Why a Local Web Design Service Provider is the Best Option to Invest In?

Nobody knows your locality better than you. You spend years in a place and only then can gather profound knowledge about the culture, taste of the people, the way of behaviour, and so on.

It allows you to observe the local people. And this is vital when targeting clients from the neighbourhoods. 

So, now you know what motivates the people. What attracts them to an object. How they react to a certain phenomenon.

Local Web Design Service Provider

Your local boy knows the devices around you. They know the type of devices and the people using them. So, they can target easily—giving you a business perspective even before you launch the site.

With responsive design and perfect execution, they can attract them to your site. They know the norms as well. And thus, provides a HOMEBOY feeling to your platform through the design.  

And who knows—the best freelance web designer in Toronto or say, around the world might be from your neighbourhoods.

All of these become great resources when you develop a project aiming at the locality and the surrounding. As a result, you can trigger their attractions easily than non-residentials.

Referring to the fact, a freelance web designer in Toronto can perform better than the others. So, if you are planning to launch a business in Toronto, Montreal, or Canada, local web developers can assist you in gaining insights into the natives. 

In this way, you’ll have a relevant, user-friendly, customer-focused, and content-oriented online presence. It will inspire random visitors to become regular customers. Not to mention how it will gear up the business revenue.

Let’s work together:

email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

Why Choose Toronto's Best Web Designer and Developer?

The best freelance web designer in Toronto uses strategic insights for higher conversions. As a result, it produces quick results and higher brand engagements.

The best freelance web designer in Toronto only develops websites—well, that’s incorrect.

He holds proficiency in SEO as well. So, you can easily rank your website on Google. 

Not sure what to do with SEO ranking?

Toronto's Best Web Designer

Well, let’s see some metrics—

Information seekers and buyers tend to click on the search results of the first page. The majority of them don’t even bother going to the next page. And this number is a whopping 75%

Ready to amaze again?

Okay—you have 30% more chance when you rank first than your competitors on the next pages.

Besides, a custom WordPress website designer in Toronto is preferred for the following points—

- Helps you get the first impression right

- Helps to reduce the bounce rates

- Offers affordable prices

- Optimizes to drive organic traffic

- Responsive and professional design and development

- Accessible to all devices

- Ensures quick loading time for SEO improvement

- SEO-friendly coding

- Aligns with Web 2.0 properties

- Ensures top-notch quality

- User-friendly navigation

- Ensures crisp UI/UX

- Brings profitable traffic

- Uses premium plugins and tools to develop

- Provide the best security possible

- Assists in after-sales services

- Ensures cross-browser compatibility

- Total ownership of the site and hosting

With the assurance of the highest level of professionalism, a freelance web designer Toronto can develop a unique, robust, and eye-catching website for you.

Let’s work together:

email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

Why Should you Hire a Freelance Web Designer in Toronto?

Hiring a freelancer web designer—well, not an idea from your grandpa’s era. It’s a modern talk with tons of blessings.

Working with an agency requires maintaining a long formal procedure. Well, there are hundreds of agencies for WordPress web development in Toronto. Bigger agencies require more time to deliver your task. The reason—they have workloads to complete. You need to wait for your turn. You can book a schedule but may have to wait for a month before they start working on your projects. Plus, quality comes at a high price.

A freelancer; on the other hand, charges little, takes less time. Besides, you have the option to oversee the project from time to time—or, whenever you want. No compromise with the quality—that’s a guarantee.

Freelance Web Designer in Toronto

A web design company in Toronto is pricey making freelance web developers handy. Whether you are in a business needing further exposure or intending to kick-start one with online representations—the best freelance website designer in Toronto can assist you to reach the highest mark of perfection and success.

To add, you can scrutinize a freelance web developer’s portfolio knowing that he developed the sites. On the other side, you don’t know which employee will do your work and how he is going to perform.

So, a freelance custom website designer in Toronto is a wise choice to make.

Not to mention how skillful Toronto's web designers are. 4G network and rising talents are taking Toronto based freelance web developers to the next level.

