- Small Business
- 15-02-23 01:18
Freelancing, probably the easiest yet riskiest way to get things done for businesses and individual brands. But are the risks worth the results? Definitely not.
Freelancers come in all shapes and sizes but they bring a lot of flaws with them. I will reveal the 10 problems working with freelance web designers and why every business should avoid them.
Are freelance web designers always a thumbs down?
Are you developing your digital persona online? Do you want a landing page for your personal blog? Do you want to build an online portfolio for your professional career?
These are a few cases where choosing a freelance web designer or freelance web design services could be a good idea. The budget won’t break your bank and you could be helping your schoolmate build his freelance portfolio.
But I assume you do not want any of the above.
You have a business with a professional team and want to grow and generate revenue. You don’t want to compromise on quality and want the best for your business.
This is where you should never choose freelance web designers for the problems they bring with them.
3 problems working with every Freelancer Web Designers
It isn’t just freelance web designers. In my opinion, freelancers lack a few things that do not suit any business. It might look easy to hire them but getting the job done the way you want will leave you in an uphill climb.
1. Identifying real website design freelancers is a big task
Freelancers get to describe their background, skills, and accolades in their description box. How would you know it’s true?
Here is a sample profile:
They have mentioned everything that a front end developer needs. Three years into frontend development and all that for only $10/hour? Things just don’t add up here.
Finding an authentic web freelancer is not an easy thing when you have thousands of profiles online. You don’t know them. They are not your neighbors or that geeky coder at high school.
In my opinion, it is safe not to invest thousands of rupees (aka dollars) on a person you just found online, claiming to build business websites.
Unlike a professional web development company, you cannot trust whatever the web designer chooses to say. Remember anyone with an email ID can create a persona online.
This leaves you to do some testing through a call or text them to figure out if they could be a good choice.
2. The “professional” freelancer web designers does (may) not exist
Do you think they have a planned strategy laid-out to build your website?
You specify your project, they tell their charge and if that sounds good, you have a deal. This might suit for small works like content curation and website testing but not for bigger projects.
No matter what the job is, freelancers tend to work with the flow and not follow a clear path towards their goal.
Particularly when it involves building a website from scratch, a project management software like Basecamp is super necessary. Most freelancers have never heard about it.
Don’t let the colors fool you. Their web designs may be creative and eye-catchy but most freelancers are not aware of the essentials of a business website.
This obviously leads to a second class website that barely shows results and cannot stand a chance against your competitor’s business class website.
3. Freelance Web Developers can disappear all of sudden (true)
When you find a freelancer in Upwork or Freelancer, you find them stating what they do for the amount they charge. There are chances to negotiate but you can get extra work beyond the package.
Once the website is complete and launched, the deal is done and you have to pay extra or find someone else in the future.
Freelance web designers in India never operate beyond their package. If you hire a content writer to write web content for $40 as a one-time payment, you can’t ask them to edit a few of your blogs without giving them extra cash.
Another serious problem working with freelance web designers is that they disappear all of a sudden. Once they feel that the work is choking them too much, some freelancers drop your project and leave with whatever they got.
3 problems working with amateur freelance web designers (OMG)
Freelance web designers India has sprung up a lot recently after the website building tools became famous.
Tools like Wix, Squarespace, and other DIY website builders have made things easy for freelance web designers. Strong advice is not just to avoid web designers who use these tools but also to avoid DIY website builders altogether.
1. Freelance web designers have commitment issues
Not all web designers work as full-time web designers their whole life. Paul, the freelance web designer you saw on Upwork in fact runs a cafe. He was good at creating web designs and now does that as a side gig.
Most freelancers you come across could be an employee for an MNC and create websites out of their regular 9 to 5 schedule. You barely get to know this.
This means they concentrate on your project whenever they have time. Without a laid out map to create your website, you may get to hear from them once a month. Or worse, never at all.
Designing a website requires time and dedication and a freelance web designer does not have room for both. Missing deadlines, constant revisions, ghosting once in a while, and no updates whatsoever will be some of the headaches you will get.
Even as your last-minute resort, freelance web designer services should never be an option. If that is the situation you are in, the best thing is to assess your budget and needs through a website design calculator and hire a website development company accordingly.
2. Communication becomes a serious headache
Working with a freelance web designers might seem easy as long as both of you have a common ground to communicate. As you can end up choosing someone from Indonesia, Mexico, or Canada, English is a prerequisite no matter what.
When everything is communicated through text, context becomes a big issue as you might sound polite from your side but might end up harsh on the other.
