Let’s pretend you are building a house. Would you rather go through the headache of hiring the architect, carpenter, roofer, electrician, plumber, etc. as separate vendors, cross your fingers and hope they work well together, or hire a single builder and let them take care of putting together the group of professionals necessary to build the home of your dreams? The latter certainly sounds easier and a better way to avoid buying bottles upon bottles of aspirin to kill all those migraines that are destined to arrive if you chose the former option.

This methodology applies to building your website, too. The better alternative to juggling multiple vendors is to partner with a single one that can facilitate all necessary website services: development, design, maintenance, hosting, and optimization. That’s how we do at it WebDevStudios.

As a website design and development agency with over a decade’s worth of experience and know-how, we already have the proper relationships in place ready to yield those services we do not provide ourselves. For example, when one of our global media clients needs dependable website hosting scaled to support a massive audience, we turn to WP Engine. With an established partnership of eight years, we can confidently assign such an important responsibility to this reputable company knowing our clients will be provided with impeccable, polished, dependable service.

Our chosen partners are a reflection of our own reputation, and we would never choose to establish a relationship with any company that didn’t meet our high standards and utilize best practices. When you, as a business entity, select multiple vendors, who probably haven’t worked together before, and expect them to figure out how to operate seamlessly, you are taking a chance and throwing caution to the wind. Here’s why.

There Are Risks to Coordinating Multiple Vendors

There are always risks in life and in business, but if you can do something to mitigate those risks and set your website project up for success, why wouldn’t you? The following are just a few of the things that could go wrong when you’re forced to maneuver your way through the labyrinth of coordinating multiple vendors.

Miscommunication

Of course there is bound to be miscommunication when vendors, who don’t already have relationships, work together. There could be a multitude of reasons why this happens, including different geographical locations and time zones or differing methods of communications (i.e., communicating via Basecamp vs. communicating via telephone). When working with a website team that already has established partnerships in place, kinks in communications have already been resolved in the past, making the possibility of miscommunication obsolete.

Lack of Coordination

By piecemealing the key players of your website project, the coordination of the statement of work falls fully on your shoulders. Expecting your vendors, again, who have not worked together before, to take on the job of project management is expecting way too much.

At WebDevStudios, we have an experienced project management team whose job is to lead the coordination of your website project. Because we have our established partnerships in place, such as with WP Engine, our project managers know who the key players are, their processes, and can easily coordinate with other vendors to ensure the efficiency of your project’s life cycle.

Lack of Familiarity of Processes

One vendor may work one way while another vendor has different processes in place. If these vendors have never worked together before, how could they possibly be aware of each other’s processes? Website development partners who are already familiar with one another’s processes and practices are able to work together with a synchronicity that will support the success of your project.

Benefits of Working with a Website Team with Established Partners in Place

Now that you understand the risks of working with multiple vendors who are not established partners let’s review the benefits.

Save Time Searching for Vendors

Now that you have the approval and budget necessary to launch your new website project, along with a tight deadline, how much time did you build into your timeline for shopping around for vendors? It’s likely you completely forgot about this aspect of your project. Most business professionals do.

Don’t be surprised if it takes you weeks to put together the right team of web designers, developers, host providers, support engineers, and SEO consultants. Also, the time you spend shopping around for companies that accommodate your timeline and budget is time that could be used on the development of your website. By choosing a single website team with established partnerships in place, you save so much time by relying on that one team to provide the right suppliers for those additional services required to meet your project’s goals.

Streamline Your Project Life Cycle

Efficiency is key. Vendors who already know how to work together will provide you with a surprisingly smooth, streamlined experience when it comes to the life cycle of your project. Think about it. Just the planning process to kick off your project was probably overwhelming and nerve-racking, wasn’t it? You don’t want to have to deal with that kind of stress throughout the life cycle of your project. Select a website team with established partnerships in place and you won’t have to.

Receive Your Project on Time

Time is money, and missing or postponing an announced date for your website project can make you cringe. Whatever your selected date is for your website launch, it’s an important one! Don’t miss it simply because one vendor miscommunicated with another. Place the responsibility of adhering to your timeline in the hands of a trusted team and rest easy knowing that you will receive your project on time.

Remain on Budget

Budgets should be honored and respected. A website team with established partnerships in place knows this and will emphasize the importance of your budget with their partners. Because of the strength of their relationships, they’ll work together to ensure the integrity of their reputations and your financial limitations.

Our Team Becomes Your Team

Just like extensions and applications enhance the functionality of your internet browser or smartphone, a website team with established partnerships in place can strengthen the abilities and capacity of your in-house development team. With our clients, our team becomes their team. Our partners become theirs, too. This synergy creates unlimited potential for the growth and success of your website and any future enhancements you may decide to add at a later time.

Convinced, yet? Just the ease of handing over the responsibilities of a huge job to a single, competent website team should be enough to sway you from the juggling act of hiring multiple vendors yourself. The launch of your website project should be exciting, joyous, and inspiring, not stressful, tense, and daunting. Choose a website team with established partnerships in place and turn your website project into a joyful, memorable milestone in the history of your organization. Contact us and let’s talk about how our team can become yours.

