A web design company or a freelance web designer?

[Harry P]

Hiring a web design company or a freelance web designer have their own pros and cons?
An experienced web design company always follows a proper strategy and latest technology for developing a website and it's better if compare to a freelance web designer?

 

[MrT]

If you're talking about which to use...

When you choose an established company, you're paying a higher price, and many times they employ those that would have been freelancers anyway, or just outsource.

Your higher price is because the company needs to keep the lights on. Not only are they paying employees and their personal bills, they're paying business bills, commercial electric, office leases, commercial internet and phones.

I know this, because I ran an office with many employees for my company.

When you choose a company, you're usually paying for stability. You're less likely to get screwed over. Choosing a freelancer is usually a bit higher risk, but you're saving money.

 

[stanton]

stanton

I have to agree with you about this..but according to you, what are risks that a client can face? and how to avoid? what is your experience?

 

[EpicGlobalWeb]

EpicGlobalWeb

You can avoid risks often by knowing how to code yourself. Even the basics will give you the ability to see through a problem vendor. Agree to times and milestones beforehand.




Any hungry freelancer will do the job for you. I personally know a web developer who has charged $100,000 for a job he was doing himself. No it wasn't a super secret government job either. But charging a high price gives both parties involved an expectation to expect. I learned the hard way that selling on the sole basis of lower prices is a terrible strategy that doesn't emulate confidence.

 

[onegoodman25]

I would respectfully disagree with the freelancers approach. I worked with both, and i prefer companies mainly for liability, any failure of issues arise, the company hold itself responsible, majority of freelancers wouldn't

 

[merapata]

merapata

I little agree with you BUT every freelancer not just working for your website only, They willing to start there own DESIGNER Firm. so of course they go for more customer satisfaction because your satisfaction may give him more works.
Also remember now a days many designer firms consulting freelancer for there clients job too.

One point is there Designer firm have many people on one projects so more creativity possibility are there, but it cost too... Also if you have proper Idea and you know what actually you need you just better go for freelancer it direct and quick solution then hire designing firm..

#Cheers

 

[wmguides]

The company charge you much much higher prices as compare to a freelance web designer. You can find a freelance web designer who have worked with many companies and simply tell him to show his on going projects or recently completed projects. As regarding to the strategy and latest technology, you can also get it with a freelance designer on much cheaper prices.

Going with company is also a good idea if you have a good budget. But first discuss with them about what you want to build whether it will be a freelancer or a company and ask for a free sample of your project first.

 

[Cochel]

Both are good options but may contradict in some cases. Remember that there’s something a freelancer has but a company dont and vice versa. Yet, they may both deliver the same output.

 

[laceibanet]

going with a design company is always a bit safer, but they might give you a more generic design. Something off a template they've already created and just modify per customer. But anything goes wrong, you have a company to back up the claim you set, legally you are a bit safer. A freelancer can give you a superior, custom design but can vanish into thin air sometimes or leave the project half finished and unless a contract is drawn out you have little recourse to go after him with.

 

[Joe B. Ray]

Interesting question. Web design is not like it used to be even 5 years ago. Today, it's very easy to design websites, assuming you mean front-end web design, not web development.

Years ago, web design was a good business, today it isn't. There are very few web design companies anymore, assuming, by company you mean a bunch of people sitting in an office somewhere on a monthly salary. You can probably still find companies like that but not too many. This model just doesn't make much sense anymore.

You asked in your post if a freelancer can "always follows a proper strategy and latest technology for developing a website". My answer is, in theory, YES, absolutely. Yet, probably 80% of the freelancer web designers are not very good at what they do. They might do a terrible job. In my experience, this is true for all the freelancers out there in any field.

If you want to hire a web designer, you should understand a little bit about web design and know what you want exactly. That way you can judge the ability of the web designer before you hire them.

Hope that helps.

 

[Reallt India]

Web design company or freelancer? It's a long running discussion and one that every business will need to experience, selecting the right person or team for your digital services is important, so you need to be sure you're making the perfect choice.

When it comes down to it the decision of freelancer or web design company is one that is fitted to the characteristics of the client concerned. Things that should be taken into account is the size of the client's company, their demands and services that they need. For smaller sized companies searching for their first website then the advantages of cheaper services and flexibility may be a better route to consider.

Alternatively, larger companies who are searching for a much better and more encompassing asset for their organization will no doubt benefit more from the experience and variety of services that a design agency can provide for them.

