Every once in a while, I hear from a prospect who says his organization is considering redesigning their site and they’d like to do the design and CMS implementation on their own. They either want to use in-house resources or they intend to use an off the shelf template for design and styling.
Sure, this can seem really cost-effective, but is it really the best solution? On the flip side, does it pay to pay an agency to handle your redesign?
When you hire a great agency, you’re getting the best thinking from strategists, designers, front-end developers, developers, SEO managers, and content experts. There’s no way that a WordPress theme you purchase for $49 can give you all that. And most organizations’ can’t afford to have all those resources on staff because they’re pricey and they don’t need them full-time for an ongoing period of time. For the cost of one really great staff person or half a person, you get the combined talents of 5-7 talented professionals for a concentrated period of time.
What’s more, a great agency gives you the benefit of this great team of people working together to give you great results. When Matrix Group designers are working on comps for a client, there’s always an internal review to discuss compliance with the specs, implementation pros and cons, impact on SEO, and usability.
Finally, a great agency goes beyond the templates and the programming. They help you develop the powerful content that will ultimately bring search engines and real visitors to your site. Off the shelf templates and themes never do this for you.
I have a good friend with whom I share a fabulous hairdresser. Eileen always needles me that I argue too much with Crystal. She says, “you want your clients to take your good advice about web design coz you’re the expert, right? You should do the same with Crystal.” Touché!
