In today’s day and age, it’s easy to outsource work. Platforms like Fiverr, Freelancer, and even Craigslist give you ample opportunity to seek help in many aspects of your business. With that help though can come some serious flaws. The quality of work while cost-effective, might be problematic down the road. As my grandad always told me, "you get what you pay for." Buy cheap get poor quality. When it comes to web design, you get what you pay for. If you are simply looking for someone to edit a WordPress template, then that could be the right option for yo. But what you should be looking for is a web designer that drives conversions. Ultimately, your website is a sales tool, not a business card.

When it comes to helping you create a custom masterpiece utilizing some of our wonderful state' (CA) latest produced technologies, then outsourcing might not be the best idea. This brings me to my first point

1. Technologies

An outsourced website can be completely custom-built utilizing all the latest technologies. But once again, that's going to cost a decent amount of money. Well, what if I tell you that you can get a 100% custom website designed and constructed right here in California for a decent price, just keep looking. Now once again if you want a WordPress template theme manipulated for a few bucks, then that might be the right option. WordPress is notoriously slow when it comes to a poorly optimized template/theme and that coupled with a shared hosting plan.  Your load times will struggle as will your Google rankings. If you have clients constantly staring at your preloader. You might just see the following:

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2. Risk

Working with someone local will help you lower the risk associated with finding a quality web designer. It is much easier for you to work with someone if you can just drive over to their business and knock on their door. This will also gives you the ability to meet with your web designer regularly and talk about the status of your project. This keeps you both on track to knock the project out and get the most out of your website build or rebrand project. This comes down to the bottom line always, saving you time and money in the long run.

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3. Accountability

The next point is a good one, keeping each other honest. In today’s day and age it’s too easy to just ghost someone. If you have the ability to connect regularly with your web designer and work with them, you both can stay on top of your project to make sure you are getting what you are paying for. A high-quality product that represents your brand and company well.

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4. Improved Support

This next point is a big one for me. (Incoming Selling Point) Being a local Santa Barbara County Resident, you don't have to wake up at 3 am to Skype me when I am available to help you solve your problem at your convivence. Staying on the same schedule as your support is critical to mission success. It's too hard in the modern-day business environment to add outside factors like lack of sleep.

As business owners, we already get lots of sleep, don't we?

5. Effective Communication

I feel this one might be underrated in this list a bit. Being able to speak the same language as your web designer is a big plus. You can effectively communicate what you are intending. Being able to do so with the right context of what you are saying is highly valuable. This will speed up the design time and through process. Remember at the end of the day it’s your money, spend it wisely.

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These are my personal top 5 when it comes to finding and getting great web content. Before I found my passion as a web developer and designer, I too used to hire firms to build my websites. I hated not being able to communicate with the designer, or they added things that I never wanted. On top of that, I still end up paying for the overages on that waste of time.

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Do yourself a favor, get away from outsourcing sites, and just type in "web designer near me" in Google. Small businesses around you will appreciate it!

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