So, should you create a website yourself or hire a developer? That is THE question.
Many ask this question and for a good reason.
Today, you don’t need to be a developer or a designer – you can create your own website using some of the visually appealing templates. So, why pay anyone when you can do it yourself? But, what benefits do you have if you hire a professional developer?
Let’s take a look at both alternatives and see what you should take into account before you make your final decision.
First things first: How precious is your time?
If you use a CMS-powered template, website construction doesn’t take long time and you can have your website in a couple of days.
You can choose from thousands of excellent designs, and as it requires minimal design experience and skills, you can create a beautiful professional-grade website in (almost) no time. Moreover, with a unique licence, nobody else can purchase your design.
If you want a custom website, you will have to be prepared to invest more time. First, you need to give your web developer an idea, to explain it properly, and give specific instructions. However, even with specific explanation, you might not still like what you get. This means that you will have to WAIT longer. If time is not an issue, you can go with a custom website solution.
Moreover, you need to communicate and collaborate freely and openly with the developer. If you need to constantly explain your idea or specify what you would want, it might be better if you choose a template and make everything yourself.
No doubt, you need to make a budget-friendly decision.
If you have a small or medium sized budget, web templates are an excellent choice.
You can purchase a beautifully designed template and one year hosting for a reasonable price. A great advantage of paid website templates is that they provide many features, such as search engine optimization and testing. You can also use a free website template, however, free is not always free – if you get a limited package of widgets you will have to pay for extra features.
On the other hand, hiring a freelance developer means you should pay at least 50 hours of their service. While there are many talented designers out there, they might not know a lot about web development; the same applies to developers.
If you choose your neighbour kid who doesn’t have a technical know-how, you might get a beautifully designed yet non-functional website that you will have to redesign or rebuild later. If you wish to hire a web development company, you need to start saving now.
Who is going to maintain your website?
Website templates are very easy to use, control and customize. The template files are professionally created and designed to meet your needs – you will get a number of source files you can edit, re-label and adjust (categories, the logo file, button name, various links on the page and more). With templates, you can recreate your website even if you have no technical or developing skills.
Once you make a custom website, do you have the means and skills to maintain your online business? Whether it’s content updates, bugs fixing, or redesign, are you going to learn to code or hire a developer again? Moreover, will you give control over your website to a third party?
While this might seem as a tough decision, consider the pros and cons of both alternatives, and find the answers to these questions.
What matters the most is that you create an online image of a credible and trustworthy company.
Do you have time or budget? Are you going to learn to code? That’s for you to decide.
