​Web agencies don’t seem necessary these days for small biz sites

We’re now in the era of no code web builders like squarespace and wix and also in the era of super cheap labor on fiverr and upwork.

I only recently took a deep dive into website designing and developing. It seems like a bit of a scam unless you have such a large business that needs a team of designers and especially developers to custom code it or use WordPress. They will charge you tens or even hundreds of thousands to create the website. Then you have to pay them for maintenance, which is usually a monthly cost, because things are breaking or not working right, they have to update it to the constantly changing internet and things like browsers or security hackers. The monthly maintenance is usually in the hundreds of dollars per month.

On the other hand, most small businesses and even medium businesses just need a simple website. You can easily build one on squarespace or wix or hire one expert to do it for you for less than $1,000. Then you only have to pay squarespace or wix monthly cost of like $50 or less per month. You don’t need to do maintenance for these websites because wix and squarespace have tons of employees who are updating their software and it automatically updates your website and everyone else’s to be not broken and be up to date on things like security, seo, etc. They also have lots of beautifully designed templates to choose from or you can create your own. They also have a directory of “experts” who will build you a site if you don’t want to go on upwork or fiverr. And the framework of these platforms are basically break proof. You can’t really break the website.

I may be wrong, but it seems like only if you need a really large, complex website you need to hire a web agency. I never knew how much maintenance WordPress/custom websites cost, and how poorly the web agency can do a job creating your website, which sometimes you can’t even see because it’s all hidden in the backend.

Obviously if you need to make an app or some custom software or web platform then you probably need to hire an agency, but many web agencies don’t even make apps. You’d have to hire a software/app/platform agency.

I feel like web design agencies are like if someone were to custom code windows or Mac OS. It could be better than those operating systems but it would take a lot of money and maintenance. As opposed to just buying windows (like wix) or buying a mac (like squarespace). Yes, it’s more limited, as opposed to limitless coding, but they pretty much have everything you need, they thought of almost everything and they’re always updating automatically.

Anyway, this is my takeaway from potentially hiring a web design/development agency but then learning how they work and how it seems like a money grab. Especially now that they have more advanced “no code” solutions like wix studio and webflow. I see no reason to hire a web agency to build me a website on WordPress (which feels like the Linux of operating system analogies) or custom code. Even if somehow you got a good price from an agency, they’re going to get you on the maintenance fees. It’s like printer cartridges being so much more expensive than the printer.

Update – I see that almost everyone who replied works as a web designer/developer. Where are the roofers, the cafe owners, the pet groomers that own their own business?