When you're looking for someone to build your website, you'll mostly come across three options: agencies, freelancers and small studios. All three can do great work. The differences are in how they work, what you're paying for and who you actually deal with day to day.
Full disclosure: I run a one-person studio, so I'm not entirely neutral. I've tried to be fair about where each option makes sense, including when it isn't me.
Agencies
An agency is a team of specialists: designers, developers, project managers, and often copywriters, SEO and marketing people too. You'll usually have an account manager as your main contact.
Capacity. Several people can work on a big project at once, so large builds move quickly.
Range of skills. Branding, content, ads and the website can all come from one place.
Cover. If someone's off sick or leaves, someone else picks it up.
The trade-off is cost and distance. You're paying for the team, the office and the management layer, and the person you speak to often isn't the person doing the work. Smaller projects can also end up with junior staff while the senior people focus on bigger clients.
Freelancers
A freelancer is one person, usually specialising in either design or development. Many are excellent, and they're often the most affordable option.
Lower cost. Fewer overheads, so day rates tend to be lower.
Direct contact. You talk to the person doing the work.
Flexibility. Good for smaller jobs, fixes and one-off pieces of work.
The risks are mostly about gaps. A developer might not design, and a designer might not build, so you can end up managing two people. Availability can be patchy, and it's worth checking what happens after launch: who looks after the site, and what happens if they're busy or move on.
Small studios
A small studio sits somewhere between the two. It's usually one person or a handful, run as a proper business with a defined process, clear quotes and support after launch.
One point of contact. The person you talk to is the person designing and building your site, so nothing gets lost in a handover.
End to end. Planning, design, development and aftercare from the same place.
Senior work throughout. There's no junior team to hand things down to.
The limit is capacity. A small studio can only take on so many projects at once, so start dates can be a few weeks out, and very large builds with tight deadlines may need a bigger team.
Which should you choose?
An agency if you need a large site quickly, or want branding, content and marketing handled together under one contract.
A freelancer if you've got a small, well-defined job and you're happy to coordinate the pieces yourself.
A small studio if you want a well-designed, well-built site, a straightforward working relationship and someone to call once it's live.
Questions worth asking
Who will design and build my site?
Who's my main contact, and how quickly do they usually reply?
Will I be able to update the site myself?
Who owns the site, the domain and the hosting account?
What happens if something breaks after launch?
How I work
Salted Studio is a one-person studio. You deal with me from the first chat through to launch and beyond, and I look after the design, development and aftercare myself. If that sounds like a good fit, take a look at my web design and business websites services, or get in touch.
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