Why You SHOULDN'T Build Your Own Website
Catherine Woodcock • 24 February 2021
So you’re thinking of building a website using one of the big platforms we always see on TV: Squarespace, Wordpress, Weebly, Etc.
- They are low cost, drag and drop, and have trendy templates that make creating a site design pretty easy.
- You’re probably already pretty tech savvy.
- But I want to set the record straight. Designing a website is not about being technically skilled, or having good pictures.
- It involves so much more to get it right and working for your business.
Here are the 8 reasons you should hire a website company over doing this yourself.
1. You Don’t Know How
DIY web builder sites like Squarespace and Weebly use the “anyone can build a website” pitch to hit that sore spot with many small business owners who don’t want to pay thousands to have a site done professionally. But building a site for success involves a mix of technical skill, design, and sales strategy to get it working right for your business. Most likely, you don’t have a team of people who KNOW each of these things in and out like a Web Marketing company would. So at the end you have a site, but it lacks key features to make it work for you.
It takes
years to really learn some of these skills and experience working with all different kinds of businesses to know how to use it effectively.
2. Appealing to Yourself VS. Customers
You probably have an idea in your head of what you want to see on your site. Colors, pictures, layout, etc. You have a logo. You may even have a whole branding package that looks amazing. But what you like as an expert in your industry, isn’t necessarily what your customers like. How you would explain your products/services, isn’t how your customers would search for them. And what you try to direct customers to do on your site, may not be what ends up happening (read about User Experience and User Interface Psychology to learn more).
A Web Marketing company would do the fundamental research to learn your industry, target market and marketing needs to create a site with all of that in mind. Their goal is always to make something that looks good to you, but WORKS for you as well.
3. Pre-Launch Testing
Before your site goes live, there’s a ton of preliminary testing that goes on.
- You want to make sure your form collects responses and emails it to the right address.
- Your phone number needs to be clickable so people can click and call right away.
- Your images need to load quickly so it doesn't tank your SEO score.
- And your DNS records need to be set-up carefully to make sure the web address actually takes people to your secured site.
That right there may have sounded kind of daunting. But that’s just a small part of what a Web Marketing company does EVERYDAY for clients to make sure their website is set up without technical errors before the launch.
- How long would you stay on a website that wouldn’t load or had glitchy features?
- And how would you feel if you had clients pointing out problems they were finding on your site?
If something isn’t working, people leave. So setting up your site successfully reflects on the professionalism and credibility of your business.
4. Your Time is Worth Money
One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is devaluing their time. After accounting for employees, expenses, utilities, etc. it’s easy to forgot to include your time in your expense sheet. After all, you’re the expert in your industry and that makes your time extremely valuable.
- What would the education on site building, SEO, PPC Ads, Design, etc. take away from if you were to focus on it for a few weeks?
- Will you miss out on revenue making opportunities?
- Will you be wasting time learning a skill you’ll only use once when you could be fine tuning skills you’ll use every day on your business?
I always recommend that clients determine their own hourly rate just to evaluate things that aren’t the best use of YOUR limited time. If it’s cheaper, more valuable, or helps you do more of what you love, then you know it’s worth it. And hiring a Web Marketing Company who invested the time and money up front to learn these skills expertly will always pay off.
5. Managing Your Site After Launch is Kind of the Worst
Yea, I said it. Plug-ins, Updates, design changes, adding a new picture, all things that need to happen pretty often to keep your site both ACTIVE and INTERESTING is not fun.
In fact, it’s often the reason why people contact us.
- Someone's website goes down and they’re seeing the dreaded 404 Error page.
- Their hosting plan jumps in price and they have no idea how to switch hosting companies.
- A button stops working and people can’t contact you.
- Their Wordpress Plugins were updated and now their site design looks different.
Web Marketing companies manage your site for you after launch so all you have to do is call up your web person and tell them the changes you want made to the design. And the techy stuff that keeps your website ACTIVE? That’s all done behind the scenes so you never have to worry about it. Talk about peace of mind.
6. Bad Design Drives People AWAY
So you build your site. The key elements are there. But you’re not seeing results? It could be the design. Bad design drives people away. We see this all the time in human behavior. Customers buy the cereal with the pretty packaging over the boring box because it draws them in. Your site is going to be compared to MANY competitors, so if your design doesn’t WOW them, you’re going to lose out on sales.
Plus,
design styles are always changing so your style may have been phenomenal 5 years ago, but doesn’t match current trends. In the marketing industry, it’s not uncommon to redesign your entire site EACH YEAR to keep up with competitors and the ever changing trends.
7. Your Competitor’s Site Will Look Better
To put it frankly, the end result of a drag and drop site can’t compare to a custom site done by a skilled web designer. If your competitors are working with a web design company, you need to as well in order to stand out.
It’s disappointing to put all of the time, money, and effort into building your own site just to have it blown out of the water by your competitors custom site. So while they spent time honing their craft and hired out their website design and are seeing results, you’re still trying to get yours active. We know bad design drives people away, and
if your website can’t compete, you’re driving business to your competitors sites instead.
8. You’re Going to Need Help Along the Way
Whether it’s taking quality pictures that are edited and web ready, deciding on a booking program for clients to book calls with you on your site, or even just selecting fonts and colors. Rather than consult with a web designer for these things, a good Web Design company will consult you for your branding preferences, images, text etc. They can offer photography services to capture your business. They can write sales copy that will help your site rank well on Google to get more attention from potential customers. They can set up SEO and PPC Ads to drive leads to your site and build your site’s strength. When you’re stuck in the process of presenting your business online, your Web Designer will be there to help you along the way with expert advice.
Bottom Line
If you really have no other choice but to go the DIY route, having a site is always better than having NO site.
Having a website
costs money no matter which way you split it.
Maybe you don’t have money to pay someone right now, and a DIY site seems like your only option.
We try to offer extremely affordable rates for businesses in any scenario. And most packages only require a small portion up front to get started on the design so you can pay off the site over the design process rather than all up front. We even offer an ongoing membership package where you pay
$225 per month for your site which includes the design, hosting, set-up, maintenance and unlimited updates for the life of your website. We want to help you get found online so our goal is to work with you to make it possible regardless of your budget limitations.
Want to talk more?
Book a free consultation here!
