Outsourcing Website Development: Avoid These Common Mistakes

Today, it’s difficult to imagine a business running successfully without having an online presence. Your business may be credible, but you can miss out on a lot of business opportunities and potential customers if you don’t have a proper website in place. So, if you have figured out the answer to ‘Why is website development important for your business?‘ and are on a mission to get your website developed, you have 2 options. First, hiring a team of UI/UX designers, content specialists, and web developers.

Secondly, outsourcing your website development requirements to a talented pool of professionals. While the former seems to be more reliable, the latter can also be equally promising as it can:

• Save time and money – The process of hiring, training and retaining in-house developers can be an expensive and cumbersome task! Outsourcing website development can help save your precious time, money and energy. 
• Enhance productivity – It lets you and your team focus on your core competency, and you end up being more productive and efficient, which, in turn, will generate more revenue and uplift your growth. 
• Give access to skilled talent – If your business is in the initial phase or if there is a crunch of funds, you can hire one or a maximum of two IT experts, but you can’t just go on hiring an entire team of IT professionals. However, outsourcing the same to a firm can guarantee you access to a team of skilled personnel like Business Analysts, Project Managers, Back-end/ Front-end Developers, UI/ UX Designers, Quality Assurance Specialists, etc., which otherwise you may not be able to deploy at once. 
• Generate promising results – Other benefits of outsourcing website development include enhanced project completion pace, minimised risk of potential project failure, and access to services beyond just website development to maximise your business potential.

But while there are many reasons to outsource your website development project, it can prove to be detrimental if not done right. Many companies who trust others to develop their website are not able to achieve their desired goals and bear the brunt of the same. Thus, it is imperative that companies take this decision wisely. Read on to learn the most common mistakes that businesses make while outsourcing their web development projects and how to avoid these to be successful and achieve your digital marketing goals.

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Outsourcing Your Website Development Project

Mistake #1: Lack of proper due diligence

Although there is no shortage of service providers willing to help develop your website, the best decision would be to invest in someone who possesses industry-specific knowledge and aligns well with your business goals and culture. 

Imagine: Working with a team of people who are not as committed to your project as you are or are not able to resolve your queries first-hand.

How to avoid: 

1. ​​Do your background research thoroughly. Make sure to go through their website, social media profiles and portfolio properly and don’t forget to check out their client reviews.
2. You can go the extra mile and even connect with some of their previous clients. Remember – choosing your outsourcing partner without proper research is a fatal mistake that you definitely want to avoid. 
3. After conducting an in-depth analysis, list the potential partners you could get along with. Schedule a meeting with them and shoot as many questions as possible to get more clarity on how things would work in future. Ask them about their development process, experts they would deploy to work on your project, security, maintenance, pricing, etc.

Mistake #2: Not communicating your goals clearly

Another common mistake that companies make is not communicating their goals properly. Communication is vital in general life, especially when working with web development agencies. Your outsourcing partner needs to understand your goals and expectations in a concrete manner to avoid any potential misunderstandings in future.

Imagine: Working with a team of people who just have a vague idea of how your website needs to be built. Would they be able to do justice to your project?

How to avoid: 

1. Communicate and communicate well! It’s almost the key to successful outsourcing. 
2. Before diving into the development stage, first, carve out a well-defined project scope, set clear goals, and then explain the requirements. We suggest putting all this in writing to ensure effective understanding on both parts. 
3. With the aid of graphics, presentations, graphs, and charts, you can simplify complex things that will result in better understandability of the project. 
4. Set your own milestones to see if you are headed in the right direction or not. You and your partner must be on the same page – have a shared common vision, and there must be consensus on how it needs to be implemented. 

Mistake #3: Not supervising the project at regular stages/ intervals

Outsourcing your web development project doesn’t mean that once outsourced, you have nothing to do with it and will receive the final product in hand after a designated time span. You need to keep tabs on the development and give constructive feedback from time to time in order to get desired results. 

Imagine: Getting a website that doesn’t meet the parameters you stipulated initially and is not exactly what you wanted or paid for.

Of course, the issues may be resolved, but at the cost of time, some market opportunities and potential customers. 

How to avoid: 

1. It’s pretty simple – ensure that the development process is undertaken under your supervision. Now, this doesn’t mean that you are too controlling/ micromanaging and not giving your partner the creative freedom to work at their pace. Just make sure that you know how far your project has come and whether it is going in the right direction or not.

2. Ask the team to keep you posted. Appreciate their efforts; this will help them stay motivated and work with zeal and enthusiasm. And point out if there are any discrepancies. In other words, share your constructive feedback. Once the proper workflow is established, you can go back to focusing on your core competencies. 

3. Now, in order to supervise properly, you need to be tech-savvy too. A lack of technical know-how at your end can be a bit problematic as you may not be able to understand the intricacies of the process. So, make sure you know enough to be able to gauge if something is going wrong or right.

Mistake #4: Prioritising cost over quality

Believe it or not, this is the most common blunder companies often make – they go for a web development company that quotes the least cost compared to its competitors. Well, cost certainly is important, but what if it’s coming in the way of quality?

Imagine: Your current ‘cost-effective’ project has turned out to be a disappointment as you compromised on quality, and now you will have to start the process all over again!

How to avoid: 

1. Don’t blindly choose a company just because it’s offering services at a low cost. Yes, outsourcing tends to reduce the cost of web development, but it is not cheap! 
2. Moreover, a company may provide good services at a low cost – it is not impossible – but your decision to work with them must not be entirely dependent or influenced by the fact that they’re charging less.
3. Choose a company which will give you the best value for money. Set a realistic budget well in advance and see if a partnership is feasible while delivering quality work simultaneously.

Mistake #5: Not putting down everything in writing

Last but not least, not having a contract or service agreement in place that lists out all the terms and conditions is another big, expensive mistake that businesses make. 

Imagine: Your outsourcing partner has misused your data, claimed it as theirs, or even worse, leaked the same to your competitors!

How to avoid: 

1. Enter into a contract that clearly states the scope of services to be provided – subdivided into milestones/deliverables, a timeframe within which each milestone would be achieved, terms of payment and other conditions as may be deemed necessary.
2. This would reduce risks because if your outsourcing partner fails to meet your requirements as stated in the contract, they know the repercussions they would have to face. List the factors that could possibly lead to the termination of the contract. 
3. Besides, make sure to enter a Non-Disclosure Clause to protect your intellectual property rights and avoid any potential misuse of your business data in future.

Conclusion

There are many reasons why web development outsourcing projects fail. However, with proper due diligence, effective communication, constant supervision and clearly defined terms through a contract, you can certainly avoid mistakes and make outsourcing your custom website development project a smoother journey. Furthermore, seeking services from B2B businesses like EMB Global also helps eliminate any risks involved in web development outsourcing with their verified partner agencies, end-to-end delivery management, and milestones-based Escrow Payment Solutions.

Team EMB

Our team of expert writers is committed to bringing insights on topics ranging in the fields of technology, marketing, and business. With a wide-reaching range of services on our platform, we help businesses achieve digital transformation end-to-end.