When you’re looking for a developer to work on your WooCommerce site, it can become an overwhelming task. Figuring out the right option can be like trying to figure out which candy you want in the candy aisle. Everything looks good, but you really don’t know which one’s going to hit the spot. Understanding the difference between a WooCommerce agency and a WooCommerce freelancer can be important in helping you make the right decision for your business.
Exploring the Development Options
WordPress is the most commonly chosen development option all-around. The platform helps you have total control, and you don’t need silicon-valley-level prowess to manage the website. Even though there are other options available, the simplicity of WordPress makes it the ideal choice for business owners that are looking to avoid a constant headache.
Managing your website through WordPress allows you to take advantage of a number of different plugins. These plugins enhance your website functionality and open the door to new features. WooCommerce is a great example of an essential plugin.
Don’t let the name phase you; WooCommerce is simply the most streamlined way to turn your website into an eCommerce store. The plugin is the most popular way to sell products and services through your website and have an all-in-one solution to manage your eCommerce operations.
If you’re interested in improving your WordPress operations, check out How to Fix the Biggest WordPress Operational Issues.
The Conventional Choices
Even though WooCommerce provides an extremely simple interface, it can be a great idea to include a professional in the development process to help you get things right. The decision can be a lot like assembling an IKEA furniture set. It might sound like a great idea to manage it yourself, but you know you’re going to end up wasting hours finding the right pieces.
Before we delve deeper into your development possibilities, let’s explore what the most important parts of an effective WooCommerce development are.
Key Aspects of an Effective WooCommerce Deployment
Even though it seems simple, WooCommerce is an all-encompassing eCommerce plugin that includes a wide range of tools. The platform comes with all the supporting facets you need to help you create a seamless digital commerce platform for your brand. The simple-looking plugin can save you countless hours of stress and effort.
Here are some of the most commonly used features of WooCommerce.
Payment Integration – WooCommerce payment integration allows you to receive payments from people all over the world through your favorite payment gateways. You no longer have to put up with annoying bank transfers and payment requests to continue your digital operations. The plugin facilitates seamless integrations with leading platforms like Stripe and PayPal.
Product Variations – There is nothing more annoying than having to individually create ten different products to facilitate variations because your existing development option does not allow you to create variations. WooCommerce helps you to expand your e-store by allowing you to create product variations from attributes like size and color seamlessly.
Stock and Inventory Management – Gone are the days when you had to put up with a hundred different software to manage your accounting and product inventory. WooCommerce provides you with a built-in stock management function to help you control your store at your own pace. This saves you the trouble of having to email customers to update them know about stock shortages manually.
Integrated Taxation – We hear nightmare stories all the time about business owners that did not consider the almighty IRS into their operations. WooCommerce saves you from taxation trouble by letting you integrate taxation modules in your store. To avoid a ton of confusion, the taxation module can be customized for specific requirements to help you comply with global taxation guidelines.
Aside from these features, a key aspect of WooCommerce is the ability to customize your store based on your requirements. From the graphic design elements of the website to broader operations, effective WooCommerce development helps you create a consistent product that aligns with your brand’s image.
With WooCommerce widely recognized as the leading eCommerce plugin on WordPress, it can be a great idea to brush up on your information and get to know about your options. Putting the time to explore the differences now can help you avoid a major mess-up in the future.
Importance of Custom WooCommerce Development
One of the worst things that you can witness in an eCommerce site is a complete lack of creativity. You might have noticed that a wide majority of eCommerce stores are designed around the same themes and layouts. This results in a boring end-product and causes the website to look extremely bland.
Custom WooCommerce development lets you have complete control of the outlook of your website. WooCommerce customization personalizes the outlook and features based on your business requirements and use cases.
Here are the biggest benefits of opting for custom WooCommerce development for your company.
- Customization helps you create a unique outlook for your brand and sets apart your brand presence from your competitors.
- Opting for a personalized developmental process facilitates the integration of specific use-cases that are relevant to your business.
