{"id":28391,"date":"2019-04-29T11:06:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T11:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futurelab.digitalmachine.co.nz\/blog\/five-popular-web-design-industry-questions-that-just-wont-go-away\/"},"modified":"2019-04-29T11:06:04","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T11:06:04","slug":"five-popular-web-design-industry-questions-that-just-wont-go-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futurelab.digitalmachine.co.nz\/au\/blog\/five-popular-web-design-industry-questions-that-just-wont-go-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Five popular Web Design industry questions (that just won\u2019t go away)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s only one\nother thing in life that\u2019s as certain as death and taxes; web design companies\nwill continue to be asked the following questions on an almost daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Why do we charge in fifteen-minute intervals for a two-minute job?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nothing really\ntakes two minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say we\u2019re\nasked to deal with a coding problem. Our office takes the call and listens to\nthe problem. We then decide who to pass that problem to within the company,\nbased on expertise. We communicate internally until the correct employee is\nmade aware of the exact nature of the issue and assigned. They log in to your\nwebsite and they spend time diagnosing and fixing the problem. They report back\nthat the problem is fixed and then we generate a detailed invoice. Everyone\nspends time on the phone or on email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing really\ntakes two minutes. Did I mention that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Why does my quote not contain more technical information?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple\nof reasons. The first is that the more technical information we include at the\nsales stage, the more work we have to do. From our point of view, we know that\nwe have the personnel and the ability to build your site. There\u2019s no need for\nus to begin the process of negotiating those technical hurdles at the sales\nstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second reason\nis the same reason service stations don\u2019t just give away free fuel when people\nreally, really need it but can\u2019t afford it. It\u2019s why government benefits are\nmeans tested. It\u2019s why you have to produce ID at Officeworks to get your Click\nand Collect. It\u2019s human nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although not you \u2013\nmaybe \u2013 believe it or not, some people do look to get stuff for nothing.\n\u201cThey\u2019re ruining it for everyone else\u201d is probably what your Mother used to say\n\u2013 and she was right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most web design\ncompanies are careful about including technical information in quotes during\nthe sales process \u2013 to do so constitutes work, and some people will walk away\nwithout committing to a purchase, but still use the work we\u2019ve done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Can you help me to scope my project?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is related to\nquestion two, and the answer is yes \u2013 but we can\u2019t do it for nothing. It\u2019s not\nthat we won\u2019t \u2013 it\u2019s that we can\u2019t and still stay in business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we custom-build a website, scoping comes a way down the line in that process. To scope your project accurately, we have to do more work and data analysis than you might think. A wise man once described the process of custom website design<\/a> step-by-step, and it\u2019s worth a read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Why is our hourly rate our hourly rate?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I often get asked\nabout hourly rates for web development and maintenance. These days, clients who\nshop around are likely to receive a broad range of quotes.  Why is our hourly rate higher than that of a\nfreelancer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I think to\nanswer that question, it\u2019s helpful to be aware that web development is a\nfast-moving industry, where innovation happens daily. The prevalence of\nfreelancers is not a bad thing. It\u2019s important, though, to recognise the\ndifferences between what they offer, and what web design companies bring to a\njob. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education: Helping our innovators to keep innovating<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My team are all\ninnovators in their respective fields. As a company, we work non-stop to keep\nthem up to date with everything that changes within the industry. And man, does\nit change quick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a development\npro, one of the main benefits of working with FutureLab is staying on top of\nall those fast-moving developments \u2013 because we budget for training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training forms part\nof the cost we charge \u2013 because it\u2019s essential, in order for us to keep\nbuilding great websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research and Development: The right tools for the job<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We conduct constant\nand extensive research and development. We do it to maintain standards, improve\nour service in line with technological advances, and so we can offer the\nbroadest range of solutions available. R&D forms part of the rates we\ncharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Websites which work\nquickly, and function well, don\u2019t happen without R&D. The internet changes\ntoo quickly for that. Companies come to FutureLab because they want websites\nwhich can compete. In markets where user experience and speed can be the\ndifference between a sale for them, or a sale for their competitor. R&D is\nkey to giving our experts the tools they need to be able to win battles for\nclients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Talented