Reasons you Shouldn’t Build Your Own Website
If your business doesn’t have a website or it’s not up to date then you are seriously harming your business. Did you know that 78% of Internet users conduct product research online – even while they stand in the physical store. Your website matters and it’s usually going to be the first point of contact for most people interested in your goods or services. Your website is also the new business card with around 44% of online purchases starting on a search engine. With access to the internet in almost everyone’s pocket its important to get your brand online.
Unfortunately the price of a website can be intimidating and as a small business owner it can be tempting to try to save money by making your own website. The question “Should I build my own website” seems to come up a lot among small business owners. In reality you can build your own website but this doesn’t mean you should. The Pinterest board Nailed It is an excellent example of why you shouldn’t do something just because you can.
You don’t want to end up with the cakes on the right. First impressions count and your website has to tick a lot of boxes, some you probably aren’t even aware of. Here are some of the major reasons you shouldn’t make your own website and you should pay an expert.
User Interface is Important
Did you know? That according to Forrester 49% of sites fail to comply with basic usability principles, and 50% of online sales are lost because visitors can’t find content. Your website plays a major role in the sales and conversion process and a clunky UI can lead to higher bounce rates which leads to a lost revenue. The idea of creating your own website might seem exciting and you could have some great designs in your head but the chances are you haven’t fully considered user interface.
Without extensive research on the latest trends then you won’t be more knowledgeable than a web design expert. We work with websites everyday and we know what works, how to get results and how to ensure the sales process is streamlined for your website. If your website looks great but doesn’t function then you aren’t going to get the results. It’s also important to consider page speed in your web design process. Around 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less and 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. If you do decide to make your own website then you should certainly keep this in mind.
Responsive Web Design
Back in 2012 around 93% of small business websites were not mobile compatible and would not render successfully on mobile devices or smartphones. While we hope that this number has reduced it’s rather disappointing to see that a lot of websites are still not responsive. Your website is more likely to be seen on a mobile device than on a desktop computer so you need to start considering different screen sizes when you design your website. With so many different smartphones each with their own resolution and screen size it can seem almost impossible to make your website look great across them all.
If you make your own website then it can take you hours to learn how to make a website fully responsive. When you pay an expert they will ensure that the website is built with different screen sizes in mind. This will be incorporated into the initial design process and ensures that your website looks great on any size screen – saving you a lot of time and stress.
Search Engine Optimization
A lot of people debate about the value of search engine optimization (also known as SEO) but here are the facts:
- Google gets over 100 billion searches a month worldwide.
- 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within 5 miles.
- The top 5 results on Google get 75% of the clicks.
With the above facts taken into consideration it’s important to realise that you can’t just ignore the search engines and expect people to find your website. Your business could have the nicest website in the world but without SEO you aren’t going to drive the traffic and see the results. The internet is an extremely competitive market place but it’s also vital for your business survival. When you make your own website it’s very often that you won’t give SEO the time and consideration it needs. When you work with a web design agency they will take SEO into consideration from the start.
We highly value SEO and have a marketing team that work on your website throughout the design process to ensure that the website is fully optimized. Our experts know the latest in SEO updates and news and have skills that you just can’t provide yourself if you decide to make your own website.
Paying an Expert Saves you Time
There’s an old saying ‘Time is money’ and when it comes to business it’s definitely worth considering. Building your own website can take a lot more time than you realise – It’s not as simple as just throwing some text and images together. You need to consider the layout from both a design and user experience point of view, you’ll need to test the website for security and responsiveness, you’ll need to consider the fonts, colours, images (which need optimizing), SEO – the list goes on.
Paying an expert will save you a lot of time. The design process, before you even touch a mouse, should take you hours with extensive market research of your competitors and related brands. Even the simple drag and drop DIY builders with templates require some time to learn what to do and this time could be better spent elsewhere. Work out your hourly rate and then consider how long it would take you to build your own website. If this number is substantially lower than what you’ve been quoted then you’ve probably miscalculated the time it will take to build the website. Just consider how you could use this time elsewhere in your business, without learning a new language, and you’ll probably realise that price for web design isn’t actually that bad.
Technical Support
If you use a DIY website builder then you’re probably under the illusion that web design is easy. You’ll simply drag and drop some images, write a couple of lines of text and it will be finished before the afternoon. Unfortunately this isn’t the case and if you decide to make your own website using a drag and drop builder then there are two possibilities:
- The builder is simple to use but extremely limited
- The builder is flexible but more complicated to use
If the builder is simple to use then you’re limited by what you can achieve with your website. If the builder is complicated then you’re probably going to run into some problems. These problems require solutions which means you’re going to have to either figure it out or ask someone who knows what they are doing. Unfortunately the support for a lot of drag and drop page builders is lacking. You can always pay a web designer to fix the specific issue but this can quickly add up.
By paying a web design agency you are avoiding all the technical aspects of web design and simply give the web design company your ideas and designs and they’ll bring it to life. Just like how you’ll tell an architect how you want your house to be built the web designer will work with your design and mould it to become a fully functional website. The best part is any technical problems are going to be solved by the web design agency and won’t leave you pulling your hair out looking for a solution.
Cheaper in the Long Run
The initial quote from a web design company can seem expensive. Even when paid across 12 months using finance it’s a much bigger number than the simple DIY page builders that can be as cheap as $10 per month. Unfortunately these page builders require you to pay this amount every month for the rest of the time you’ll be using them. This means paying the initial cost for expert web design can actually be cheaper over the long run.
The other problem with a monthly paid service is that you usually don’t own the website. When you buy a website from a professional company it’s usually given to you and you are free to make changes, move it between hosts and more. When you use a page builder the minute you stop paying you’ll lose your website. You don’t have the option to move hosts and you’re tied down. If they do something you dislike or up the price then you’ll be hesitant to move. The unfortunate truth is when you decide to move to a cheaper provider you’ll have to start all over again with a blank canvas.
More Flexible than DIY
The simple page builders that don’t cost much in money or time are usually extremely limited. You might have an idea for a website in your head but when you start making your own website you’ll quickly realise that it’s not as easy as you thought and some aspects of your initial design will become lost. You can put the time and effort into learning how to make exactly what you wanted but this can quickly become confusing and you’ll lose hours on beginner code websites before you get to the juicy stuff.
Paying a professional web design company opens up their skill set to you. This will drastically increase the complexity of your website and will allow you to put your design from your head onto the web without any compromises. You wouldn’t build your own house (or at least I wouldn’t) without getting an expert builder to work closely with. your business website should be treated the same way.
Experience and Care
Web designers have extensive experience and love what they do. Every website is their own work and like an artist they take great pride in each project and deliver to the best of their abilities. A good web designer will care about your business as much as you do because they want to see their website deliver results. Since they attach their name to your website how your business performs will directly effect how well their business performs.
The knowledge that a web designer has will easily eclipse your own knowledge on the subject and it makes them a much better choice to design your website. If you make your own website it might look good but unless you’ve put extensive thought into user experience, SEO and responsiveness then it’s probably going to have an area it could have been improved on. This is where the experience of a good web design team can be invaluable.
If our reasons have convinced you that building your own website isn’t a good idea then talk to us. Our team work closely with you to bring your designs to life. If you already have a website then let us take a look and suggest improvements – an outdated website can even be more damaging than a lack of a website.