- Customizing your website experience helps you add a unique product experience for your customers to increase customer retention.
What are WooCommerce Freelancers?
Freelancers are contractual employees that work on your e-store through private contracts and 3rd party platforms. These individual professionals have varying levels of experience depending on their backgrounds. Freelance workers can be a great way to help you through simple project updates. They come in handy when you’re looking for an external pair of hands for minor elements and changes. It can be a great idea to let someone else manage tiresome elements of your project that you don’t feel like handling yourself.
Advantages
- Freelancers can be a great option when it comes to minor tweaks and task updates.
- Freelancers can provide some convenience when it comes to urgent task completions.
- Freelancers can be a much more affordable option because you can choose from millions of global developers at your convenient pay rate.
Disadvantages
- Freelancers don’t have an established institutional reputation.
- Freelancers will complete the task much slower unless they have ten hands, in which case, they’ll probably be helping Spiderman out with the next movie.
- Freelancers don’t adhere to established organizational guidelines during the development process.
- Despite escrow-based systems, freelancers do not have established contingencies to provide you support in case something goes wrong.
Despite their usefulness, freelancers definitely have their limitations. Even though there are some exceptions, freelancers are generally contract-based professionals that have limited resources to approach large-scale projects. Aside from their availability, these professionals lack the enterprise structure that is needed to complete complex projects.
For comprehensive support, WooCommerce agencies are a much better solution. These companies have a team of experienced professionals that bring a diverse skill set to the table. Think of an agency like the Avengers fighting against Thanos. Every member brings their own skillset to approach the task in a different way. From design elements to store configurations, having an organized planning structure can help you tackle the problem from multiple angles and end up with the ideal end-product.
Why Can Freelancers Be a Liability for Complex Projects?
We’re sure that you’ve seen a number of websites where the product images take forever to load. Other websites lack cache management and email integration. These websites are mostly designed by freelancer developers. These errors are a result of the fact that it can be highly challenging for a single individual to follow a multi-dimensional process and create a solid end product.
Even though freelancers have their benefits, trusting a single individual with your eCommerce store can come back to haunt you. There are way too many nightmare stories of business owners that counted on individual freelancers and ended up regretting the decision. From botched image dimensions to messy product variations, there are just way too many things that can go wrong when you decide to count on a single person for the job. And it’s hardly the poor guy’s fault; effectively managing a proper WooCommerce integration is not a simple process.
Freelancers can also be a liability because they cannot provide you with backup support in case something goes wrong. Even though most developers justify developmental delays with a ton of excuses (sickness, weather conditions, and the list goes on…), the reality is that freelancers cannot provide you with contingent project delivery even when something genuinely goes wrong. This means that any circumstances impacting the individual freelancer will affect the completion of your project.
In this landscape, exploring WooCommerce Agencies can be a much better idea.
What are WooCommerce Agencies?
WooCommerce agencies are established companies that specialize in WooCommerce development, integrations, and ongoing WooCommerce maintenance and support. Think of these as the go-to source to help you figure out the way forward. With access to a qualified workforce, these companies help clients with the complete range of WooCommerce tasks and operations. WooCommerce agencies have established global clienteles and provide coverage across a wide range of different use cases.
Why are WooCommerce Agencies ideal for customization?
Customizing WooCommerce-based themes and plugins can be a highly challenging process. Due to a large number of interconnected factors, it is important to have expert oversight over the customization process to prevent fatal errors. Hiring an individual to handle the customization of your website is like taking your favorite car to an amateur mechanic without the right tools.
WooCommerce agencies approach the customization process with experience and expertise. These organizations are deeply aware of the nitty-gritty of the development process and comply with established developmental frameworks to ensure the timely delivery of a custom development experience.
Going with a reputable WooCommerce agency can take away your worries and help you scale your online business exactly as you envision.
What Sets WooCommerce Agencies Apart?