Let’s work together:

email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

4 Easy Tips for A Successful Website

Your freelance web developer will support you as you transform your website and engage with existing and potential customers across the world. A successful website is characterized by its simplicity, usability, and responsiveness. While you are monitoring the progress of your new website, check how the site looks on your phone. Most people access websites for the first time on their phone and if your site has an impressive impact on a computer monitor, but doesn’t work properly on a mobile screen, you will fail to engage with your website’s users. Here are four principles to establish while you work with a remote freelance web developer to transform your company’s website:

Easy Tips for A Successful Website

1. Prioritize Simplicity

Firstly, the most effective websites all have one thing in common: simplicity. It can be tempting to fill the homepage of your website with all the goods and services that your company provides. However, maintaining a visual hierarchy and implementing a grid system is essential for an effective website. Indeed, you should use your company’s homepage to showcase a handful of the best services you have to offer potential customers.

2. Develop a clear navigation system for your website

Secondly, users must be able to find their way around quickly and easily. This means that a coherent navigation system should be devised by your freelance web developer and it should be regularly tested throughout the process. You should never assume that users will be able to understand how to use your site, this is why testing your new website at each stage is one of the most important parts of the web development project.

3. Make sure your site is mobile friendly

Responsive web design will help you to engage with users effectively. This means that the mobile-optimized website is as important as the version created for a monitor. Your freelance web developer will be equipped with the skills to conceptualize a website that’s as effective and user-friendly on a phone or tablet as it is on a widescreen.

4. Regularly update the content

Finally, compelling content is the key to any successful website. While your remote freelance web developer is building your website, your team should be developing a content plan for the new website. Your website is a platform for engagement between you and your customers, therefore you should utilize the potential it has by only uploading relevant and engaging information. This is also important for enhancing the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your site.

And finally…

Working with a freelance web developer to transform your company’s website is an exciting process. It will give you the opportunity to communicate your company’s web design needs directly to a talented developer, while monitoring the web design process. This guarantees great results for any website transformation project.

Let’s work together:

email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

5 Steps to Work With a Freelance Web Developer

Working with a freelance web developer is different from working with a permanent member of staff. The website developer won’t have any previous knowledge about your company and the way that it works. This means that communicating effectively is essential to a healthy and free-flowing working relationship. It’s important to ask questions early on in the process, to avoid confusion or duplicated work. A lack of communication can become a costly endeavor for your business. Approach the task with an open mind and listen to your remote freelance web developer’s advice and opinions about the new website. Honest communication is the key to a good relationship with any freelance professional, whether they are building a website or maintaining your social media channels.

Work With Freelance Web Developer

1. Establish priorities for the web development project

Once you begin working with your chosen freelance web developer, establish your priorities for the website at an early stage. It’s important to consider what the most important functions for the new website will be and initiate whether the developer can complete the task in a realistic timescale. This is part of the open and honest dialogue required to work efficiently with a complete freelance web developer on your company’s website.

2. Maintain effective communication

Surely, there’s no reason why you can’t keep in contact with a remote freelance web developer, even if they are working on the other side of the globe. The way to do this is by regularly organizing meetings with the web developer. This will enable you to fully understand how the project is being managed and give you peace of mind that the task is being carried out efficiently. These meetings are the best time for you both to raise any concerns you may have and ask important questions so that the web developer can concentrate on completing the task between meetings without any distraction. There are many ways that you can maintain contact without being in the same physical location, such as free VoIP services. You can work with a freelance web developer in Toronto with ease from anywhere around the world.

3. Approach the process with an open mind

You may have a vision for your company’s website in mind: a website that will impress your clients and boost your business, complete with a wide variety of features and a bespoke interface. The reality of creating your ideal website, however, may be more complicated than you’d hoped. It’s important to approach working with a freelance web developer with an open mind. There may be practical limitations and some changes to your initial ideas. In these circumstances, it’s always worth listening to the opinions of a professional about how realistic your ideas are and whether they will fit with the structure of your company’s website. Every homepage is unique and what works well for some websites may not be suitable for your own.

4. Consider their concerns

Finally, it’s important to remember that your trusted freelance web developer has worked on a wide variety of websites and can bring knowledge from years of experience and multiple projects. That’s why you should listen to their opinions about creating the site and respect their expertise. Although this may not fit with your vision, it is guaranteed to help you avoid any technical issues or blocks further along. Your complete freelance web developer has only your best interests at heart and will advise you professionally while creating the most suitable website for your company.

