Before going any further, let us agree on one thing. The main goals of your website are to leave a lasting impression, to educate, and to inform your prospective clients. To achieve this, you need a functional and high-quality website.
Sure, you can sign up for an online web design course or use one of the many do-it-yourself web page building solutions you can find online. You can even ask your neighborhood whiz kid to put together a decent website for you. It may only cost you some pizza money.
However, you need to understand that what you are investing in is a website that will showcase your business to your customers. You can best do that with a website that provides a great user experience, reliability, and design.
Having said that, here are some factors to consider when choosing between do-it-yourself websites and professionally made ones:
1. Are you a professional web designer or have training and experience creating one?
The answer is obvious. You are not. Otherwise, you should have proceeded to build it on your own without considering getting the help of a pro, right? Not to be sarcastic, but just to drive home an important point. For your business to succeed, you need to focus on the things that matter most.
You need to spend as much time as possible on tasks directly related to growing your business and making it profitable. You will only waste time and resources and possibly your bottom line by spending time on matters that are not the key focus of the business, such as building a website.
Don’t hire someone you can’t fire!
By hiring an experienced professional web designer, you are investing not only in your website’s user experience. You’re also taking advantage of the pro’s content management experience, as well as best practices in SEO and web development.
Similar to becoming a good doctor or mechanic, it takes many years to hone the skills of a reputable web designer and developer. You may be tempted to hire a relative or a neighbor who may have some website development experience. But, as an expert so aptly put it: “You should never hire someone you cannot fire.”
2. Do you have enough budget set aside?
While a reliable and high-quality website may not necessarily create a big hole in your pocket, it is going to cost some decent money. Working with a professional directly or finding helpful resources at the local chamber of commerce in your area may help you save money as many of them may recommend local web development firms they may have worked with in the past. This can give you a good head start in coming up with the ideal website that will propel your online presence.
Now, if you are not sure if you can afford it, think of it this way. It is just a matter of setting your priorities. You can always find ways to fund the things that truly matter to you and your business – such as your website.
3. Can you fix it if it breaks?
Okay! So you are not a web design professional, and you have no budget for a pro to develop your website. Do you think it’s a good enough reason to embark on a website design do-it-yourself project? You may have a point. But, you must answer this one very important question. What will you do if your DIY website breaks or encounters problems?
With their many years of experience, you can expect professionals to have the answer to any issue you may encounter. After all, they deal with these kinds of problems all the time. They have enough experience to spot and address these issues.
Imagine if your website is full of loading issues and various errors. Do you think your visitors will stay or wait? No, they will leave your site as fast as they see an error! No one will spend time on an error-laden website.
Sure, you can hire an expert to fix your DIY website. But, at this point, it will be quite expensive. First, they’ll need time to figure out the website you built. They will then thoroughly search for the causes of the problems. Imagine how much labor that will entail, which, as expected, will make the project more expensive.
To sum it up, it will only be a lot more expensive than having an expert build your website from scratch.
4. Do you have your customers’ best interests in mind?
Here is the final thing to consider, and it can also be the toughest to answer: Do you have the best interests of your customers at heart?
As mentioned, when building your site, you need to consider a lot of things. These include loading time, user experience (buttons, links, and navigation, among others), the web browser used, as well as the content strategy. These are all factors that can either repel or make your site visitors stay. Professional web designers always have these things in mind when building websites.
It is not so much a matter of “can I” but “should I?”
Yes, building a website DIY-style and achieving success is possible. But, even if you have the capability, you should still ask yourself: Should I? Or, Is it worth it?
When working with an experienced and reputable web designer, you are hiring someone who not only has the means to design and create a professional-looking website. They can also provide you with a website with complete working functionality. To put it simply, you are employing the contractor’s experience and knowledge.
Conclusion
Not everyone who goes the DIY route fails. Some lucky ones succeed. After all, even the best web designers cannot guarantee your online success. However, if you are considering going for a do-it-yourself web design, bear in mind that the odds are not in your favor.
Let experts do the job for you to increase your chances of success. Contact us to learn how.
