7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Make Your Own Website
As rapid digitalisation and the need for a website to advertise your business continues to increase, so does the attitude that anybody can execute this.
Yes, there is an endless supply of online learning, YouTube tutorials, blogs, free website building tools and more. However, how true is it that you can build your own website quickly and cost-effectively or manage your own SEO work with winning results?
It is a common conception that anyone can learn to build a website online. Cheaper alternatives for quick websites may sound more appealing than paying for a professional service, but our experts disagree.
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7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Build Your Own Website
1. Cost
Many template style website builders may advertise free or low-cost services, and this can often be increased in price with additional features, plugins and web hosting services. Also, time is a precious asset and the time involved in personally building and maintaining your site comes at a significant indirect cost to your business.
A ‘free’ website may actually mean that you start on a free trial before becoming subject to monthly charges or that your entire site is covered with promotional advertising unless you upgrade to an expensive hosting package.
2. Appearance
A website is an online representation of your business and good first impressions are critical. For potential customers to see you as an appealing company, it is essential that the look and feel of your website convey your credibility as a professional business.
Using ‘one-size-fits-all templates’ for self-build sites often result in amateurly designed appearances and are not compatible with multiple devices. Responsive web design is tricky (websites that adapt to numerous screen sizes – without the website looking ‘broken’ on any of them).
The templates are difficult to navigate and appear identical to thousands of other online websites using the same generic template.
With minimal options for customising and enhancing the appearance, your basic templated site will leave you failing to stand out and unable get ahead of your competition.
3. Functionality
Cross-browser compatibility can be largely affected if not built correctly. A website on an iMac in Safari might not necessarily look the same as on a Windows 10 in the Chrome browser. These are browser inconsistencies that a professional web development agency takes into account.
Self-build websites can contain serious design flaws that will end up with complications in the long run. Websites with shared hosting – the standard for DIY site builders – are typically impacted by slow page loading times, causing potential customers to leave your website due to the poor user experience.
4. Support
Website support will not typically be included, meaning that when you inevitably experience a problem with your site and require assistance, it’s going to cost you extra money or take up a significant amount of your time researching solutions online.
As well as this, you will not be receiving a personal service – the most common scenario you can expect to encounter when you come to seek help is being put through to an international call centre or automated service. Resulting in long waiting times for any website changes or fixes to be carried out and a waste of valuable time and money for you.
5. Time
One of the primary reasons companies outsource various marketing functions is to save time and focus on the core business operations. The idea of getting your site built as soon as possible is appealing. However, a quality website takes time to design and create.
Creating an effective website is hard work – it requires UX design and SEO expertise at the very least, and for this reason, self-builds are incredibly inefficient. Instead of investing all of your energy in building a website, your restricted time is much better spent doing what you do best – running your business.
6. Experience
Building a successful website requires a wide range of skills, and most likely, it is impossible for you to become an expert at every stage of the process. That’s why when it comes to one of your key marketing tools (your website), it pays off in the long run to hire professionals.
An agency has usually built hundreds of websites. Digital marketing experts know what works and what rules must be followed in web design, content creation, functionality and much more.
With experience and insight, Grofuse can offer you a professional design, expert guidance and insight, face-to-face support, control of your content, and above all else, a high-quality website that generates high traffic and, ultimately, conversions to pay for itself quickly and increase profits.
7. On-site SEO
Being knowledgeable about keywords, content, meta tags and backlinks does not make you an SEO expert, it is much more complex than that. There are various tasks associated with SEO, these include:
- Knowledge and expertise
An SEO expert has the knowledge and expertise in best practices to structure your site. An SEO specialist will conduct an audit and advanced keyword research on what users are searching for in your industry.
- Keeping up with changes
Google is reported to change its search algorithm around 500 to 600 times each year. That makes it difficult for busy business owners to focus on tracking and implementing changes as fast as necessary. However, an SEO expert will know precisely when new updates are due to kick in and ensure that they are implemented.
- Save time
Attempting to do your own SEO is hugely time-consuming as it is a continuous, consistent process – allocate your valuable time in your areas of expertise instead. Our experts optimise every page of your website to target prospective customers at different stages of the buying cycle.
- Analysis of results
Regardless of how well your website is optimised, SEO serves you best if you analyse your results regularly and make adjustments accordingly. Metrics that require ongoing monitoring include:
– The number of visitors from search engines.
– Ranking of key terms in search engines.
– Conversion rates through search queries.
To summarise, you cannot match professional UX design, website development, content creation, technical SEO and ongoing SEO. The vast number of sites online today means that any new website faces fierce competition for traffic. To keep ahead of your competitors, it is critical to have a high-quality website site that reaches your target audience. Businesses with subpar websites will lose credibility, authority and customers.