Why DIY Site Builders are Bad for Small Businesses
Do you need to build a website for your small business and are thinking about building one yourself?
If you don't have one yet, a website is very important for your business in this day and age. While it's common for most businesses to have a website these days, not everyone can build or maintain their own website. Even more common is the idea that you can DIY your business website. While it IS possible, it takes a lot of research as well as trial and error to build a functional, responsive website when you've never done it before.
If you want to find out why building a DIY website is a bad idea for your small business, read on.
1. It’s Not as Easy as It Looks
There are a lot of platforms with marketing that suggests that building your own website is an easy thing to do. They claim that you can build your website in a day or less without any technical knowledge, or with the help of AI. This is why so many people who don't know how to build a website choose to take the endeavor on themselves.
Unfortunately, once they get started people realize that it's not as easy as they thought it would be, especially without understanding the features that their website needs on the backend to function properly or the how to apply design principles in order to build a site that is both functional and appealing. They get stuck with a half-built website that they don't know how to finish.
2. There Are Always Hidden Fees
No matter what platform you use to build your DIY website, you're going to run into hidden fees. One of the most frustrating things people face when they're trying to design a website for their business is the expenses that they didn't realize they'd have to pay.
It's easy to get excited when you find a platform that advertises itself as an all-in-one easy solution for building a website but many people don't realize is that they also have to invest in things like domain names, hosting and SSL certificates.
Many people also don’t realize they have to renew their subscriptions every year to keep their websites live. And if they need help with updates, the fees are considerably high.
These hidden costs add up over time. In the long run, it's more affordable for most businesses to hire professional help to build their website.
3. You Get What You Pay For
Your business is not going to stand out from the competition if it doesn't have effective branding. It's hard to have a brand that looks professional and stands out when your business' website looks like it was built by a high school student.
Most people who choose to build their websites themselves are not experienced designers. They don't bother to understand design principles or color theory, which results in websites that are either hard to read or hard to trust.
It’s also easy to fall for low prices. Sure, building a website might be slightly less expensive than hiring a professional, but you get what you pay for. Those low prices tend to come with basic features and capabilities that won’t deliver the results you need to grow your business online.
4. It’s Easy to Waste Time Learning How to Navigate New Platforms
Even if tools like website builders make it easy to drag and drop your needed elements onto a digital canvas to construct elements of your site, there are still a lot of important things you need to know how to do.
For example, if you choose to build a website on WordPress and decide to buy a theme, you still have to know how to download and install the theme. You also need to know how to navigate the WordPress platform to install add-ons like spam blockers and contact forms.
If you don't have knowledge of how to do these things, you'll have to spend time learning how to do them before you can launch your website.
5. You Won’t Create the Right First Impression
As your business's most important advertising tool, your website should represent your business in the best light. It's the place that your potential customers will find out about important things, such as your stories, services, products, and where you're located.
This is why, when it comes to your website, first impressions are more important than ever. Before a potential client even navigates beyond the homepage of your website, they're going to form an opinion about your brand. This is also why it's essential that you grab their attention within the first couple of seconds of getting on your website.
Professional web designers know exactly how to do this. On the other hand, those who choose to build their own websites will have to find out how to do this through trial and error. In the meantime, they'll probably lose many valuable leads.
6. You Won’t Have Search Visibility
Most people who are trying to design a business website on their own think that the actual design of the website is all that matters. What they don't realize is that this is only one of many important things that you need to know how to do if you want to build the best possible website.
Something that is equally important as designing a website is search engine optimization (SEO). Though there are website builders that claim to have SEO tools, these tools are usually very basic. They do not offer the types of features that a small business needs.
Skilled professionals know how to do things like as writing search-friendly content or work with professional copywriters for the websites they're building. This is how you make sure that potential customers can find your business online.
7. You Won’t Have Support While Building a Small Business Website
Did you know that people who design their own websites spend less than a quarter of their time actually designing it and more than 3/4 of their time troubleshooting problems that come up? Small business owners who decide to build their own websites don't take this into account.
