In-House versus Out-House – I mean Out-Source

So you’re going to hire your own team to build your business website.  But wait – is that really the cost effective way to do it?  At the very least you’ll need a web designer and developer and probably a technical writer if you aren’t skilled in writing.  And do you know how to best optimize your page in the search engines?

Gathering a team in each of these fields could easily set you back ¼ of a million dollars in annual salary and benefits, to create a website that costs a fraction of that.

Many businesses don’t truly understand the factors when deciding to build their own website.  The idea of mountains of cost savings just doesn’t pan out.  And even if you get lucky and find a great designer who is also a great developer (generally doesn’t work this way due to right brain/left brain cognitive skills) you still have issues with technical writing and optimization. Plus you have to find a company to host the site - or are you going to bring in your own servers and T1 connection?

You may think the idea of a quarter million in salaries is unrealistic, but I spoke with just such a company a few years back; they told me they were going to hire their own team to build their new site.  I asked how many people they thought they needed and they said three – a designer and two developers. Now, average salaries for great developers can touch on or exceed $100,000 per year.  And a designer who knows their stuff is going to set you back at least $50,000. It was obvious that they had not considered salary and benefit cost.

The average lifespan of a website is about three years (before they start looking dated).  So the salary requirements for the above team over three years will be at least $750,000.  You can buy a heck of a lot of website for that kind of outlay, which should put this more into perspective for you. 

I know that there is satisfaction in doing things yourself and businesses want to have total control over their projects.  But here at Sitepro, we’re a custom development company – we build what you need and you have control over everything.  The site outline isn’t complete until it’s been approved by you.  The design isn’t finished until you approve it.  Your site isn’t launched until it’s been reviewed by your company, a quality control team, and meets everyone’s approval.  So you actually have extensive control over your project.

Let Sitepro take care of your website needs.  We’ve got special pricing through the end of October, so there is no time like the present!  Contact us today.