Sure, every run-of-the-mill developer can watch YouTube tutorials and install the basic WooCommerce plugin, but the end result is never going to be seamless. It’s like the times when you decide to open up your favorite appliances and then have no clue how to put them back together.
WooCommerce agencies ensure that you’re able to have a perfectly functional eCommerce store with all the required tools to support you through your growth process. From the addition of custom functionality to the development of your very own theme, a capable WooCommerce development agency can truly take the worry away from you and streamline the process.
Here are the pros and cons of WooCommerce Agencies.
Advantages
- WooCommerce agencies can cater to your specific requirements due to their extensive development and working experience across a wide range of different projects.
- Agencies have a diverse team of experienced professionals that bring their own strengths to the project. The unique skillsets maximize the creative potential of your website and help you realize your vision.
- WooCommerce agencies can help you curate customize themes based on your requirements. Think of the agency as your very own personalized team that will create a comprehensive framework for your site.
- Agencies have established testing frameworks to ensure that every part of the site is perfectly functional. The testing standards are based on comprehensive global guidelines that ensure that every part of the website is in perfect order. This is a much better option than other alternatives that can result in a host of unpredictable errors.
- WooCommerce agencies also have the ability to provide you with a much faster turnaround purely because of the available human resources. Going with a reputed agency allows you to benefit from a well-organized team instead of a single individual.
- WooCommerce agencies have a proven reputation for delivering on their commitments through established contingencies and tools. This helps you have the peace of mind of having your project completed on time.
- Leading WooCommerce agencies are certified from the platform itself. This means that you’re guaranteed to have blazing fast support and maintenance even after the initial developmental process.
Disadvantages
- Despite their effectiveness, WooCommerce agencies can often command higher rates than individual freelancers due to their effectiveness and knowledge of the platform.
- Leading WooCommerce agencies often work on large-scale projects and integrations, leading to low availability for small-scale updates and tasks.
- WooCommerce agencies adhere to a professional timeline and budget. If you’re someone that is looking to figure things out on the go, these agencies might not be the best fit for you.
Even though WooCommerce agencies provide you with a cache of different benefits, a key factor in the end result is the agency that you choose to work with. You can’t just hire any random agency in the market and expect them to deliver an exceptional service. While making the final decision, looking up the reputation and expertise of the agency is an important part of the vetting process.
Whether you decide to work with a freelancer developer or an established WooCommerce agency, it’s important to put in the research to make sure that you’re working with a trusted partner. There is nothing worse than hiring someone that ends up ghosting you without delivering the work properly.
To learn more about how you can increase traffic on your existing WooCommerce website, check out Effective Ways to Boost Traffic To Your WooCommerce Website.
Conclusion
When making a decision between choosing a WooCommerce agency or a freelancer, make sure that you carefully weigh your priorities. Going with an individual freelancer can be like putting all your apples in a single basket. While they might be good options for minor updates, it is better to go with an established organization to deliver technically solid output. You don’t want to be stuck with a jack of all trades that are unable to provide you with product support after the developmental process wraps up. We’ve all heard about companies having horrible experiences with individually developed websites years after the development process.
Even though the situational decision depends on your project requirements and budget, handing over the responsibilities of your WooCommerce store in the hands of a single freelancer can be like choosing Korg over the Avengers. It’s a much better idea to delegate your project to a team of organized professionals that can contribute their unique skillsets towards the completion of the project.
For companies that are looking to have a professional turnaround on their project in a timely manner, WooCommerce agencies are clearly the best way to go. These organizations have a proven history of providing structured developmental support to businesses and adhere to established guidelines to get the perfect results.
CoSpark is a trusted WooCommerce partner that has been at the forefront of leading WooCommerce sites (and making new coffee-consumption records). CoSpark is one of the top eCommerce development companies in California. The agency provides comprehensive developmental support with unique strategies that are designed to take away the hassle from the process and let you put your energy towards better areas. CoSpark caters to complex client requirements and ensures that your development experience is as seamless as possible.