Only afterward, when it's too late, do they realize how hard it is to find the support they need when technical issues arise. If you're building your website on your own, expect glitches and be ready to spend endless hours trying to figure things out that go wrong.
8. Your Site Won’t Be Optimized
Small businesses need websites that are secure and that have performance speeds that are fast enough to handle high traffic volumes. One of the worst things that can happen to your website is that it crashes at a key moment when you need it the most, whether it's on launch day or a special holiday sale.
This is why professionals offer technical solutions to these problems by optimizing your website. By hiring a pro, you'll have peace of mind in knowing that your website will be dependable. You'll also have to figure out confusing details, like SSL certificates and domains.
9. The Site Will Be Costly to Make Changes To
Even people who have successfully built their own website realize afterwards how hard it is to make changes to the site they've made. Whether it's based on changes in business needs or new integrations and features that you've discovered over time, every website will need to be updated at some point. That means that in addition to running your actual business, you'll need to pay for new tools, like Wordpress plug-ins, to create a seamless experience for your website visitors.
10. Your Time Is Better Spent on Other Things
Chances are that you've got a long list of things that you need to get done every day when you show up for work. If you're a small business owner, you should be focusing your energy on growing your business.
If you decide to build your website, you'll be distracting yourself from the things that matter most to you and your business.
11. The Pros Do It Better
A web designer who knows what they're doing can take the burden off your shoulders. You'll have less to worry about, since you can put your trust in somebody who has many years of training and experience in building websites.
You'll also save money in the long run because professionals know how to build a website that can convert visitors into paying customers.
Don’t Waste Time Building Your Own Website
If you've been thinking about building a small business website on your own, keep in mind that it's not as easy to do as it might seem. You'll have to pay hidden fees, and will probably have to spend many hours troubleshooting problems that will come up. Why not hire professional help to build your website instead?
If you’re interested in learning more about the advantages of hiring our agency to build your website, send us a message!
If you don't have one yet, a website is very important for your business in this day and age. While it's common for most businesses to have a website these days, not everyone can build or maintain their own website. Even more common is the idea that you can DIY your business website. While it IS possible, it takes a lot of research as well as trial and error to build a functional, responsive website when you've never done it before.
If you want to find out why building a DIY website is a bad idea for your small business, read on.
1. It’s Not as Easy as It Looks
There are a lot of platforms with marketing that suggests that building your own website is an easy thing to do. They claim that you can build your website in a day or less without any technical knowledge, or with the help of AI. This is why so many people who don't know how to build a website choose to take the endeavor on themselves.
Unfortunately, once they get started people realize that it's not as easy as they thought it would be, especially without understanding the features that their website needs on the backend to function properly or the how to apply design principles in order to build a site that is both functional and appealing. They get stuck with a half-built website that they don't know how to finish.
2. There Are Always Hidden Fees
No matter what platform you use to build your DIY website, you're going to run into hidden fees. One of the most frustrating things people face when they're trying to design a website for their business is the expenses that they didn't realize they'd have to pay.
It's easy to get excited when you find a platform that advertises itself as an all-in-one easy solution for building a website but many people don't realize is that they also have to invest in things like domain names, hosting and SSL certificates.
Many people also don’t realize they have to renew their subscriptions every year to keep their websites live. And if they need help with updates, the fees are considerably high.
These hidden costs add up over time. In the long run, it's more affordable for most businesses to hire professional help to build their website.
3. You Get What You Pay For
Your business is not going to stand out from the competition if it doesn't have effective branding. It's hard to have a brand that looks professional and stands out when your business' website looks like it was built by a high school student.
Most people who choose to build their websites themselves are not experienced designers. They don't bother to understand design principles or color theory, which results in websites that are either hard to read or hard to trust.