5. Sourcing a graphic designer

It’s important to hire two specialists to relaunch your website – your trusted freelance web developer will code the site, while a graphic designer will create the look of it. There are a few ways that you can find a freelance graphic designer, if you don’t already have a preferred candidate for the role, you can discuss this with your freelance web developer, to see if they have any contacts or colleagues available. By selecting two freelancers who have previously worked together, you can ensure a harmonious workflow.

Let’s work together:

email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

Understand the Basic of Web Development Concepts

Web development is a highly skilled process that requires analytical skills, focus, and a logical approach to building a website. Every website is constructed through a variety of coding languages, these translate to the functionality of the site. Your freelance web developer will support you every step of the way as you work in partnership to optimize your company’s website. This will enable your website to flow seamlessly and engages both current and potential customers.

Basic Web Development Concepts

It’s good to understand the basics of web development before you start this project. When you build a website, there are two key components: design and code. The web developer will code your site and a graphic designer will curate how it’s going to look. As a team, these two digital practitioners will construct a full website, working separately to develop the back-end and front-end of your site.

What is a Web Developer?

A good web developer can build almost any type of website you can think of. Web developers — or coders — are engineers who create the site’s functionality by coding in a variety of languages. The most prevalent coding languages include HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX etc. A freelance web developer will be able to create advanced websites from a combination of these languages. A website developer will often have a more advanced coding ability than a web designer, enabling you to create complex functionalities for your company’s site. Developers are also the experts you will contact if you need to address technical problems. By contacting a freelance web development service, you will be able to find the best combination of freelancers to transform your company’s website with ease.

Some developers handle all aspects of a website’s construction, and others specialize in a certain aspect of it. Depending on your site’s needs, you can choose a remote freelance web developer who is an expert in a specific language, alternatively, you can opt for a more general web developer, who has a wide range of skills. Here are some examples of types of specialized web developers:

Back-end web developers are responsible for the overall technical construction of the website. They create the basic framework of the site and ensure that it works as expected. Back-end web developers also establish procedures for allowing others to add new pages to the website and meet with management to discuss major changes to the site.

Front-end web developers are responsible for how a website looks. They create the site’s layout and integrate graphics, applications (such as a retail checkout tool), and other content. They also write web-design programs in a variety of computer languages, such as HTML or JavaScript.

Webmasters maintain websites and keep them updated. They make sure that websites operate correctly, and they test for errors such as broken links. Many webmasters respond to user comments as well.

Web developers are responsible for your website’s technical aspects, such as the speed and capacity of the site. Indeed, they will monitor and enhance a website’s speed and how much traffic the site can handle. These aren’t the only tasks they will manage, web developers may create content for the website, too.

Typical Duties of web developers
Meet with clients or management to discuss the needs and design of a website
Frontend development from the website mockup
Write code for the website, using programming languages such as PHP, MySQL, Javascript etc
Integrate graphics, content, and video into the website
Insert the Analytics code into the website
Website Speed Optimization
Web Security Optimization
Monitor website traffic
When creating a website, developers have to make their client’s vision a reality. They build particular types of websites, such as e-commerce, news, or gaming sites, to fit clients’ needs. Different types of websites require different applications. For example, a gaming site should be able to handle advanced graphics, whereas an e-commerce site would need a payment-processing application. The developer decides which applications and designs will best fit the site.

Let’s work together:
email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

5 Reasons to Choose a Freelance Web Developer

Many of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations will hire a freelance web developer to ensure that their site offers cutting-edge functionality and advanced features that create an impact on users across the globe. Regardless of the size of your digital team, a freelance web developer will have the ability to inspire your employees, while they building an impressive website to engage with both new and existing customers. Indeed, around 10% of web development professionals work on a freelance basis, so you won’t be limited when you make this important choice.

Hire a Freelance Web Developer

1. You’ll face fewer overheads

Firstly, if your business has more regular outgoings, there is an increasing pressure on the company to earn a higher gross profit. This means that your company won’t be able to take as many risks and you may not be able to grow your business as quickly as you’d like. Hiring a web developer on a full-time contract will come at a substantial cost and you may not need their services once the website has been launched. Therefore, hiring a freelance web developer will reduce costs because you will only be paying for an agreed service.

