Websites are a critical part of online marketing success. The problem is that it is tough to scale web design services without creating a load of headaches. In this video, we discuss how to evaluate outsource website development approaches for a successful website development business.
A good website design process starts with knowing what part of the market you want to service. Are you looking to create a lot of websites for smaller businesses or custom websites for larger engagements. Next you need a website development outsourcing requirements process to gather the requirements from your customers. Finally, make sure you websites meet all of the latest best practices for online presence and online marketing programs.
Chad: Hello, and welcome to our Outsource Website Development video. I'm Chad Hill, and I'm with Adam Stetzer. Adam, how are you doing today?
Adam: I'm good. Good afternoon, Chad. Yeah. We're talking about website development, a very complex process, probably more so than people think. So the question today is, if you're doing your own website development in-house why would you consider an option to outsource website development?
Chad: That's a great question about website design outsourcing. In fact I was just on a phone call with someone that basically have gave me the exact reason. A lot of times I think people start off and they are doing it themselves. But they get to a point where they just can't scale their business anymore, where they either have a choice to work 24 hours a day or to take a step in terms of dividing up the sales and the actual delivery or execution of websites.
So, when you get to that point, you really do need to look at a couple things that are reasons you might want to outsource website development. The first one is really that you want to make sure you can address the scale. So in order to do that you want to make sure you have a team that's working with you that has the technical skills, has the design skills to actually get that website out.
But one of the more important things in outsource website development, because I think this is where a lot of people run into trouble with website development, is defining the methodology in the process for creating websites. That's one of the things I think we've spent a lot of time on is actually providing very clear requirements, gathering processes, and setting up demo websites that give you very clear pictures of what's in scope and what's out of scope.
That's a very important part, because we've all been in that situation where you're ready to deliver that website, and the client calls back and says, "Ooh, can you just add this one feature?" It sounds small, but we all know that it can really derail a project. So, getting ahead of that upfront is really important.
Adam: Yeah. That scale issue is really true in website development outsourcing. There's a ceiling on this, right? It's easy when you first set up shop and maybe you're doing the sales and marketing and you're doing the requirements gathering and you've got the design and development capabilities to do the whole project. That seems to flow pretty easily, because it's all in your head.
But when you look to make more money, or perhaps you're getting price pressure from some of these offshore outfits that can deliver a website at a much lower cost, that's where you have to start to divide up some of these functions. You really hit that ceiling in the small shops. I think that's an excellent point. But, what about price pressure, and what you can charge for a website?
Chad: Yeah. That's, I think, a great point about outsource website design. So I think that one of the things when you're operating at scale is you can actually... I mean, really, what we're trying to do is develop websites that are modern and provide all of the necessary features for a successful online marketing and online presence.
But doing website design at a price point that allows you to sell lots of websites, and not get stuck in sort of only having one website a month because your prices are too high. We're looking for a volume operation where you're able to offer, again, sort of a best-in-class website in terms of delivering the necessary features for presence in online marketing without hitting a price point that's unreachable by most smaller businesses.
Adam: That's an interesting point about website development outsourcing. So do you think people who initially set out to outsource their website development are aware of these website reseller programs that have achieved that scale? Because I think maybe they aren't, maybe they're just looking for a resource and they're thinking in a more traditional outsource sense.
But the reality is for shops that really focus on this capability for outsource website development, they can make very attractive websites at a much lower price because of the repetition and the way they've sharpened up the process.
Chad: Yeah, exactly. I think a lot of people hear a template process and they immediately assume that that's not for them. But if they don't take a look at how good these websites look, they may be really missing a great opportunity for outsource website development. The reality is that I know a lot of companies that they're doing more or less the same approach, but charging significantly more. Calling it custom, when in fact - so really they're paying more for more or less the same product, and we know that's not a good thing.
Adam: Yeah. That's interesting. All right, so any other key points that people should consider as they look for an outsource team to pick up some of their web dev needs?
Chad: I think those are the main ones. Again, we talked about making sure that you have a process that allows you to scale, making sure that you can hit the price point, hitting the price point that your customers are looking to pay. Then at the same time delivering a website that's full featured, and delivers all the necessary components for good online presence and online marketing programs.
Adam: Awesome. Well, that's the bottom line on how to outsource website development. Thanks, Chad.
Chad: Thanks.