When deciding if you should use a freelancer or a creative agency for your website design needs, there are a few key considerations you should make. As a web designer with over 12 years in the industry and having worked both sides of the coin, I know a thing or two about this, so get ready for the most honest advice you’ll read in a while. One option is not necessarily better than the other, but to make the best decision for your business, I’ve outlined the most important factors to consider and how these differ between agencies and freelancers.

Key considerations about using an agency or freelancer to build your website

Experience and reputation – brand names don’t mean sh*t. What matters is numbers: how many years of experience, how many websites built, how many industries worked with. Read more
Cost – agencies will typically cost 2-3x more for essentially the same result due to larger teams and higher overheads. What matters most is that your website is fit for purpose and built to engage, inform, and convert. Read more
Portfolio – having a distinguished portfolio that represents the quality of work you do should, in my opinion, be the biggest deciding factor about who you go with. You may be comparing agencies with other agencies or freelancers with other freelancers, but either way, the quality of work speaks for itself. Read more
Flexibility and personalisation – when working with a freelancer you get a tailored 1:1 experience as they will typically be the sole person working on your project. When dealing with an agency, you may be speaking with several people including sales, project managers, and web and graphic designers. Read more
Services offered – typically agencies won’t just specialise in website design, but due to larger team sizes, will also be able to facilitate graphic design, SEO, CRO, and digital marketing as your one-stop shop. While some freelancers have experience in a few of these areas, it’s rare to find a freelancer who excels and has proven experience in all of these. Read more
Timeline and project load – for agencies it all comes down to bottom line – meeting project capacity to stay afloat. This means your agency will typically be juggling many projects at the same time (typically 5-10/month), and you may not receive as prompt communication compared with a freelancer who may only focus on 1 or 2 projects simultaneously. Timelines for completion can differ also, with freelancers typically offering a faster turnaround. Read more
Project Scope and processes – how large will your website be? Does it require advanced functionality? And most importantly – can your freelancer or agency show that they have worked on similar projects before through real examples? Read more

Let’s break these points down in more detail, shall we?

The pros and cons of using a freelancer vs agency to build your website

As a freelancer, you may think I’m biased, but I’m going with a no BS approach here – a larger agency may be better for your specific needs than a lone freelancer, though it’s important to read the following points in detail to know HOW to choose. Don’t blow $10k on a website with an agency that your freelance counterpart could build for $2-4k. If your website looks great and is fit for your use-case scenario (and converts your users into clients/customers), then that’s all that matters.

Experience

The amount of hours and expertise gained through years in the web design space has significant impacts on the final product, not only visually, but also through SEO (search engine optimisation), User Experience, speed optimisation, security, mobile responsiveness, backend setup, and functionality.

I’ve seen many websites built by amateur web designers that have multiple H1 tags (terrible practice for SEO), and layouts that aren’t conducive to the user taking the actions you want them to take. Simple things like not having your CTA buttons immediately visible when the page loads can drastically reduce your conversion rate and impact your sales.

When you go with an agency, generally there are SOPs, systems and processes around this stuff where multiple stages of audits and troubleshooting take place. If you go with an inexperienced freelancer, you open yourself up to these vulnerabilities. Though, if you go with an experienced freelancer who knows their stuff, you get the best of both worlds where best practices are followed AND you get a professional website for a fraction of the price.

Cost

The mistake most people make when deciding on their website designer is to choose an agency with a higher price tag, expecting better quality. Like I said before, you’re more likely to have a better result with a large agency than risking it with a freelancer, but that’s only if these 7 factors aren’t considered.

Ask yourself – is it worth paying 3x the amount for a similar result just because you assume the more you pay, the better the result? Let me give you an example. I had a client pay $5k for a freelancer who built a standard 5-page website – nothing too complex – and in the end, they delivered a half-finished product that looked like a dog’s breakfast. I ended up rebuilding the entire thing.

I had another client quoted $500 to build their website and again, their designer missed so many best practices that it required a full rebuild. What did they both have in common? Lack of research. This ends up costing far more than if they choose a reputable designer from the start, whether it’s an agency or freelancer. Don’t go cheap, but don’t overpay either. Find someone that understands your vision and has the portfolio examples to back them up.