2. Lower costs for your company

Secondly, recruiting new members of staff is one of the most costly elements of running a business. When you are hiring a freelancer, you don’t have the extra costs associated with hiring a new employee. These include medical insurance and redundancy packages. However, if you employ a web development agency, you will also incur management costs. Therefore, hiring a freelance web developer is an excellent choice for many reasons — not just that you’ll end up paying less for a high-quality service.

3. Greater agility when building your site

If you have a project in mind, you can hire a freelance web developer to start the project immediately. This project can flow quickly and seamlessly in the hands of a trusted freelance web developer. Meanwhile, you can relax in the knowledge that the website is being developed while you can continue to run your business. It’s important to regularly check-in with the development and maintains contact with your remote freelance web developer to ensure the project is on track. Hiring a freelancer can also be motivating for your team, this is because the web developer will move the project along at a fast pace, bringing fresh, new ideas to your company as they work alongside your digital team.

4. Direct communication with the website developer

Hiring a freelancer is simple: there’s just one person you need to communicate with. Working directly with a web developer results in an easy and effective working relationship. Companies are choosing to hire more freelancers for web development projects because it’s easy to communicate with an industry-standard professional than it is to deal with large web development companies and design agencies. Indeed, you will be dealing with one freelance web developer, therefore you must choose someone who specializes in the type of site you need and who can manage your company’s technical requirements.

5. Choose from international professionals

The benefit of working with a remote freelance web developer is that you can hire talented workers from across the globe. This means that you can choose from a freelance web developer from Canada, or elsewhere in the world. Many freelancers have worked for multinational tech companies and they’re now interested in working independently on separate projects for individual clients. Previously, there was a limit to who you could hire for your website relaunch. Location is now irrelevant which means you can choose from some of the best developers — even if they live thousands of miles from your head office.

Let’s work together:
email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

Are you Ready to Hire a Perfect Freelance Web Developer?

The first step is establishing your company’s priorities. This means that the freelance web developer can provide you with a realistic time scale, enabling you to plan your new site’s launch around other events and services. It also means that the freelance web developer can supply you with an accurate quote for the work they will provide.

Perfect Freelance Web Developer

Secondly, providing specific details about your ambitions for your new site will enable web developers to allocate the correct amount of time to your project. Allowing enough time for your project to be completed to a high standard is essential for guaranteeing the best possible results. You must provide this information at the start of the process so that the freelance web development service will be able to plan your project accurately.

Establish your company’s needs

Create a list of requirements before you search for a freelance web developer. This will enable you to find the correct professional for the project quickly and easily. Does your website need to provide users with advanced cybersecurity, or perhaps you have specific e-commerce requirements? These are just some of the considerations you should make before hiring a freelance web development service. As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to be as specific as possible when you’re searching for a web developer. If you establish your end goals for the project clearly and concisely, the task will be much simpler.

1. Set clear goals for the web development project

You should start by considering the outputs of your project: what do you need from a freelance web developer? Are there some desirable aspects of the project and others that are essential? Setting clear goals and targets at the beginning of the project will save you time later on. Remember that it’s important to reflect on your current digital services and establish how your web development project should be implemented alongside your existing services. Now is the perfect time to set realistic goals within your budget, if this is the first web development project that your business requires, this is a topic worth discussing with the freelance web development service. The developer will be able to walk you through the process and explain the costs and timescale for your brand new website.

2. Look for inspiration online

It doesn’t matter if you’re unfamiliar with the process of web development, finding examples of how you would like your website to look and function is an excellent idea and it will give the web developer a clearer understanding of your requirements. Take a close look at competitors’ sites — and your favorite corporations — for ideas that will help you achieve your ideal website. There are a wide range of digital services available for companies and individuals who want to transform their websites, this is an opportunity to decide what

3. Set a realistic budget for your new site

Secondly, once you’ve established the essentials for your new website, it’s time to consider a realistic budget for your project. If you have a smaller budget, consider which elements of the project are desirable, and which are essential. This is also something you can discuss with your freelance web developer, but you mustn’t be trying to overstretch your budget because this can lead to poor quality results. To achieve effective results, it’s worth investing fully when you build your company’s website, rather than taking shortcuts and easy options.

