The Trouble With Agencies That Only Build One Thing

Most web agencies build in one platform. WordPress, usually. Sometimes Shopify, perhaps Squarespace and sometimes whatever framework the founder happened to learn first.

There's nothing wrong with being good at one thing. The trouble starts when that one thing is the only answer the agency ever gives.

Building in a single platform is easier to run as a business. The team only needs one set of skills, the costs are predictable, and every job looks reassuringly like the last one. I understand the appeal. But a model that's tidy for the agency isn't automatically good for the client.

The recommendation was made before you walked in

If a business only builds WordPress sites, it will recommend a WordPress site. Not because it has weighed up your situation and decided WordPress is the best fit, but because WordPress is what it builds. The recommendation was made long before you turned up with your problem.

I had a conversation recently with someone who put it perfectly. Their position, and I'm barely paraphrasing, was "if it's not Shopify, we don't do it." At least that's honest. But think about what it means for the client. Every business that walks through the door gets Shopify, whether they're shifting a thousand orders a day or running a local service that needs a tidy brochure site and a contact form that works.

The platform stops being a decision. It becomes the default.

Implementers, not developers

This is the part that gets under my skin, so bear with me.

There's a real difference between a developer and an implementer. A developer looks at what you're trying to achieve and works out the right way to do it. An implementer takes your requirements and forces them into the one tool they already know. Both might call themselves a web agency. Only one of them is actually solving your problem.

The monoculture model rewards the implementer. If all your revenue comes from building the same thing over and over, you've no real incentive to ask whether it's the right thing. Asking that question might lead to an answer that costs you the job.

Why this matters to you, not just to me

You might reasonably think this is an industry gripe that doesn't affect you. It does, in a few practical ways.

• You pay for the wrong fit. A platform built for high-volume online shops is overkill for a five-page site. A page-builder theme stacked with plugins is a maintenance bill waiting to happen. You carry that cost for years.
• You inherit someone else's limits. If the agency can only build one thing, your site can only do what that thing does well. The moment you need something slightly outside the box, you're either stuck or paying for an awkward workaround.
• You never find out what you missed. This is the quiet one. If nobody ever offers you an alternative, you'll never know whether there was a simpler, cheaper or more reliable way to do it.

How to tell which one you're dealing with

You don't need to understand the technology to spot the difference. You just need to ask one question: what else do you build?

If the answer is a thoughtful "it depends on what you need, and here's how we'd decide," that's a good sign. If the answer is "we only do X, and honestly X is best for everyone," be careful. That isn't expertise. It's a sales script.

I'm not saying WordPress is wrong, or Shopify is wrong, or that any platform is wrong. I've written before about when WordPress is genuinely the right call. The point here is narrower. An agency that can only offer you one thing can't tell you whether it's the right thing. They've no way of knowing, and no reason to find out.

You deserve an answer that starts with your business, not with their order book.

If you're about to commission a website and you're not sure whether you're being offered the right thing or just the only thing, it's worth a second opinion. Get in touch and I'll give you a straight answer, even if that answer is that you're already on the right track. If you'd rather just see how we approach it, here's what we do.