Before we start discussing obvious advantages of hiring a WordPress agency to carry out your project, I think it’s essential to make one remark: a freelance WordPress developer can provide professional assistance to you either.

I started my career as a freelancer, so what bias can I have against these guys? None.

Nevertheless, if at the moment you’re facing the choice between a freelancer and an in-house developer, but clearly realize what you want to hire them for, you’d better go for the second option.

As a business owner or project initiator you create the demand for WordPress development services. Both a freelance and an in-house provider of such services can satisfy it. However, the ways each of them performs the job you give differ. These differences lie rather not in the level of their proficiency, as in most cases it’s all the same, but in a general approach to project management as it is.

Just imagine that you need to submit a report or motivation essay. Speaking roughly, you may pay a student, whose posts you can see on a university website, to prepare this report or write this essay. Or you may avail formally provided business writing services.

Therefore, in order to stay absolutely sure of the choice you’re going to make, you should first formulate an accurate idea of what you expect from a WordPress agency.

Here are a few key suggestions:

• You intend to maintain a long-term relationship. And that’s an integral part of a professional agency’s philosophy. Not only does it help with setting a project ready for launch but also provides further support for its growth and promotion.
• You plan to manage long-term expenses. So, it should mean you realize that at different stages the project may need amending, involving new skills, or even rejecting some achievements and starting from scratch. That all requires financing regardless of whom you hire, a freelancer or an in-house developer. But an agency is more likely to foresee that and at least to help you manage the funds rationally if not avoid some expenses.
• You want to learn your industry or its particular domain better in order to take a safe place in the market. A good agency definitely has a specialist who can do necessary research or work with the data you are ready to provide. More importantly, this specialist can monitor possible changes and help you and your project react to them fast and effectively.

So, these are the key arguments for hiring a WordPress development agency. Now let’s dig deeper into the reasons why this is going to be a safer and more beneficial decision than cooperating with a freelancer.

Reason 1: In-House Developers Have More Skills and Provide More Opportunities

When you hire an agency, the successful completion of your project is a result of teamwork. In its turn, teamwork implies involvement of different experts, who are responsible for the project development at a particular stage, interaction of these experts with each other and with you personally as their client, as well as quick reaction to the requirements set by work process or environment.

A freelance WordPress developer can be a perfect coder, knowing all ins and outs of this CMS, as well as of PHP, HTML, CSS, and so on. However, their analytical or language skills may leave much to be desired.

An agency divides responsibilities for different parts of the project between specialists with the required skills, therefore eliminating any risks of misunderstandings and errors.

Reason 2: Agencies Advocate Client-Oriented Time and Project Management

Despite the fact that WordPress agencies may work on multiple projects in parallel, their managers are always able to provide an individual and effective approach to each new client and draw up a preliminary yet completable plan for their project.

Freelancers, however, may have difficulties with working out strategies for large and complex projects, especially if they have some specific features determined by an industry. As a result, a freelance developer isn’t able to manage a project so effectively that its completion meets the deadline set by a client. So, consider this when you choose between freelance and in-house developers.

Reason 3: An In-House Developer Proves to Be a More Reliable Performer

Firstly, this specialist has certain job duties. If they don’t fulfill these duties, the company’s gesture is obvious – this worker simply gets fined or even fired.

Secondly, an agency’s developer has more motivators to perform responsibly. These motivators do include the money they get for the job done, but they also cover promotion and career growth, self-development inside their expert team, and surely, the abovementioned punishments, however sad this may sound.

Thirdly, if for some reasons an assigned specialist cannot complete the work, their responsibility can be shifted to their colleagues.

Freelancers usually work alone, so no one can replace them when they get sick or have family issues.

Reason 4: Agency Managers Can Track a Variety of Stakeholders

That’s their specialty, that’s a part of the service they provide, so as a client you can count on their assistance within this aspect of web project development.

In order to make sure that an agency’s stakeholder management can meet your requirements and expectations, you’d better consult with its experts before assigning a project to them. Surely, a freelance developer can’t provide such option, however agency’s strategies must also be accurate and ironclad.

Reason 5: An Expert WordPress Agency Guarantees Quality Assurance

Two heads definitely are better than one. So, a quality assurance manager at a WordPress development agency is responsible for being that professional second head to check if a completed work meets client’s initial requirements, technical standards, and other significant criteria.

On the other hand, freelancers can rely only on their own knowledge and professionalism, while their clients rely mostly on their reputations, which are not always the most solid foundations to build strong and reliable business relationships on. I don’t mean, however, that cooperation with a freelance developer can be risky. Not at all. It’s simply the matter of general quality of performance and a capacity to support and improve this quality consistently.

An agency just does it considerably better.