When to Hire Local Web Designer vs. Overseas

If you’re at the beginning stages of launching a new website for your business and you’re trying to decide if to hire local web designer vs overseas, then this article is for you.

We’ll walk through the pros and cons of both options and provide some guidance on how to make the right choice for your business.

Working with a Local Web Designer

Pros

Better Understanding of Your Local Market

If your goal is to find more local customers, then knowing the culture of your city and/or state is important. It’s very difficult for international design or development freelancers to have that same level of knowledge that your business will need. It’s not their fault, it’s just the way it is.

More Accountability

Like every other industry, there are no guarantees that every local company will deliver with integrity, but there’s something about knowing that they are just down the street.

If something goes wrong or the web design project is delayed for some reason, they can be called on much easier then someone who is not in your city.

Verifiable Client History

Anyone can say that they have worked with “so and so” companies as clients, but how do you really know?

When they are local, you could always pick up the phone and call them. It’s also much easier to recognize their clients as businesses that you’re already familiar with in your city or state.

Built-in Team and Project Manager

A website project is one of those things that looks easy to do…until you try to do it. Many of our local clients comes to us only after they have first given it a go on their own.

When hiring a professional agency in your city, it should include a full team, including a project manager, designer, writer and local developers.

That means you don’t have to do anything.

You let their team do all the work, making them accountable for the results and freeing up your time to do other things in your business.

Faster Launch Times

Being down the street and in the same time zone speeds up turnaround times for launching your website and making future updates.

The time to launch is oftentimes overlooked, but it’s critical to your bottom line.

The faster you launch your website the faster you can increase your leads and sales.

Better Marketing Results

If your goal is increased leads and sales for your business, then working local typically gets better results. The best way to create an optimized website is to factor in your marketing plans in the design. A local professional marketing firm will have a better understanding of your city.

On-Going Support and Communication

Because of the close proximity, most companies in your city want to build relationships with their clients. So they are more motivated to provide on-going support and communication is typically easier in the months and years after your website launches.

Cons

Higher Costs

This is the big one. The costs of local companies compared to international can quite a bit more making this the biggest con.

If you have a very limited web design budget and a big vision for your or website project, hiring overseas may be the best option for your business.

Limited Options

Because of geography, your options for a local web designer are limited to your city.

There are just more options available globally than there are locally.

If you’re unable to select local companies that can do exactly what you need at the budget you have available, it might make sense to look globally.

Working with an Overseas Web Design or Developer

Pros

Lower Costs

Lower costs is by far the biggest pro when considering outsourcing overseas.

If you have a very limited budget, taking this approach can reduce the design and development costs for your business by a large amount.

Cons

Culture and Language Barrier

Depending on the country(s) where your web designer is located, there could be significant culture and language barriers.

It would be best to go with someone that is fluent in English, even if it’s not their first language.

It would also be a good idea to hire from a country with a culture that’s similar to the USA.

If you’re unable to do that, then look to go with someone that has worked with American clients in the past.

Time Zone Differences

Hiring someone that lives in a different time zone can be a challenge.

This one factor alone can delay the launch of your website by weeks and months.

The bigger the time zone difference, the higher chance of delays.

If possible, try working with someone within the Western Hemisphere as all nations north and south of America are within 3-4 hours of your local time zone.

Less Accountability

Because of the distance, timezone and culture or language barriers, you could experience a breakdown in setting the right scope for your website and there could be some difficulty with meeting deadlines for your business.

Quality Issues

Less accountability and culture/language barriers can lead to lower quality, either in meeting the standards of design and/or capturing the vision for your website.

Easier to Get Mistreated

Of course getting mistreated locally is possible and it happens, but getting mistreated by an overseas partner is even easier and more common just because of the distance.

Vetting your candidates will require more diligence and patience before you make a decision.

You Will Be the Project Manager

Typically, hiring globally means there isn’t a full team available and if there is, their project manager is also in their country. From my experience, with a team or individual, you will need to manage the project tasks, time frames and quality of work. This may not get the best results if web design projects are outside your expertise.

Longer Time to Launch

While it’s not a good idea to rush your website project, you also don’t want to delay it unnecessarily either. The longer it takes to launch, the more sales your business will lose.

All of the cons above, combine to have a negative impact on launching your website. Is this a hard rule? No, but it’s what I’ve seen happen the most often.

Making The Right Choice for Your Website

Deciding Between a Global or Local Company