If you are from India, settling for a web development company is an easier option because it eliminates all the hurdles you face to get the word out. You both belong to the same time zone and the accent won’t create any confusions.
Language may hinder communication but technical requirements can give different sorts of problems.
Leave language aside and here is a true story:
A fellow freelance web designer I know got a client where they wanted a website made using WordPress. Even though he hadn’t built it using WordPress, he agreed and gave it a shot.
After a few weeks, he admits that he couldn’t finish the project, leaving the client to search for someone else.
Whatever you do, prefer a web development company that stays on the same page technically and understands your business needs.
3. You are not the #1 priority for freelance website designers (personal life)
As a new freelance web designer in India, they will orient themselves to build their identity. This puts you, the client, in the second position.
You are among other clients with whom they want to work and get paid. There is no special support or opinion offered as they have other clients waiting for them.
Here is a tip to find out how you will always get a poor website from amateur web designers.
Check out their portfolio and see how similar their designs look. New freelance web designers want to make more and get more clients. So they design to get the job done and do not care about the outcome and results for your business.
Long story short, freelance web designers do not pay undivided attention to your project which is why you should choose a professional web development company.
4 problems working with experienced freelance web designers
When you research to find the best freelance web designer, everybody falls short somewhere. Some of the gruesome ones cannot be avoided and here are four of those that you will come across.
1. Freelance web designers put their interests first, not yours (Me.Me)
This might not come to your attention but let me tell you this. The more clients a freelancer works with, the more popular they become on freelancing platforms.
This helps them get more clients and in turn more money. But what is the guarantee that you get high-quality results? You are lending your business ideas and you would want them to be 100% involved to help it come to life.
You can identify such web designers when you look at their portfolio. They might look attractive on the outside but can it improve sales and generate traffic?
In most cases, this never happens because you were never in the picture. The agenda of such freelance web designers is to finish the project, get paid, and get a testimonial that will bring in more customers.
2. Freelance Web designers are not a complete package
Creating web designs that catch the attention of the visitors is what a freelance web designer promises to deliver. But your business website requires more than that.
Engaging content that attracts the visitors and improves your ranking on search engines and marketing tools that help to generate great traffic require special attention. Is the freelancer aware of these things? Probably not.
Freelancers tend to work on niche-specific gigs and you can’t expect the web designer to be good at copywriting as well. It is like asking Sachin to be good at Tennis and competing with Roger Federer.
As a business owner, you need a business website that is spot on with top-notch content, newsletter, stunning graphics that load faster. Hiring individual freelancers is not budget-friendly and finding a freelance web designer with expertise over all these skills is impossible.
The complete package in freelancing does not exist. To get every aspect of your business website done, you need a team of experts.
3. Low charging freelancers gives you substandard product(Beware)
Your budget for your business website moves the scale. In fact, it is the prime factor when it comes to choosing freelancers.
The more you pay, the better services you get. I say services because a stunning business website is never a guarantee.
This brings a lot of overpriced freelance web designers who are not professional and deliver a mediocre website.
On the flip side, there are freelance web designers available below the price tag but it will require a lot of supervision and tutoring from your side. As a business owner, your business is your priority and not managing a freelancer.
4. The journey is unpredictable (like Life)
With all that said, nothing is assured. There are problems that the individual brings as well. You can’t trust the texts in the description and shake hands with a person over a project spanning months.
Most freelance web designers do not have a roadmap to get the project done. They can rush up to finish up an amateur website or may not finish at all.
You will have to wait until the project gets done, leaving you with no updates about the progress or intermediate results. This does not build trust which is why people never choose freelance web designers for long term projects involving large budgets.
Even when you get the website finished and delivered, there comes another problem. Can the website really help your business? While testing a website, you have to test it and see the results for a few months.
You can’t reach out to them and ask for a refund if the website does not improve sales and have tremendous traffic.
The best alternative? Choose a web development company in India
To be honest, a website design company from Pune may be skilled to create captivating designs but finding a skilled professional who can cover all the aspects of a business website is impossible.
To help you avoid all the confusion and headaches with best freelance web designers, choose a web development company in India.
Trust me, you don’t want to manage your business and a freelancer and end up with a website that becomes good for nothing. What you need is professional assistance with an experienced team that can deliver proven results.
You will be amazed to know the benefits that a web development company in India brings to business owners like you.
GyanDevign Tech Services, one of the top web design services companies in Pune is the best alternative for a freelance web designer. What you need is a website that delivers results and is a complement to your business.
