Insourcing vs. Outsourcing Web Design: Pros and Cons

Every business needs a website, but how should you go about it? Should you hire a web designer or outsource a web development firm?

It’s crucial to examine your business' needs and expectations. Think about what you want to accomplish and consider your budget, ROI and plans for growth. There’s a lot of factors to consider, so here are the ones we feel merit the most consideration:

1. Cost

Web designers earn a salary of at least $52,000 per year, and if you’re looking for things like custom animations or illustrations the price tag for those skill sets can really start to climb. 

The ideal hire should be able to create a compelling website that can get visitors through the sales cycle and generate conversions. While this may be within your budget consider that you haven’t hired an SEO expert, web developer, or a project manager to get your site up and running yet. Consider whether or not you have the time to do any of those things with the in-house team you already have; expecting a designer to do all of them for you can be a tall order.  

An established agency should have a team of all of those professionals in-house, in addition to marketing experts, who might also be able to help you nail down the aspects of your brand that are crucial to your overall success.

There’s no need to hire anyone full-time (think about onboarding time, risk of carrying an employment contract and benefits!) and you’ll pay based on the cost of the project or campaign. Better yet, find yourself an agency who is willing to work on a monthly retainer – you get a defined cost per month, and you can use the time however you see fit. 

2. Efficiency and expertise

Of course, you can’t just hire anyone. 

You’ll need access to top talent and efficient employees. This can be tough to accurately assess in an interview, so making a hire can sometimes be a gamble.

Agency designers have typically worked with a variety of clients and have a wealth of experience under their belt. The agency director has already separated the wheat from the chaff and has hand-selected the people with the best skills to get the job done well and on time. The fact that many agencies also offer support services that involve content coaching, social media, web development, branding and marketing, can’t be discounted. You’re getting an entire team.

Besides an experienced web designer, their marketing experts have link-building experience to ensure your site generates traffic and gains exposure on social media. In addition, their web developers are knowledgeable about code standards, recommended practices and accessibility requirements. These are necessary to create a website that gets traffic in the long-run. 

Moreover, these professionals have the skills and efficiency that an in-house hire won’t have — unless they spend thousands on hiring an in-house team of experts. 

3. Accountability 

A high-converting website can generate a lot of leads and profit for your business. It also sets the first impression for clients and determines whether or not they’ll want to work with you. You want to put your best face forward, so to speak.

An in-house designer will be accountable for the website’s overall function and results, even though there are some aspects of its success that they don’t specialize in. Hello, SEO and backlinking anyone? They’ll also be responsible for choosing the CMS, or the back-end of the website that you’ll be using to work with the website on a day to day basis. You want someone making that decision who understands that not everyone has their grasp of code, and the more technical components.

In contrast, the best agencies understand that their success is based on the results they generate. As a result, their web developers love collaboration and have a sense of accountability. And, they’ll be motivated to improve and build a long-term relationship. 

It’s important to note that hiring an in-house web designer or outsourcing firms are both options that require a substantial investment. And that’s just how we suggest you view it -  as an investment as compared to an expense, either way you decide to go. 

4. Accessibility 

Another perk to outsourcing your web design is accessibility. Working remotely means you can tap in to a global pool of talent. In comparison, If you’re hiring an in-house web designer, you’ll be confined to the talent pool in your location. This is especially true when you work with a completely remote digital agency. Cough, cough.

Access to a larger talent pool ultimately ensures that the output is high-quality at reasonable costs - you get the right person, with the right skillset, regardless of where they are on the globe. There’s no need to spend time and money on the training or upskilling of outsourced web designers because they already have a portfolio of work that fits the bill. 

There you have it - our breakdown of the big-ticket items to consider when deciding between an agency, or in-house hire. Admittedly we’re a little biased, but we back it up with quality results that save you both time and money. It’s worth an introductory call, no?

UP NEXT: Have you ever considered working with a Hubspot agency? Have you ever had the same questions about hiring a marketing team? Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog and check out our next post on insourcing vs outsourcing marketing.

Article written by Monique Danao