It’s also easy to fall for low prices. Sure, building a website might be slightly less expensive than hiring a professional, but you get what you pay for. Those low prices tend to come with basic features and capabilities that won’t deliver the results you need to grow your business online.
4. It’s Easy to Waste Time Learning How to Navigate New Platforms
Even if tools like website builders make it easy to drag and drop your needed elements onto a digital canvas to construct elements of your site, there are still a lot of important things you need to know how to do.
For example, if you choose to build a website on WordPress and decide to buy a theme, you still have to know how to download and install the theme. You also need to know how to navigate the WordPress platform to install add-ons like spam blockers and contact forms.
If you don't have knowledge of how to do these things, you'll have to spend time learning how to do them before you can launch your website.
5. You Won’t Create the Right First Impression
As your business's most important advertising tool, your website should represent your business in the best light. It's the place that your potential customers will find out about important things, such as your stories, services, products, and where you're located.
This is why, when it comes to your website, first impressions are more important than ever. Before a potential client even navigates beyond the homepage of your website, they're going to form an opinion about your brand. This is also why it's essential that you grab their attention within the first couple of seconds of getting on your website.
Professional web designers know exactly how to do this. On the other hand, those who choose to build their own websites will have to find out how to do this through trial and error. In the meantime, they'll probably lose many valuable leads.
6. You Won’t Have Search Visibility
Most people who are trying to design a business website on their own think that the actual design of the website is all that matters. What they don't realize is that this is only one of many important things that you need to know how to do if you want to build the best possible website.
Something that is equally important as designing a website is search engine optimization (SEO). Though there are website builders that claim to have SEO tools, these tools are usually very basic. They do not offer the types of features that a small business needs.
Skilled professionals know how to do things like as writing search-friendly content or work with professional copywriters for the websites they're building. This is how you make sure that potential customers can find your business online.
7. You Won’t Have Support While Building a Small Business Website
Did you know that people who design their own websites spend less than a quarter of their time actually designing it and more than 3/4 of their time troubleshooting problems that come up? Small business owners who decide to build their own websites don't take this into account.
Only afterward, when it's too late, do they realize how hard it is to find the support they need when technical issues arise. If you're building your website on your own, expect glitches and be ready to spend endless hours trying to figure things out that go wrong.
8. Your Site Won’t Be Optimized
Small businesses need websites that are secure and that have performance speeds that are fast enough to handle high traffic volumes. One of the worst things that can happen to your website is that it crashes at a key moment when you need it the most, whether it's on launch day or a special holiday sale.
This is why professionals offer technical solutions to these problems by optimizing your website. By hiring a pro, you'll have peace of mind in knowing that your website will be dependable. You'll also have to figure out confusing details, like SSL certificates and domains.
9. The Site Will Be Costly to Make Changes To
Even people who have successfully built their own website realize afterwards how hard it is to make changes to the site they've made. Whether it's based on changes in business needs or new integrations and features that you've discovered over time, every website will need to be updated at some point. That means that in addition to running your actual business, you'll need to pay for new tools, like Wordpress plug-ins, to create a seamless experience for your website visitors.
10. Your Time Is Better Spent on Other Things
Chances are that you've got a long list of things that you need to get done every day when you show up for work. If you're a small business owner, you should be focusing your energy on growing your business.
If you decide to build your website, you'll be distracting yourself from the things that matter most to you and your business.
11. The Pros Do It Better
A web designer who knows what they're doing can take the burden off your shoulders. You'll have less to worry about, since you can put your trust in somebody who has many years of training and experience in building websites.
You'll also save money in the long run because professionals know how to build a website that can convert visitors into paying customers.
Don’t Waste Time Building Your Own Website
If you've been thinking about building a small business website on your own, keep in mind that it's not as easy to do as it might seem. You'll have to pay hidden fees, and will probably have to spend many hours troubleshooting problems that will come up. Why not hire professional help to build your website instead?
If you’re interested in learning more about the advantages of hiring our agency to build your website, send us a message!