Portfolio

I say this is the most important factor because the proof is in the pudding. If your designer can talk a big game but doesn’t have examples to back them up, then don’t trust them. A good salesman is not necessarily a good designer.

Agencies typically have 50+ website examples and often feature their biggest clients first. Many freelancers have under 20 examples and will likely be more targeted to smaller businesses. But don’t let quantity fool you. Be selective. Check out at least 5 of the websites featured and see if their website quality looks good, if it loads quickly, if you can imagine being the end-user and purchasing their product or service based on their website. Because at the end of the day, your website is an investment and it should generate leads and sales like nothing else!

Flexibility

If you’ve seen something like “3 revisions allowed” advertised, then generally I would stay away. Both freelancers and agencies alike often do this and personally, I hate it. No one can get your website perfect off the bat with such a small number of revisions.

A website build should be a collaborative effort, where the client’s subjective taste meets the designer’s expert guidance in terms of design and functionality best practices. Freelancers are typically better at working with you and having a flexible approach as they don’t have KPIs and efficiency quotas looming like they would working under an agency. And typically that’s what stricter guidelines are used for – getting your website out the door quickly, if not perfectly.

Services offered

This can be an area where agencies typically outshine lots of freelancers. Because agencies often have multiple departments for graphic design, SEO, CRO, and marketing, a good agency has the capacity to offer high quality services under one umbrella.

A freelancer may offer just web design or maybe throw a bit of graphic design in there, or maybe they say they offer everything but the quality is poor – always ask for references and results before proceeding with a service. For example, don’t be afraid to get a referral or seek out a graphic designer for a logo if they don’t have work to showcase for it.

A good designer will also consult on what services are most beneficial for your business, and you can choose what you want to do with this information. If you run a business and your designer suggests fixing up your logo, then it’s probably a good idea to refresh your brand. If your designer suggests digital marketing, you may want to consider this – like I said, your website is an investment. Make it work for you!

Timeline and project load

When factoring in timelines for project completion, agencies will typically have a set estimated timeframe (anywhere from 6-10 weeks usually) as they have a higher volume of projects and need to ensure they are meeting an expected turnaround to take on new ones.

Freelancers tend to have a bit more flexibility. Based on availability and project scope, some websites can be completed in under a week, whereas others may take a little more time. It really depends on your designer and their end-to-end process. Always gain crystal clarity on the design process before commencing. If you need your project completed yesterday, then generally as long as you’re clear about your timelines, a freelancer will be able to accommodate.

Project Scope and processes

An agency will typically have a broader range of collective experience, systems and processes dedicated to different build types, design styles and functionality requirements. This is great as it means that you’ll likely be guaranteed a great result, even if you’re after something more complex.

If you choose a freelancer, this may be their first or their 50th build for your required needs, so make sure you get what you pay for and get examples of previous work they’ve done. If this is their first ecommerce build (it definitely won’t be for an agency), then they’ll likely miss critical steps that will influence the success of your store. But if it’s a creative agency’s 200th ecommerce build, you’ll likely get a tried and tested website built for success.

Another thing to consider is if your freelance designer or agency relies on one or many plugins to achieve basic things. Essentially, the fewer plugins the better. An inexperienced freelancer may rely on lots of plugins to do basic things, whereas an experienced one may have their own custom plugins built or be able to achieve these results natively within your website without relying on plugins at all. It all depends on experience.

Small agencies vs large agencies for website development

Freelancing aside, the size of your agency can also make a significant difference in the quality, cost, and speed of your website’s development. Small agencies can be anywhere up to 5-10 people in size and may include offshore staff with predefined processes to ensure speedy builds. Your larger agencies will generally be anywhere from 10-30 employees, comprised mainly onshore. These agencies will typically take on larger projects and may be very selective, working with big brand names and dedicating a large amount of resources per project.

At the end of the day, the smartest business owners are the ones that choose a freelancer who offers what the big agencies do at a fraction of the price.

If you’re looking for a freelancer with agency experience that offers affordable pricing for a professional standard of work, then look no further than David Barry Designs. Get in touch with us today for a complimentary strategy call and quote.