Hiring a professional website designer or firm will usually shorten development time, deliver a higher quality finished website and allow the store owner to focus on other aspects of the ecommerce site such as products development and marketing.

However, hiring a professional designer or firm can also greatly increase the development cost of the online website and may not be required for every situation.

The questions the store owner must ask before hiring a outside web developer are:

•  Does my in-house staff have the knowledge and capabilities to develop the site within the required time frame and to create a visually appealing, standards compliant and manageable online presence?
•  Does the site require a custom interface or can a pre-built website template be modified to accommodate the site design and layout?
• Does the site require extensive graphics work and/or logo design which is above and beyond the capabilities of my staff?
• Does my staff have experience with search engine optimization (SEO)?

If the store owner answers “NO” to any one of the questions above, a professional web designer or firm will most likely be the best route to ensuring that the finished site meets or exceeds the requirements of the intended web audience and that it is completed in the most efficient manner.

Situations where a company may not require outsourcing the website or online store development are:

• Site owner or staff are experienced with website development and/or can devote the required time to learn specific areas of web-design and SEO that will be most beneficial for their online store development and deployment.
• New website does not have to be launched within a specific timeframe and/or site is a second or home-based business that can be deployed gradually. (Individual(s) who will be developing website still must have some experience or be willing to learn proper web development.)
• Development budget will not allow outsourcing of design/development. (Individual(s) who will be developing website still must have some experience or be willing to learn proper web development.)

The biggest variable in site development is always TIME;  time for development,  time for learning new technologies and time for testing and deployment.

The more time a company or individual has for site development, the less they will need to outsource. 

Although developing a website or online store entirely in-house will save money in the short-term, professional website developers bring knowledge and skills that may not be available with in-house personnel and their experience will ensure that the new website or online store is completed correctly the first time and therefore may be more cost effective in the long-term.

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Kevin R. Rounsavelle
Founder, Site Store Professional
http://www.sitestorepro.com