4. Develop a timeline for your web development project

It’s important to remember that before you contact a freelance web developer, we recommend that you schedule a time frame for the work involved and decide when you’d like to launch your new website. There may be an important event which you’d like the launch to coincide with or an important date that will motivate your team. Throughout the web development process, you should maintain contact with the remote freelance web developer, creating a realistic time scale for both parties to work towards. There may be some flexibility within the website timeline but what matters is that you both enter the process with rough dates involved. Your chosen developer may be fitting the website project between other contracts, this is something to consider at an early stage. Some web development projects are urgent, while others may benefit from a flexible timescale and a longer research period.

Let’s work together:
email@ainal.me | https://ainal.me

Web Designer vs Web Developer - Why Do People Hire Web Designers?

Hiring a professional website designer isn’t cheap. The cost of working with a design firm can start at $5,000 and go up from there. So, why then would you pay so much money for a new website when you could use another service such as Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly and build a site for free? Let’s compare web designer vs website builder.

Web Designer vs Website Builder? Which is Best for You?

The truth is, hiring a professional web designer or design firm is not for everyone.

If you’re a new business without much revenue, then using an affordable website builder is exactly what you should be doing.

However, if you own a small or medium-sized business, using a ‘free’ website builder could cost your company many tens of thousands of dollars in wasted man-hours and even more money in the opportunity cost of lost potential revenue.

In this article, we will address several aspects of the debate, “web designer vs website builder?” Who would be better off hiring a professional and the specific advantages and disadvantages of doing either?

What is a website builder?

So the first question to ask is what exactly is a website builder?

Long story short, a website builder is a tool that substitutes design and coding knowledge. Instead of having to know design fundamentals and knowledge of Photoshop you can select from a pre-made template design. Instead of needing to know CSS, HTML and other coding languages you are relying on the website builder’s pre-set functions and code.

The analogy I like to use is that of a DSLR camera. Back in the day, it took quite a bit of skill to take a nice-looking photo using a manual SLR camera. Today all you need to do is point and click, and you can take a nice-looking picture.

That’s basically what a website builder does. It allows anyone to quickly and cheaply set up a website that doesn’t look terrible or sometimes even looks very good.

What does a website designer do and how is it different?

So what do you get when you hire a professional website designer?

The short answer is it depends on who you hire. But assuming you hire someone good, what a web designer or design agency brings to the table can be a lot.

First, a good web designer can take your vision and bring it into reality. They can take the concept that is stuck in your head or heart and turn it into a living breathing design that you can see.

If they’re really good, they can get an understanding of your business and your customers and tailor the design and structure of your site to facilitate conversions to help generate more sales.

A good web designer can also help you have a unique and interesting design that sets you apart from your competitors. Nowadays all websites are beginning to look the same and having a custom-designed website can help your business get noticed in a crowded space.

Going back to our DSLR camera analogy let’s imagine that you were planning your wedding day and wanted to have pictures taken to capture this momentous event. One option could be handing your friend a DSLR camera and have them take pictures of the big day.

Hiring a web designer would be the equivalent of engaging a professional wedding photographer to take artistic and beautiful photos that you could treasure for the rest of your life.

Web Designer vs Website Builder – Who Should Use a Website Builder?

Should everyone hire a professional website designer? Not really. In fact, for many, it’s the wrong move. Should your business falls under one of these categories you should probably go with a website builder:

Hobby

If you’re a hobbyist and looking to share your passion with others, you don’t need to hire a professional designer.

Blogger

Unless you have a mature blog with an established audience, there is no need to professionally design your site at first. You can always improve your design later and import all of your previous posts at that time.

Unfunded Startup / New Business

Do you have a new business or an unfunded startup? You should probably just start with an affordable website builder. You have yet to prove the concept, and you are better off just getting your idea out into the world to see if there is even a market for it. Once you have an established customer base and are generating revenue, then you should probably look into upgrading your site with a professional design.

Solopreneur

If you’re a solopreneur with less than $75k/year in revenue, then you are probably best served with an affordable website builder.

Unproven Concept

Have a great new idea that you haven’t tested yet? You should use a website builder to see how the idea is received. If it starts making money, then consider hiring a professional.

Small Non-profit

For small non-profit organizations that are high on passion and low on funds, there is nothing wrong with using a website builder for your organization.

What’s the deciding factor?

When it comes to whether or not you should hire a web designer vs website builder, remember the timeless words of old school rapper DJ Quick:

“If it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense.”