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Ever since reading “The Sun Also Rises,” I admittedly have had an obsession with Paris. Not that this is any different from many people I know. The city becomes a goal to attain to anyone who has watched a movie, read a book, or simply enjoys quality food. It is a vista to experience and a culture to be savored.

Boarding the plane in Philadelphia, I had some grand plans. I mapped out itineraries and made lists of things to see and do. I was ready for the city, but I soon learned that Paris was not ready for me.

Before I go any further, I want to say that I loved Paris. It was in so many ways familiar and yet in so many ways unknown. It was a true adventure. WCEU was amazing. The team in Europe surely put together an event for the ages, but that’s not what this story is about. Here’s the tale I want to tell.

As I was following my very-well-executed Google maps and trotting through the Parisian streets, it seemed as though my exploration was completely obtainable. My Google map said it was about three hours of walking overall. I figured by allotting enough time at each stop that I would be putting in a full day. I was fine with walking, because I had new sneakers that were ready for the cobblestone. However, it didn’t take me long to learn otherwise. Forty thousand steps later, I was sunburned, tired, sore, and only halfway through what I wanted to see.

After a few days of encountering obstacles and fatigue, I finally realized the best thing I could do for myself was book a tour. Let me tell you, getting on that air conditioned tour bus was glorious. The guide told stories, and I learned so much about the history of Paris. I didn’t have to work at vacationing or make decisions. I was carried through the day. It was worth every Euro.

The experience of taking on Paris alone and then transitioning to booking a tour parallels what a client experiences when hiring a design and development agency like WebDevStudios. See, people often ask me why they should go with an agency as opposed to developing or redesigning a website themselves. It is WordPress after all, an easy content management system (CMS) with a famous five-minute install. But, this is what I learned in Paris and what you should consider before taking on a website development project alone:

Language

I knew enough French to get by in Paris. The usual “Bonjour. Ça va?” etc. When I started to put it into practice, however, it was so hard. I had to strain to listen to conversations and was only catching every couple of words. My sentences ended up coming out like a muddled mess. I was able to communicate the best I could, but I certainly realized that knowing the language would have made it so much more enjoyable. It’s not enough to just know things, you also have to understand them. The same is true for WordPress. If you can know the basics, you can muddle through. You can create some pretty amazing things. But when you truly understand this CMS with all its intricacies and possibilities, that is when the magic happens.

Walking

What I didn’t know from my Google maps were the length of Parisian city blocks, the hills and construction I would encounter, and the condition of the roads. Also, even though I knew it was going to be three hours of walking, it really equated to much more than I had anticipated. The map wasn’t enough and neither was the planning.

If I would have taken the time to talk to someone and have them show me how to maneuver, it may have been more realistic. My expectations were very high for myself and when I didn’t meet them, I was left feeling frustrated. Think about wanting to build your own website. You research, you plan, you prepare. The one thing lacking is experience. Having that extra element of knowledge is the difference between ending the day with a croissant and cafe or ending the day with blisters.

Heat

Turns out while I was in Paris, they had a heat wave, which was not expected. You know what else they don’t usually have in Paris? Air conditioning!

While staying in my Airbnb, it occurred to me that I never thought about asking about central air. It was 99 degrees just about the whole time I was there. I didn’t pack correctly for this weather. No matter how much research I did, I could not have been prepared for this unexpected occurrence. I am from North East USA and my body does not do well with high temperatures.

If you take on a website development project on your own, expect the unexpected to derail your project, and you need to be prepared to handle it.

Time

I was only in Pairs for seven days. I had a very sensitive timeline. I tried to cram everything in, no matter what the cost. The problem was that it was impossible. I had a very unrealistic timeline set for myself, and because of all the factors mentioned above, I kept going off schedule.

When you are traveling, you can’t phone a teammate to take over some of the work. No one can walk or sight-see for you. You have it do it solo. You can maybe get an Uber to help with transportation or have food delivered to you, but these are just things to help make the work of vacationing easier. They aren’t going to accomplish the actual vacation for you. There is beauty in having a team to depend upon, and it certainly helps to keep you on schedule.

Satisfaction

After all the planning, research, and work, I just felt tired at the end of the day. I wanted to enjoy Paris more, but I didn’t take enough time to savor the moment. I felt like I failed slightly and did not feel that sense of true satisfaction at the end of the day.

I realized quickly the value of what an agency does. The years of experience, the knowledge, the mistakes they have made, the successes they have had; all of that results in more comprehensive and fulfilling website development experience.

Paris was amazing and an adventure that I would not trade for the world. I’m glad I did what I did, but I also didn’t have anyone to answer to. This was all about me. And in the end, I’m the only person who suffered for some of the decisions I made and the challenges I encountered.

In the real world, and in relation to websites, we often have to hold ourselves accountable to others. It always seems like a good idea to do something ourselves, and sometimes it is! But sometimes it’s okay to allow yourself to call the tour agency and get on the air conditioned bus.

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