Beware, Cheap Web Developers
In these days and times, many businesses are looking for ways to save money. It's understandable - with higher taxes and other budget concerns looming, who wouldn't want to save money where they can? But in the business world, the old saying, You get what you pay for is true. When designing and creating your company website, there will be consequences for skimping and going with a cheap developer.
There are several reasons why you shouldn't choose a cheap web development company. These companies are likely to charge absurdly low prices to undercut competitors and snatch business away from them. The fact that they're trying to be competitive isn't a problem - in fact, that's how business works. But a truly talented web development company wouldn't charge lowball prices if they truly stand behind their work. It takes an immense amount of time, effort, and resources to create a quality website that will work well for the customers and audiences you serve. If a company is charging you an extremely low price to create an entire website, you have to question the quality and depth of their work.
Another caveat that comes with the low prices cheap web developers give is that they consider these to be one-off jobs. What happens in the future if your site crashes? What happens if you need to add a new application or expand your site because your customer base is growing? If you used a cheap developer to create your site, that company views that job as one-and-done and isn't looking to maintain a relationship with your business to ensure the site works properly and will continue to meet your needs for some time. In fact, if you come back to them and make them aware of the problem, they will likely charge you for that time even though it's their mistake. By going with a more professional, quality web development company, you get what you pay for. If you need to discuss website redesign or expansion, they're there to listen to you and help you through any issues that come up. You can go can to this company over and over again because they are invested in your business and stand behind their work.
Some businesses are even outsourcing their web development overseas to get better prices, thinking that it will add to their bottom line. But adding even more degrees of separation between you and your web services team is a bad idea. You can run into language barrier issues, and at some point, may lose any form of communication with this company at all. You have no way to maintain close proximity with the development of your site and quickly make needed changes as you are essentially at the mercy of a developer thousands of miles away. Your desire to save money doesn't pay off in the end if your site is performing poorly and isn't meeting your needs. Investing money into a quality developer will make the process go much more smoothly and the site will be a pleasing representation of your business.