The bottom line is – paying for a website should pay for itself. If hiring a web designer is a money-losing proposition, stick with a website builder

Who would be better of hiring a professional web designer?

If website builders like Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly are so affordable, why shouldn’t everyone use them? If a professionally designed website could cost over $10,000 and a website builder costs $50/month, aren’t you saving over $9,000 by choosing the website builder?

Not really. The reason is that it’s not how much a professionally designed website costs.

It’s how much it will cost you and your business if you don’t have a professionally designed website.

Warren Buffett, recognized as the world’s greatest investor, says that the most important consideration when it comes to investing is opportunity-cost.

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is when you not only consider your return on investment for a particular transaction. But when you compare all options available, to determine what the best overall course of action is.

So let’s say you own a construction company, and your average transaction runs in the millions of dollars. In scenario A, you use a ‘free’ website builder and pay nothing for your site. In scenario B you pay a design firm $10,000 for a professionally designed site. Which one is the better value?

In scenario A, you have the hidden cost of your employee’s time which was used to make the site. If it took a paid employee 100 hours of time put the site together and that employee gets paid $50/hr, then their time needs to be factored into the cost.

In scenario B if the business lost even one million dollar contract it might otherwise have won with a more professional looking site, that cost needs to be factored in as well.

With that being said, here is a look at who might be better off engaging with a web designer or design firm:

A business generating over $250,000 a year in revenue

It’s hard to put an exact number, regarding revenue, for a business to have before getting a website. But it’s safe to say that if your business is generating over $250k/year, then you are probably leaving money on the table by not having your website professionally designed

Local business in a competitive industry

Do you own a local business that generates most of its business transactionally through people doing online searches? You are at a serious disadvantage if you don’t have a professionally designed website. The SEO benefits alone are worth the cost.

Solopreneur generating over $150,000 a year in revenue

If you are a consultant, a real estate professional, a lawyer, accountant or any other solo business owner offering professional services, then you would probably be better off with a professionally designed website than going with a website builder.

High transaction value business

High transaction value businesses that generate $5k or more in profit per transaction would be better off with a professionally designed site. By having such a high transaction value, if you could generate just one additional sale by having a better website then the investment would pay for itself.

Follow the money

As stated before, your website is an investment. Really! And like any good investment, it needs to generate a positive return. Meaning your new website should bring in more additional revenue, that you would not otherwise have gotten, than the cost of the website itself.

Advantages and Disadvantages – Web Designer vs Website Builder

So now that we know who should be going with a website builder let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of going with it.

Advantages:

Affordable

The main benefit is obviously the price. For a small investment, you can have a website up on the web.

Fast

You can have your new site up within a day using a website builder. When hiring a design firm, it will typically take 4-6 weeks from start to launch.

Decent design

Many of the current website builders offer decent-looking design and templates. The key to making them work is to copy the template design exactly. Any additions you make to the design will probably only hurt.

Disadvantages:

Not professionally designed

While many website builder templates look good, few of them look great. You also won’t have the benefit of someone who understands marketing and visitor conversions to help optimize the conversion design of your site.

Generic

A lot of people have recently been jumping on the ‘free’ website builder bandwagon, and because of this, there are a ton of people using the same templates and designs. Most website builder templates are all beginning to look the same giving them a generic and unoriginal feel.

Looks like a template

It’s hard to put my finger on it, but I can almost always tell when a website is using a template. There’s just something about the look that has that template feel to it. I think most people can spot a template as well, which is not that great if you’re using one.

Poor SEO

Here’s a little secret. Most website builders have terrible Search Engine Optimization. They do not offer very robust tools when it comes to optimizing your website for search traffic from Google. Also, a good design firm can offer a ton of benefit when it comes to proper keyword research and website optimization. Therefore in this instance of web designer vs website builder, the designer wins.

Lost potential sales

As we discussed earlier the opportunity cost of lost potential sales have to be factored in when considering the cost of using a ‘free’ website builder.

Can be frustrating

While the backend user interface of these website builders is meant to be easy to use, they often aren’t. It can be frustrating to work within a rigid framework trying to realize a vision you have for the site.

Time intensive

What is your time worth to you? Better yet, if you have employees and they are busy working this what is your employee’s time worth to you? What else could you be doing with that time? This all needs to be factored into the true cost of the website project.

