Agency, freelancer or DIY?

Doing it yourself

Costs £15 to £30 a month and your time. That last part is the bit people underestimate — a first website realistically takes twenty to forty hours to do properly, and most of that is writing rather than building.

It works well if your needs are simple, you are reasonably comfortable with technology, and you would rather spend time than money. Plenty of perfectly good local business websites were built by the owner on a Sunday.

It works badly if you need search traffic, if your time is genuinely worth more elsewhere, or if you will start it and never finish it — which is the most common outcome by a distance.

Hiring a freelancer

Usually the best value for a defined project. Low overheads, direct contact with the person doing the work, and often excellent quality.

The risks are capacity and continuity. One person with a family emergency is a stalled project. One person who takes a full-time job is a website nobody can update. And one person cannot be a designer, developer, copywriter, SEO and photographer to the same standard.

Manage it by agreeing ownership and handover in writing at the start, and making sure you finish holding the domain, hosting and files.

Hiring an agency

You get several skills under one roof, cover when someone is ill or leaves, and — usually — an organisation that will still exist in three years.

You pay for that. Larger agencies carry account managers, offices and sales teams, and it shows in the invoice. You may also never meet the people doing the work.

Smaller agencies sit between the two: more capacity and continuity than a freelancer, considerably lower overheads than a large one. That is the space we occupy, so treat that assessment accordingly.

The questions that matter more than the category

Ask any of the three the same things:

• Who owns the domain, hosting, files and content at the end?
• What happens if you become unavailable or stop trading?
• Can I see something you built three years ago that is still running?
• What will it cost me per month afterwards, in total?
• Who actually writes the words?

What we would say honestly

If your budget is under £250 and your needs are genuinely simple, build it yourself on Squarespace. We will not be offended and we will happily point you at how.

If you want it done properly but the project is contained, a good freelancer is excellent value. Just sort out ownership at the start.

If you want continuity, several skills, and somebody to ring when it breaks at four on a Friday, that is what an agency is for — and it is worth checking the agency is small enough that you will actually speak to the people doing the work.