 

[malikshahid3232]

In my practical experience - I was and till now a Freelancer first.
Because no investment no risk

Than when I have a long client database I have to opened a company!

With best regards,
Malik

 

[dedica_manager]

What is more important to you - quality or cheap?
selected, usually 2 of 3: high quality, fast, cheap.

there is money - the studio
no money - freelancer

 

[tarunap]

Always Company for the quality and mainly the support.

 

[Localnode]

Freelance web designers can be pricey as well, mind you. I was recently quoted by a web designer I used six years ago in the region of $15,000 for a web design.
There's plenty of great quality freelancers, and said freelancers have great portfolios and excellent support as well.

I won't say choose a company, or choose a freelancer. There're expensive freelancers and companies, as well as terrible support on both.
Do you research before choosing any freelancer or company.

 

[datamaya]

I have this kind of experiences, so I'd like to share it here. In general, this is how some people associate them:

- Web design companies = higher fee (cons), but less risk of screwing up your projects (pros)
- Freelancers = cheaper fee (pros), but riskier that they won't finish the project as you wish it to be (cons)

The fact is, both share their own cons. There are a lot of unprofessional web design companies that cannot finish the jobs, suddenly get lost and difficult to reach after days without updates. At the same time, irresponsible freelancers are actually not cheap. If they don't finish your websites, then you have to look someone else, which means more money and time wasted.

The best practices are:
- If you are willing to hire a freelancer, it's better use trusted marketplace like freelancer.com.
- Either you use freelancer or a company, make sure to check the portfolio, real testimonies, their experiences in making kind of projects you want
- Prepare a list of questions (like an interview) to measure the ability of your candidates and to filter the criteria.
- If possible, negotiate the payment terms (e.g. small amount of money as the down payment), especially if the candidate is still new and has no convincing portfolios.

 

[rfharris]

A well reputed company would surely be the best option for you if you can afford to hire one but if you are on a low budget then there are thousands of pretty good freelance web designer also available on the internet. You can go with either option but in order to make sure you get good services, always ask your designer to give you a little demo of his expertise before singing the big deal.

 

[brainsdigital]

I preferred a company because it will be safer and delivery will be in time but will be more expensive.but of course, there is a freelancer with good reputation and amazing works .but you are asking for opinions and my opinion is to choose company if you already have enough money

 

[WebmasterPhil]

It depends what your project is. If you are planning a huge website or a website with a lot of complexities, then go with a web design firm. A typical web design firm houses programmers, designers, and project managers under 1 roof. They also have more manpower and more shared resources and brain trust.

If you're building a smaller website or are on tight budget, then consider a freelancer. A freelancer can sometimes work more closely with you - as it's on a 1 to 1 basis.

If you're under deadline, then see whom can promise to deliver by that deadline.

The problem with both is that you don't know for certainty whether the web design firm or the freelancer is working on multiple projects - unless your on site with them 100% of the time. They're not obligated to tell you how many projects they're working on either so you won't know with certainty that they'll be giving you the maximum effort.

 

[AlexMaster]

I guess it depends on many things such as your projects and budget, If you go for some big companies they might charge you high but at the same time the response time would be less cause they have huge staff working on your project compared to a freelancer. But a freelancer can get the job done in less charge with little more response time. so there are both pros and cons in this aspect.

 

[ericplotz1]

Utilize a freelancer and just make sure you look at their portfolio first. I NEVER pay for a web design up front. If the designer is confident they will accept without payment.

Tell them to build the site on a development server. When the site is completed review the site on the dev server. After you are satisfied, pay 1/2 of the $$.

Then after the site is successfully transferred, the developer no longer has Cpanel or FTP access, and everything is finalized, pay the remaining balnce.

 

[Tim75]

Company, of course, there is always someone to turn to, working with freelancers it is sometimes a problem, because sometimes they disappear, not answering phones

 

[Claire_Anderson]

We can hire freelancers for low cost designing but i think that the companies are better for the designing. They have all the resources available to develop the applications. The application developed by a team will be better than the one developed by a single developer. The more brain to think, the better, more advanced and enhanced the User Interface of your application. Your application UI and its performance plays an important role in driving traffic to your website. That is why they say that the first impression matters. If the first impression of the application is bad, it will drive the traffic away from the website.

If your would have low quality User Interface or it would take too ling to load then the users would not use your website. Because the users always have the alternative option for the websites. If you can get a high quality application on a higher cost, you should accept the offer. These days getting high quality applications even in higher rates is difficult.