Webdesign: Professional Freelancing?

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Webdesign: Professional Freelancing?

April 23, 2012 by Bert Verbeeke

Competitors: Cheap and Professional

Recently I have been in contact with two different clients who asked me specifically about finishing the development of their website. Interesting point is that they shared the same kind of experience: their website was not finished according to the agreement they made with their first web-developer. They had asked a freelancer or small startup business to develop their website. But after paying the site was only finished up to 75% - the rest was never completed. The freelancer had to finish his studies and the startup got a bigger project. Are cheap and rapid web-designers indeed competitors or have they gained their place in professional web development?

Professionalism

In my opinion there is difference in freelancing and professional freelancing. A professional freelance web-designer wrote on a freelance bulletin: 'should we not have minimum prices for work to be done?'. He was upset with the current situation where students and young engineers and designers offer very low tariffs for designing and developing. He didn't add this, but based on my experience I can say that those cheap solutions are often not completely finished, nor professional, nor unique. As a web-designer in China I do know that the price for professionals is high, even here on the domestic market the prices are increasing a lot. But as Chinese oversees prices are still lower, it is hard to get people believe professional web-design is possible for that price.

Serving

Taking enough time and completing projects are important values to us here @Global Nomad. Many of our customers from the West are hesitant to outsource to China - and for sure the specific location of Tibet would be another obstacle. As professionals we want to spend time with our clients to make sure they understand we are not after their funds. We want great looking projects and will do anything we can to make sure that will happen. This is rare for outsourcing, as the price is often the bottleneck. As an international business we understand the needs from both sides. A cheap freelancer might say yea-yea and in the meanwhile develop, while a professional business would ask questions first and after that come with solutions.

Walking Away - Where do you want to cut?

But the opposite is true as well - I have seen customers quitting because they wanted their product for a cheap price and immediately finished. Their idea about outsourcing is kind of a slave-trade.

We want to serve people well and follow a kind of Fair-IT model. And so this is our advise for you when you search an outsource provider: what are you looking for? Recently I talked to a wise lady. She shared: ‘slave traders get their money from people - while they should get it from the buyer’. Although I understand expensive websites are not sold very well, I think when searching for an outsourcing partner you need to be aware that things cost money.