Who Does the Work?
When it comes to hiring a website designer or website design firm, most business owners automatically assume that the person or company they hire will be doing the actual work. Sadly this is not always true. Some web design companies employee a team of sales representatives but have little or no actual web designers on staff. In turn the sales rep simply closes the sale and then sends the work off to be done by a third party company. Very often the web design staff is outsourced overseas. Unfortunately this is not just limited to large web design companies but can also apply to individual web designers.
Why This Matters
Aside from the fact that leading a client to believe that the person they hire is doing the work is dishonest, it often results in higher costs, lower quality work, and longer delays in getting work done.
- Longer Wait Times: Let’s say you need something added to the website. You contact the designer you think is doing the work and explain to him or her what you want. That person then relays the info to the outsourced company who then relays it back to the outsourced designer (who probably is not the same designer each time). That designer starts the work and then has a question. The outsourced designer then sends a message back up the line of contacts and eventually comes back to you. You reply and it has to go back down to the outsourced designer. This results in a simple change taking much longer.
- Higher Costs / Lower Quality Work: While outsourcing web design work is often cheaper, hiring a web designer who outsources tends to be more expensive. This is due to the fact that the web designer wants to make his or her industry’s standard going rate while they also have to pay to have the work actually completed. This means that his or her actual price must be higher. That being said, to stay competitive and keep their prices low, many designers end up cutting corners by hiring outsources who do low quality work or who themselves cut corners.
- Quality Control: Outsourcing leads to issues with quality control and knowing just where your content and graphics are coming from. Typically outsourced web designers are in the market of cranking out as many designs as possible. Additionally because they are most often located overseas, they don’t worry about where they get content from. This can result in stolen content copied from other websites appearing in your final website and setting you up for a potential legal nightmare.
- Long-Term Issues: Yet another issue is what happens in the long term. Web design companies who use outsourced designers may change who they outsource down the road. Additionally when you hire a company who outsources, you almost certainty will not have the same designer working on your website each time which can lead to issues with maintaining your site.
Know Who Designs Your Site
Always aim to avoid as many middlemen as possible. It is ideal that you have direct access to your web designer and not just the sales rep. Make sure you ask questions when considering a designer and specifically ask if your work will be outsourced or handled off-shore. Always hire a reputable web design firm such as Advertising Solutions, Inc. where you can communicate directly with your personal designer who will always be familiar with your business and site.
