processes in place to properly manage and align the team to meet your immediate and ongoing website goals. Plus, you’ll need to ensure you have the right projects to keep them busy once your site is completely up and running.
If, of course, this team is part of a larger marketing department with dedicated business goals and outcomes, then this investment may make sense. For start-ups, smaller businesses, and most mid-level businesses, however, employing a full in-house web team just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Hiring a freelancer or agency to build your website
The third option is to source outside freelancers or an in-house agency to help build your website. Depending on the scope of work, this could be a single freelancer with extensive web design and content knowledge, or it could be a team of outsourced professionals who essentially act as an in-house team for hire.
While outsourcing web development does offload a lot of the work from your plate, it still requires some upfront effort.
This includes:
- Defining project requirements and goals
- Setting a budget and required timeline
- Researching potential partners
- Performing outreach and requesting quotes
- Evaluating portfolios, collecting referrals, and reading case studies
- Evaluating options and selecting the right partner
Once the work gets going, you’ll also likely need to be available for kick-off and inspiration calls, project check-ins, and answering questions as the project unfolds.
The pros of hiring a full-service agency
For many companies, outsourcing to an agency or freelancer is a best of both worlds decision. It doesn’t require the ongoing cost and commitment of an in-house team, but still gives the required level of expertise and creativity that’s likely not possible through DIY.
Here are some specific benefits.
1. Access to experts in every element of the business
Hiring an agency means you gain experts in every aspect of website creation. You get to work with an Avengers-caliber crew of website designers, web developers, SEO leads, content creators, copywriters, and UX wizards to bring your website to life.
This crew will ensure that every element of your site is crafted to the highest standards now and in the future, delivering exceptional quality like it’s their jobs (which, of course, it is).
2. A design that fits your brand and attracts the target audience
Not only can an agency build your website, they can also design it so that it aligns seamlessly with your brand identity. Agencies and freelancers dedicate a significant amount of time to understanding your brand’s value, aesthetics, goals, and target audience. They then use this knowledge to create a website design, layout, and brand voice that matches who you are.
3. A fresh, creative perspective on your business
Agencies bring a trained eye and outside perspective to the web build, allowing them to identify opportunities and ideas that in-house teams may overlook. These are creative professionals who are experts at thinking outside the box and introducing innovative design concepts.
4. A website that’s backed by a sound strategy
Agencies typically employ strategies and marketing experts who will ensure that your site doesn’t just look nice, but also performs well. This includes the ability to integrate technical expertise, SEO and content strategies, and information architecture to create a solid foundation for your core marketing platform.
For example, agencies can implement advanced SEO techniques to increase search visibility and drive more organic traffic to the site. Additionally, the agency ensures that content is strategically developed to engage visitors and support your business goals.
5. Ongoing support and guidance
A full-service agency offers ongoing support and guidance, ensuring your website remains up-to-date and functional long after the initial launch. Depending on the contract, this may include regular maintenance, content updates, and infrastructure updates.
The agency also provides strategic advice to help you adapt to changing market trends and user behaviors, keeping your website competitive and effective. This ongoing partnership ensures that your online presence continues to grow and evolve alongside your business.
6. Save time and money in the long run
Working with an agency helps businesses save time and money in the long run by ensuring that you get it right the first time. They’re able to make sure you’re investing the right amount of money and energy for the size of your company.
With a DIY approach, it’s very likely that you’ll need to dedicate significant time and effort on an ongoing basis to improve the site performance, and respond to the changes in the market. In-house teams, on the other hand, come with significant overhead and management requirements, making them a serious investment for small businesses.
A full-service agency balances these two options by giving you a high level of expertise, without the significant financial commitment.
The cons of hiring a full service agency
Of course, even the best partnerships aren’t perfect. And that’s no different when you work with a full-service agency. Here are a few cons of hiring a full-service agency.
1. Potential for miscommunication
When working with a third party agency, there’s always the risk of miscommunication, misunderstanding, and misalignment that might cause speed bumps during a project. Despite regular meetings and updates, there can be gaps in understanding your specific needs and vision, especially if the agency isn't fully immersed in your business culture.
This can lead to deliverables that don’t fully meet your expectations or require multiple revisions, consuming more time and resources. To reduce the risk of miscommunication, it’s important to do your due diligence when selecting a full-service agency, and ensure that the provider holds kick off calls and regular check-ins with your team.
Pro tip: Work with a project manager to really level up your experience when building a website. A project manager is an expert at making sure every deadline and goal is communicated and delivered on, budgets are adhered to, and things are running smoothly—all without you needing to be on every email and phone call.
2. You may be on the agency’s timeline
Agencies are businesses too. They have multiple clients and potentially competing interests. When hiring a full-service agency, you may find yourself on their timeline. This may not be a problem if your marketing needs are flexible, but it does become an issue if you have carefully planned campaigns or launches that require a live website.
Again, we recommend being clear and transparent with your requirements up front. Make sure the agency is aware of your timeline, and that they can commit—in writing—to meeting it.
3. High initial cost
Cost is one thing you can’t get around when building a website. You can build a cheap DIY website, but it’ll likely be time consuming and require more work in the long run. You can get a high quality website quickly, but it’s going to cost you.
This upfront investment can be substantial when building a new site, usually running anywhere between $35,000 and $65,000. However, it's important to note that this initial expense can lead to long-term savings and growth for your company. Unlike DIY approaches, which can result in costly mistakes and time-consuming troubleshooting, or in-house teams, which require ongoing salaries, benefits, and training, an agency delivers a professional, well-optimized website from the start. This reduces the likelihood of needing expensive overhauls or updates down the line, ultimately proving more cost-effective in the long run.
The Freelance Squad is your answer to building a flawless website
All of the options listed so far have their pros and cons. This is the point in the infomercial where the frustrated character looks at the camera and declares:
I’ve got good news for you. There is a better way! It’s called The Freelance Squad.
We’re a collective of vetted and highly experienced freelancers who can tackle all areas of website strategy, planning, development, and maintenance. When you work with us, you get the depth of expertise from an agency, without the rigid business practices and timelines. Plus, you'll get cost savings because you're not paying for the overhead of a fancy building, big creative director and art director salaries, and Friday team beer carts (though we still support a good ol' happy hour if that's your thing). With the Freelance Squad, a full-scale website redesign will cost you between $15,000 an $45,000 depending on what kind of bells and whistles you want, and you'll always see the full breakdown of pricing.
We like to think of ourselves as kind of an agency, but also kind of a recruiting firm for freelance talent. We bring together a highly tailored team of freelancers who are hand picked for your project and who all have years of experience in their respective crafts, delivering a fractional marketing team that delivers exceptional work.
If you’re looking for the flexibility and personal touch of a freelancer, but the depth of expertise and stability of a full-service agency, we’re the best-of-both-world solution for you.
