Table of Contents
Nowadays, with all of the resources online and free options, it seems like building a website yourself is the way to go. But is it really? We understand each business has its own reasoning behind why they choose to do it themselves but we want to educate you on why a do-it-yourself may not be the best option for you.
Free Isn’t Always Free
We all love the word free and if were thrown our way why wouldn’t we take it? Free is an easy way to get a business in but once you’re in you will realize one of two things or maybe both: 1) It’s not giving you all these wonderful things you thought an editor can do to help get you your dream website, and/or 2) You can’t take your website to the next level without having to pay. Let me explain.
Free Website Editors
We have experience in different builders to use for website building and each has its own way to help you design a page. What we have learned is free builders have very limited options which hinder you from doing really cool effects for your website. Sometimes that is all clients know so it’s good enough for them but having experience and understanding of builders, trust me there are more options you are not even aware of! Take the time to research and make sure you outweigh the pros and cons when it comes to building a really great site!
Enhance the Functionality
A website is not only about creating a beautiful design but you need to ensure the functionality is there too! This typically results in having to pay money. What do I mean by this? Well, there are backend features that help with the rankings of your website. Each page and image should be optimized. You make Google happy, your clients will be happy. I cannot stress enough the importance of page titles, descriptions, meta descriptions, alt tags on images, and more…… make sure the design you’re getting includes these features so you get the best results!
Professional Designer with Experience
Web design should be changed every couple of years. When working with a professional designer, they are continuously educating themselves with the latest trends to ensure you are staying on top! If your web designer is not following trends, whether it be through seminars, events, reliable resources online, books, etc…. then are you making the right decision? A professional web designer has the creativity and passion in the industry and understands the formula behind what works to get you ranked higher. It’s important to understand colour theory and branding to help you rise to that next level!
Unique vs. Template Web Designs
There are so many templates out there businesses can purchase for a small fee. Sure, they look great without having to spend a lot of money but how would you feel if a competitor, or any business for that matter, has the same template design for their website? This is a risk you take when choosing a template for your business. You want to find a web designer that builds unique website designs to ensure you stand out from the rest.
Your Customer Feedback
Customer feedback helps improve products and services, measures customer satisfaction, shows that you value your customers opinions and it helps create the best customer experience. This isn’t all, it can greatly improve customer retention and provides a reliable source for information to other customers. Customer feedback gives you the data that is needed to help make critical business decisions.
Responsive Web Design Can Be Challenging
We all know how many users are on their phones. Look around you. If you haven’t noticed you will now. Whether it be someone walking down the street, sitting at an airport or coffee shop, the world we lie in today has us glued to our phones. So when it comes to having a website you want to make sure that users can view your website easily. Don’t make your users have to scroll to see your content because I bet they will immediately close and find a competitor.
Coming from someone who has experience in builders, especially ones who claim their builder automatically creates a responsive website design let me tell you, this is not 100% true. There is always tweaking that needs to happen, sometimes within the builder itself and sometimes using code, so you want to choose a web designer who has experience in the builder you’re using for your web design to ensure you are truly getting a responsive website.
SEO
SEO helps build better relationships with your audience, improve the customer experience, increase your authority, drive more traffic to your website, give you a leg up on your competition, and increase conversions, which means more sales, more loyal customers, and more return on investment for your business.
Is Your Website Secure?
You have no idea how many times I’ve visited a website to find a message that the website is not secure. I know the reasoning behind this but do you? Hackers love non-secure websites. It allows them easier access to your site. Not to mention, your visitor is going to see that and get out of there immediately. Any warning can have us all panicking a little when we see a message like that. Please don’t let your business suffer from an insecure website. When choosing a website provider make sure they will be providing an SSL certificate. This will authenticate your identity.
Save Yourself Time and Money
At the end of the day, a professional web designer knows the basics of any editor and understands code. Without that knowledge, there is more spent in trying to understand how to build a web design with the tools you have. This takes time to play around in the editor and doing some research as to how it works. There is value in saving time and money, so see the value in having a design you know is done by a team of experts.
