Web development outsourcing in Mexico.

Template, custom or headless: which one you need

A template site on WordPress, Webflow or Shopify is the right call when your pages follow a few standard layouts and your team wants to edit them without a developer. It's the cheapest to build and the easiest to hand over.

A custom build makes sense when the site does something a template fights you on: a configurator, a members area, an unusual checkout, or speed targets a page builder can't hit.

Headless (a CMS like Sanity or Strapi feeding a frontend in Astro or Next.js) suits teams that publish a lot of content in several places, or sites where speed is part of the sales pitch. It costs more to set up, and someone has to maintain it.

We'll recommend the simplest option that does the job, and we'll tell you when a template is enough.

Who owns the site, the domain and the CMS

You should. Register the domain in your company's name, keep the hosting and CMS accounts on your billing, and give the agency access rather than the other way around.

Ask for the source code in a repository you own, and for admin logins to every service the site depends on: forms, analytics, email, payments. A site you can't move without your old agency's help isn't really yours.

We set projects up on accounts in your name from the start, so changing providers later means revoking our access, not negotiating for your own website.

Fixed project, retainer or dedicated developers

There are three common ways to buy outsourced web work. The right one depends on how steady the work is, not on how big the first project looks.

A fixed-scope project suits a new site or a redesign with a clear finish line. You agree pages, features and a launch date up front. Anything added after sign-off becomes a change request, so discovery is where you protect the budget.

A monthly retainer suits a live site that needs regular updates, new landing pages and fixes. You buy a set amount of time each month and decide what goes in the queue.

A dedicated developer or small team suits a web platform that changes every week, like a customer portal or a store with frequent releases. They work inside your tools and sprints, which makes it closer to a software development team than a website project.

What drives the cost of a website build

1. The number of unique templates. Ten pages built from three layouts cost far less than ten pages each designed from scratch.
2. Integrations. Every connection to a CRM, payment provider, booking tool or ERP adds build and testing time, and it's often where launch dates slip.
3. Content readiness. If copy, photos and product data aren't ready, someone has to write, source or migrate them, and that time is billable on any team.
4. Platform choice. A template on WordPress or Shopify costs less up front than a custom or headless build. Compare license, plugin and hosting costs over a few years, not just the build.
5. Languages and markets. A bilingual site isn't one site plus a translation. Each language needs its own content, URLs and SEO setup.

How to evaluate a web development partner

1. Ask for Lighthouse scores on live client sites. Not portfolio screenshots: the real URLs, tested on a phone.
2. Ask who writes the code. If design happens in one place and development is subcontracted somewhere else, the handoff is where quality goes missing.
3. Ask what happens to your search rankings during a redesign. A good partner maps every old URL to a new one and checks Search Console after launch.
4. Ask what maintenance costs after launch and what it includes. On most CMS platforms, updates and security patches aren't optional.