When opening an ecommerce website, every business owner wants to make sure their site is functional, easy to use and well designed. Many business owners, however, are not versed in website building and coding. Thus they’re faced with having to choose between building a website with a free ecommerce website builder or hiring a website developer to build it for you.
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Website Developers
Working with a website developer is often the first choice for those who have never created an ecommerce website. Before handing your assignment over to a developer, there are several things that should be considered including:
How much control do you want?
When turning over your project to a developer, you must trust that person to finish the job the exact way you have imagined. This also means turning over some of the decisions to the developer. Unless you micromanage the individual, you won’t have a say in everything that gets done. It’s important to clearly communicate your ideas to make sure they are followed correctly.
How will you hire the developer?
When hiring outside help, you must decide on the type of relationship you want with the developer. According to Forbes, you must choose between working with an independent contractor, a firm, or a full-time employee.
Independent contractors give you more flexibility. They are hired on a per-project basis, so you don’t have to worry about finding more work once they finish. They may be more affordable, but a contractor may not be as dedicated to your project since there is no long-term relationship.
Firms or development companies will have a team of people available to work on your project. The people assigned to your project have already been vetted by the firm, so you can trust their work. Working with a firm is usually very expensive. However, a high-quality product may be worth the cost.
Full-time employees require investing into a long-term relationship. If you plan on having regular work available, this may be the way to go. Employees are usually more dedicated, since they are making an investment to work with you. You may be required to pay benefits, such as health insurance or workers compensation to an employee.
Free Website Builders
If you like to have your hand in every aspect of your business, then choosing a free ecommerce website builder may be the right choice for you. If you have never built a website yourself, there are two things to consider before beginning the project:
Do you have time to invest in creating a website?
One of the biggest cons of building your own website is finding the time to get it done. Even by using a site that offers a variety of templates and easy instructions, it still takes a lot of time to build one. If you need to be working on other aspects of the business, you may find that dedicating your time to building a website isn’t in your best interest.
Some business owners are willing to invest the extra time into building their own site because of the money they will save. It costs a lot less to create a website versus hiring others to help.
Do you want full control over everything?
Using a website-building site or software is ideal for business owners who want full power of their company. By creating the website on your own, you will intimately understand every part of the site.
From start to finish, it’ll all be completely in your hands. From the types of pictures, to the color scheme, overall design concept and even site navigation. Since you created the site yourself, it will also be in your ability to change it as needed.
Depending on how much control you want over the project or how much money you have to spend, you will either find that hiring a developer or doing it yourself is the best option for creating your ecommerce website. Either way, if you keep the customer experience at the forefront, you’re sure to end up with a great final product.