Advantages and disadvantages of web designer vs website builder

Still not sure whether or not you should hire a professional website designer? Here is a look at some advantages and disadvantages of going that route:

Advantages:

Professional design

When you hire a website designer, you are hiring a professional. Someone whose job it is to understand design best practices, fonts, colours, harmony and balance. They also have an understanding of user interface, information architecture and how design impacts visitor flow. All of these skills are brought to the table when you hire a professional.

Unique design

Remember the Matrix Reloaded? Yes, it was a terrible movie. But remember when Agent Smith started cloning himself that the matrix was overrun by a sea of Agent Smiths? Well, that’s how things are beginning to feel regarding design. All websites are starting to look the same because they all use the same templates. Hiring a website designer allows you to have a unique and original design.

Optimized for conversion

Most templates are not optimized for visitor conversions. They really can’t be because they are trying to appeal to a broad number of user types and can’t be designed to create a clear conversion path tailored to your specific user path. When hiring a web designer, at least when hiring a good one, they will help structure the design in such a way that it is designed to optimize conversions – which means more leads and more sales.

SEO optimized

A good website designer or firm should have knowledge of Search Engine Optimization and be able to do keyword research, help identify the best keywords to rank for and make sure your site is tagged and structured to be optimized for those keywords. Most website builder platforms have minimal SEO tools.

Ongoing support

Ever been on a live chat with tech support talking about how you need to update your DNS when you don’t even know what the heck a DNS is? Not fun. When you hire a professional, those problems go away, and you get to pick up the phone and talk to a human being who will solve those problems for you without being made to feel like a simpleton because you don’t understand tech jargon.

Saved time

Is your time worth anything to you? When you hire a web designer you are buying your life back, or at least many hours of it, by paying a professional to deliver results rather than spending countless hours banging your head against a wall or teaching yourself a new skill that has nothing to do with your profession.

Disadvantages:

Higher upfront cost

The main challenge with hiring a professional design firm is to pay the high upfront cost. If cash is tight, this can especially be a problem.

Longer time to launch

Having a custom-designed site takes time. The development time alone can take 2-3 weeks, so expect to take about six weeks to have a professionally designed website. When using a website builder, you have the instant gratification of having a site up right now.

You may not love the design

Here’s a scary thought. You might pay a web designer thousands of dollars and not love what you get. It happens. Here’s a hint, if you don’t love the web designer’s portfolio, you probably won’t love what they do for you.

Quality varies

The web design industry is a bit like the Wild West. There is a low barrier to entry to put up a shingle and call yourself a website designer. Because of this, the quality varies quite a bit when choosing a designer. Two things to judge a design firm by are their portfolio and their reviews. If both of those aren’t great, keep looking.

A wide range of pricing

How much does a website cost? That’s a good question. Talk to 5 different design agencies, and you will get five wildly different quotes. It can be a real challenge knowing what a good price is when hiring a web designer

You might not own your website

Be careful when hiring a design firm. Make sure you have full ownership of your site once the website has been launched. There are design firms out there that handcuff you into an ongoing maintenance plan and do not give you ownership rights to the site. This doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s worth being aware of.

Conclusion

So back to our question, web designer vs website builder? Which one is right for you? The bottom line is, most websites are built with commercial intent. The purpose of your website is to make money. Whether or not you should hire a website designer vs. using a website builder comes down to risk vs. reward.

If you aren’t making much money, don’t have much money or have an unproven concept – haven’t proven it can make money, then you should go with the most affordable option available and not spend your money hiring a design firm.

If you are making money, value your time or your employees time and feel that you are losing potential business by not having a professionally designed site, then you should hire a professional.

After reading this article on web designer vs website builder, should you feel a design firm is right for you, then I’d like to mention our Free Mockup Offer? We’re so confident in the quality of our design process that we will make a free mockup of your new website before you sign or pay for anything.

Originally published at Ainal.me on April 19, 2019.

About Ainal Haque

I’m a Sr. Web Designer and Developer. As a freelance web designer and developer in the web field over 10 years, I work with clients around the world providing high-quality web design & development services.

Ainal Haque

I specialize in PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Lumen, Codeigniter, Zend Framework, Symfony2, and Yii. I love WordPress, SquareSpace, Wix, Weebly, Neto, Shopify, etc as CMS web application platform where I can build custom and complicated applications very easily with the powerful API it provides.