Team: Because, if you pay peanuts, you get\nmonkeys<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You can provide a\nteam with all the tools they need through R&D. You can keep them up to\nspeed on the latest techniques with education. Adding the right talent to your\nteam, however, is what makes the techniques and the knowledge really pop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hourly rate\nmeans packages which attract the best people in the industry. This combination\nof commitments \u2013 to education, R&D and recruitment \u2013 enables us to produce\nbeautiful and functional design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole is\ngreater than the sum of its parts. There\u2019s no substitute for having a bunch of\nexperts working under one roof towards one end \u2013 and being used to working\ntogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The freelancer Vs web design company question \u2013 and which is best? You make your choices.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Imagine that two\npeople get out of bed one morning and decide to start their own web design\nbusiness. When you choose who is going to build your website, you\u2019re often\nasking yourself the same question that these two entrepreneurial web developers\nask themselves: Freelancer or Web Design Company?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freelance option<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One developer will\nchoose to be a freelancer, and that\u2019s a fine career choice for the many\nextremely talented freelancers out there. It\u2019s a fast and rewarding way to get\nworking for yourself \u2013 but has its own challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping up with\ninnovation is costly \u2013 in terms of money and time. Time for training is an all\ntoo scarce commodity for freelancers. Time spent training, means time spent not\nearning. As a consequence, most freelancers settle upon specialising in one\nfield or another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A freelance rate\nmay be lower but is it actually cheaper? The site you need may require more\nthan one freelancer. By the time you\u2019ve added up the hourly rates of several, that\ncan exceed the rate of a design house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s\nfactoring in your own project management hours, which can become expensive when\nyou\u2019re supervising freelancers who\u2019ve never met or worked together. Let\u2019s say\nyou eventually find a bunch of remote freelancers, good in their own fields,\nand you try to manage them. This can be time consuming and extremely challenging.\nOften, you\u2019ll be more likely to develop an alcohol problem than a decent\nwebsite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Web Design Company option<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Our other\nentrepreneur will see challenges along the freelancer route. A developer who\nwants to consistently produce modern, functional and engaging designs will quickly\nfigure out that it\u2019s only possible to provide a seamless service, by forming\nand maintaining a company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diverse\ntechnological nature of the internet in 2019 means that to offer broad custom\nweb development, you need a team of talented experts. The speed of technology\nmeans you also need an organisation with a strategy in place for constant\neducation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like a website,\nweb development companies consist of many individual components. When they have\nthe luxury of solely doing their own thing, they\u2019ll produce great things. We\ndon\u2019t use the SEO guy to do the graphic design, or the copywriter to write the\ncode \u2013 freelancers often have to double up on disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where I was\nat, the morning I got out of bed and decided to provide quality web design. It\u2019s\nwhy today, I run a team of talented, highly trained, and dedicated\nprofessionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convenience,\nAccountability, and Depth of Talent: The value of paying a higher hourly rate<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cost is relative,\nand our clients come to us for varying reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, in some\ncases, it\u2019s because they opted \u2018cheaper\u2019 in the past, and then needed to\nrebuild a website six months later. Because it generated no business, or it\njust didn\u2019t function \u2013 or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes it\u2019s\nbecause they know the pitfalls of trying to project manage something outside\ntheir own area of expertise, without a distinct and central checklist of\ndelivery goals in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stand by our\ncommitments to education, R&D, and teamwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stand for\naccountability, communication, and being here if problems do occur. We won\u2019t\ndisappear when a technically challenging project sees the going gets tougher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stand for\nproviding value, in the form of beautiful, functional, and fit for purpose\nwebsites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The are many\nfundamental differences between freelancers and web design companies \u2013 and one\nof them is the hourly rate \u2013 but the rate doesn\u2019t equate to the cost, when you consider\nreliability, quality and ROI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s only one other thing in life that\u2019s as certain as death and taxes; web design companies will continue to be asked the following questions on an almost daily basis. 1. Why do we charge in fifteen-minute intervals for a two-minute job? Nothing really takes two minutes. Let\u2019s say we\u2019re asked to deal with a Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive popular Web Design industry questions (that just won\u2019t go away) -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you working with a web design company? 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