Can you imagine designing and building your own car from scratch? Laying out the look and feel, putting all the pieces together, hoping that it’s safe enough to drive and also that it will last you a long time. After a while you might start to wonder why no one wants to go for a ride or why certain things aren’t working properly and also why it always needs service. That sounds insane doesn’t it?? Well that is exactly what do-it-yourself website building is. You might think that it will save you time and money, but this is wrong and absolutely terrible for your long-term goals on the web.
It is unlikely that a do-it-yourself website will be built and setup properly so that it has a chance to succeed on the modern day web. Most people are unaware of the damage these websites may have on their business which can take years to recover from. Google is penalizing websites all the time by lowering them in the search results or not even listing them because they aren’t up to their standards (and they change every day!). These standards are difficult for professional web designers to keep up with let alone a do-it-yourselfer. So why would you even consider doing this on your own??
Here are 5 reasons why doing your website yourself is a bad investment:
- The do-it-yourself website builder says it’s easy. They say they have everything you need but they are wrong and also haven’t guided you well enough so you can solve all the problems that eventually come to light. These companies are built on platforms that constantly need updating due to the changing nature of the web. These changes aren’t anything they can make easily to the thousands of websites built on them and a lot of times it’s you who needs to make the change! They assume you will be proactive enough to research everything you need to do to make your website ready for the modern day web but most people still forget things and hurt their chances of success.
- Let’s face it – your design sucks. I know some of you are creative and that’s great but there’s more to it than just being creative on the modern day web. User interface design is a complex problem and if a user starts feeling frustrated they leave. Attention to detail is so important and sends out the message that you care about your business and isn’t that how you want your customers to feel when they are on your website? For example: The images you choose (licensed of course!), the colour scheme, the layout and orientation of the menu (on mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop) and the structure of the content (and how much content!) are just a few factors that could make a user feel warm and fuzzy or annoyed and bored. Which feeling would you rather have about your brand??
- Your content isn’t sending the right message. Most do-it-yourselfers forget how vital content writing is to the success of the website. How well do you know your customer and are you really articulating the proper message to them in your content? The days of “BUY NOW” are over and users don’t want in-your-face messaging that they will ignore. You know your business better than anyone else but it’s important to teach the consumer “WHY” you are so great and most do-it-yourselfers forget this important factor.
- Your SEO isn’t even there or is wrong. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing your website with keywords so the search engines know how to index you properly in the search results. No SEO is like having the greatest product in the world that no one will ever hear about. In fact, why build a website at all if it’s not optimized correctly for SEO? Some do-it-yourselfers will do a bit of research and think they have an understanding of it but SEO is so vital and can hurt you for so long that it’s best kept in the hands of professionals.
- Site speed and SSL are a factor in success now. Google and the search engines want an efficient web space so they’ve cracked down on websites that aren’t secure and that are slow. The do-it-yourselfer can research these things but will be limited because they aren’t a web developer and lack knowledge and capabilities to configure settings on a server – this is where a professional web developer is qualified to help you achieve success. On the modern day web, users leave a site immediately if the site is slow to load and isn’t SSL (Secure Socket Layer). You can say good-bye to all of the potential customers lost!
Businesses need to wake up and realize professional web design is essential for success on the web. I’ve seen too many companies wasting away because they don’t allocate a part of their marketing budget to making sure they have the best website possible. I see companies spend thousands of dollars on an actual billboard that they can’t track and is purely a shot-in-the-dark branding opportunity instead of their most important marketing engine – their website!
A website professional is able to provide a tailored service to you and will teach you how to manage your website afterwards. This will save you more time than you can imagine.
If you truly believe your do-it-yourself website is up to snuff then send me your URL and I’ll review it for free so you can see for yourself how much your decision is hurting your chances to succeed on the web. I will give you my no BS review and if I’ve finally convinced you, we can fix the issues together so you can get back on track.
