People use websites to buy products, book services, or find information about a company. While some smaller businesses remain reluctant to embrace it, there’s no denying that websites are crucial for long-term survival in the digital age.

But simply having a website isn’t enough to appeal to target audiences.

A site that’s hard to navigate, unpleasant to the eyes, or confusing to use is only going to leave a negative impression on visitors. Instead of establishing trust and boosting credibility, it creates doubt and uncertainty. Leads are likely to go elsewhere and become another company’s sales.

For a high-quality website, you can either recruit in-house or outsource. Allow us to explain why the latter is the better choice, especially if you manage or own an SME.

1 – To save on total costs

Development work is expensive—all the more so if you’re based in the western hemisphere. For one thing, the average annual salary of a web developer in the United States is over $70,000. The rate is cheaper in the United Kingdom but still more than £33,000 per year.

So, regardless if you’re nearshoring or offshoring, contracting out work is definitely more affordable than recruiting your own. This is thanks to the difference in labour costs in various countries. Depending on where they’re located, the provider save you anywhere from 20% to 70% of your budget.

2 – To focus on business

Outsourcing means you’ll be free of having to recruit or train a new employee. Neither do you have to worry about learning web development and actually building a site. What’s left from your end is to provide timely approval and feedback.

The rest of your time can be devoted to core operations. These include but aren’t limited to:

• Thinking up fresh product ideas.
• Expanding your professional network.
• Implementing marketing strategies.
• Keeping employees happy.
• Building your customer base.

3 – To access top experts

Some features require strong technical expertise but local candidates might not have such capabilities. Specialists in virtual reality, augmented reality, or blockchain architecture may be hard to find in your location, for example.

These experts tend demand higher salaries than regular developers too. After all, you’ll be paying for their years of experience in addition to an already expensive minimum wage. Individuals with the same expertise but lower asking price are accessible if you choose to outsource instead.

4 – To speed up the process

Hiring an in-house developer takes up a lot of your time. You have to create a job description, publish the listing, check resumes, interview candidates, and so on. Working with an offshore agency means you can jump straight to building websites.

A speedier development process means you have more time to test out site features and digital marketing campaigns. The earlier that your pages are online, the earlier you’ll get it optimised and accessible to those who want to purchase your goods or services.

5 – To ensure secure coding

If you’re building an e-commerce site, make sure all the data will be secure, especially customer payment information. An amateur may not be capable of providing extensive security measures, however, making your website easy to hack.

An experienced developer, on the other hand, sees to it that the process and code that go into creating your site are as secure as possible. They’ll also store and track documentation in securely hosted services, such as Google Drive, to prevent leaks prior to the launch.

6 – To enjoy team scalability

Hiring your own developer involves thinking about their professional growth. This would entail courses, conferences, and other forms of training. Plus, if the project requires more people or if your developer leaves, you have to deal with recruiting again.

A third-party provider checks that their workers are updated on the latest trends in the industry. They’ll also take care of adding more members to the team as needed. You may have to pay more for a bigger team but it’s cheaper than hiring more experts yourself.

7 – To get business support

The goal of many offshore agencies is to build a long-term relationship with you as a client. Hence, they tend to offer additional services that are related to website maintenance. Doing so encourages you to work with them from development until whatever comes in the future.

Services such as keyword research, competitor analysis, search engine optimisation, and ad design help a site attract prospective customers. It’s convenient to be able to get these services from a single provider rather than book them separately.

Who to Outsource Web Development To

After reading the 7 practical reasons we’ve outlined above, we hope you’re convinced that you should outsource your web development needs. If you still have doubts, there’s also the third option which serves as a kind of middle ground—hiring a web design and development virtual assistant.

A VA may be an offshore worker but they allow you to enjoy some of the exclusivity of an in-house employee. In this way, you gain access to a wider pool of experienced talents without having to pay the premium rates of a local hire.

We at Remote Workmate specialise in connecting clients like you to VAs who suit your needs. You can check out our success stories to learn how we’ve helped other organisations like yours.