This advice might not seem like it’s worth a lot since it’s coming out of the mouth of a web design company, but let us assure you, we have had to “rescue” plenty of people from previous web designers who worked cheaply, and then became insolvent and disappeared, so let this help reassure you… we are not saying this to try and convince you to choose us over someone else who has a better bid. Instead, this is an urging for you to consider some things before. you make your choice!
One of the first rules in detecting bad deals and fraud is: “If something seems like it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” This applies to your online service providers too, including web designers. If you’re getting something for a steal, there’s definitely a catch somewhere. Here are some problems with a designer working too cheaply:
1. If a web designer works too cheaply their business will not be successful
Often, when designers start out doing web design on their own, as a side gig or even if they’re trying it on for size as a full time gig, a lot of them don’t have any idea what things really cost, how much they should charge, or how much they should bid on a project.
What they find out as they get experience in the field is that to have a successful business, they have way more overhead than they thought they’d have. If they expect to work in any kind of volume at all, they will need productivity software. they will probably need software suites like Adobe, telecommunication software or hardware, accounting software and maybe even an accountant maybe, a tax preparer, probably liability insurance, and so many more things that add up to a big bite out of what they make. Then, once they subtract their expenses, the government will take roughly a third of the profit that they clear because they pay regular taxes that they’re used to as an w2 worker, plus self employment tax which just about doubles what they’re used to paying.
A designer might start out charging cheaply and then decide to raise their prices going forward, which is the right decision. If you meet that web designer, than you’ve gotten lucky! However, more often, those designers that charge too little will give up entirely and go back to working a W2 job in house, and you’ll never hear from them again.
2. If a web designer works too cheaply that may mean that they are inexperienced
Web designers that work too cheaply may be new to the field and be building their portfolio. That’s not entirely a bad thing — everyone needs to start somewhere, right?! But for you, the customer, you may be opening yourself up to getting a low quality product.
You might be stuck with a really dorky looking site. Or even if the site looks amazing, there are a lot of things in the code that if poorly implemented, could affect things like usability, accessibility, responsiveness, search engine optimization, accessibility, portability, or even something as simple as you being able to edit the site yourself. If they don’t do something correctly, then you might be stuck with a dud.
3. If a web designer works too cheaply they are probably cutting corners
Web design companies that offer dirt cheap services often do it by cutting corners… they develop quickly, shoddily, and don’t include any training or support. Cutting corners causes problems eventually.
If your business relies on a piece of machinery to get the job done, then you don’t want your mechanic to cut corners, right? Your website is a piece of important equipment for your business, especially if you sell anything online, so you don’t want your web designer to cut corners either!
One of the most common problems that we’ve seen is that these companies cut corners on things like:
- Training – So people actually know how to log in, edit and use their site when it is handed off to you.
- Search Engine Optimization features – Analytics and SEO feature setup. Analytics tracking starts from the moment you integrate it, and doesn’t go backward, so you need to have that set up when the site goes live in case you need it down the line. Search Engine Optimization tools work together with analytics to help you optimize your site for the words that your potential customers are searching for. This is easy to implement at the get go so why not take the extra 3 minutes to set it up.
- Safety & Security – Security features, automatic backups, and scheduled software updates help your site stay safe and secure. They do take a bit of time to configure, but worth paying for. A hack is scary, disappointing and costly to clean up, so best to avoid those as much as possible.
- Usability and Accessibility – Base accessibility and usability rules are implemented in the code of a site, and can take a bit of extra time to set up. Setting these up can affect the ability of users to get to what you want them to see on your site, as well as your rank in search engines.
- Platform Selection – Selection of a platform that will serve you well takes time to interview and get to know the client. It’s pretty amazing how many cut rate web design companies just choose the cheapest and fastest one to set up, without understanding if it will suit the needs of the client. This can affect even something as simple as the ability to edit your site.
- User interface and responsiveness – The user interface of your site should work well for both wider screens and smaller screens, as both are heavily used. These days what we sometimes find is that designers cut corners by providing a design that works well on mobile but uses the same interface on wider screens and it’s just really ugly and hard to use. (Usually when you see a site that works on wider screens but not at all on mobile, that site is older, from before mobile devices were so commonly used to browse the web.)
Some cut rate web design companies will set up a site cheaply, cut corners, cause problems and then offer a ridiculously overpriced maintenance package to get and keep the issues under control. Some choose to pay for the overpriced support packages because they don’t know where to turn and that ends up costing them more in the long run than if they’d paid a reputable web design company up front. When people come to us to help them get out of their overpriced contracts, sometimes we find that they’ve been locked into a proprietary system and it will take an entire site rebuild to get them into a system that they can actually edit… that is essentially rebuilding the site again, and costs what a new site would cost.
Things you can do and ask to vet a web designer’s reliability
Check their business registration and reviews
Look the business up on the Secretary of State website and see how long they’ve been in business. You can also look them up on the Better Business Bureau website, though some business may not have records listed there, which as this can cost money, is neither good nor bad. Google them and check their business reviews on google or other review websites.
Ask them about their history and how long they’ve been in business
If you hear less than a couple of years, that might be a little questionable, but not always. Again, we all have to start somewhere! If they’re doing this as a side hustle, that could also be questionable. Not sure if we’d call those dealbreakers, but maybe just yellow flags.
See where they are located
If they are located near you, that could be a real benefit, however location alone should not be a dealbreaker. If they are located in a part of the world that is not necessarily friendly with your part of the world, then should may be warranted.
Ask them what platform they recommend for your site and why
A platform that will work well for one business or person might not be the right choice for the next. Once they tell you which platform they are recommending, do a thorough check-out of that platform, get to see how it works, how much it costs, if it’s proprietary or if your site will be stuck there forever or at least until you’re ready to shell out for a whole new site.
Ask them if they will train you how to edit your own site
If they say no or if they hedge, then that’s a red flag. If they say they’ll give you training videos, that’s better, but not always.
Ask them if they offer any kind of support and if they do, how much it would cost you
A support contract over $100/mo is probably overkill for most people. Do some research or get a second opinion.
Ask them if they will install and configure security features, backups and software updates
If they don’t, that’s a red flag. You could ask them why they won’t do this, but there are not very many good reasons not to unless they’re cutting corners.
Ask them if they will integrate analytics and SEO features
This is at best a yellow flag. Ask the why not or how much it would cost to have that added. It shouldn’t take more than an additional hour of time. Honestly, it should just be included, but if it’s not, probably because corners are being cut for the sake of profit.
Ask them if the site’s design will be responsive
Making a site that works well in mobile and works just as well on wider screens is an absolute must these days. Make sure they aren’t going to just use the mobile design on all resolutions — that’s not acceptable and would be considered corner cutting.
In short, get more than one estimate and don’t base your decision wholly on cost
It is definitely a good idea to get a quote from multiple different companies, but it’s a bad idea to just go with the lowest estimate. Do your research before making any decisions!
If you would like to start an estimate for your site here at Roost Web, visit our contact page and use the estimate request form to get the ball rolling!
