“They’re my competitor!” I exclaimed jokingly when my friend and future client asked me if she should hire a website designer like me or use a website builder like Wix or Squarespace. “Of course, I’m going to say hire me instead.” Looking back, I should’ve asked her a few more questions to see what her priorities and goals were. She was just in the beginning stages of starting her business. As with anyone venturing into entrepreneurship, she was facing the back and forth dilemma of time vs. money. Only she could determine how much her time away from her family and doing more exciting things than learning how to build a website was worth.
However, I wish I would have given her a more realistic expectation of what it takes to launch the website she envisioned for her brand. Topics such as mobile/responsive design, hosting, website speed, website branding, analytics, and search engine optimization all play into the equation when determining whether to build a website yourself through a DIY website builder, install a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, or hire a web designer. Arm yourself with this information, and you’ll have the answer of whether you can make a website yourself, or hire a designer.
Option #1: Use a DIY Website Builder
If you have limited design and coding knowledge, a website builder like Wix or Squarespace is the way to go. Gone are the days* where websites from these builders came out looking like a Myspace or Geosites page (God, I feel old!). Now there are so many well designed themes to choose from. All you have to do is plug your content and images in and you have a sleek new website to promote your business!
*There are still some website hosts who offer their own proprietary website builders as an incentive to sign up for their hosting service. A lot of these website builders have not had their interface or themes updated in YEARS. These interfaces are clunky and WILL make your site look like it’s from the early 00’s. Beware!
Limited Features
The entry fees to setting up a website builder is pretty low, sometimes even free. However, if you want to use any additional features, the price increases accordingly. For example, if you wanted your own custom domain name (www.example.com) instead of a subdomain on their system (www.example.wix.com/mywebsite), many of these website builders will charge you an extra monthly fee.
On top of that, if you ever decided that the extra features that you need are getting to be too expensive and you want to move to a different platform, the migration process is pretty lengthy. There are simple ways to migrate your blog posts, however the content pages (ex. About Me Contact, Product pages, etc.) that you want to move to your new platform have to be moved manually by copy and pasting.
The work that you have done on these website builders are not files that you can manually download and move to a new server or platform easily.
Design & Branding
If you have a specific look for your website in mind, finding a theme to match your brand might not be the easiest. You may see that there is a theme that looks great but the way that is organized does not match your content. Or maybe the font that the theme uses for the headings is not a font that matches your logo. In order to change these things a lot of times it becomes much more of a hassle to find a workaround then it is to just comply with the way that the theme is built. As a result, the overall aesthetic of your website doesn’t match your brand as well as you would like.
For example, CLA Events, wanted an organized portfolio that could display the many gorgeous weddings she had helped plan. She also needed a way to give credit to the image’s photographer. The Wix theme she had chosen didn’t have an easy way to make her vision a reality. And when she finally got the portfolio looking somewhat similar, the formatting broke when it switched to mobile.
Mobile Functionality
This day in age, the majority of people visit websites through their mobile device. Your website has to be designed with mobile first in mind. That means having a design that has large clickable links, fast load times, and easy to read fonts (just to name a few).
Finding themes that are mobile-friendly can be time-consuming. And once you have your content and images loaded sometimes it may look great on a computer but once it’s loaded on cell phone or tablet, the design breaks.
Hopefully that doesn’t happen on your website, however if you want to avoid some of these drawbacks there is another option:
Option #2: Use a Content Management System
For entrepreneurs and business owners who have long-term goals and a little bit of capital to spend up front on hosting and a domain name, a content management system such as WordPress or Drupal would be a great investment. If you have a little bit more knowledge about website hosting, basic search engine optimization, and a little bit of coding, this may be the path for you. There will be a big time investment up front, but in the long run you’ll be saving a lot of money.
However, just like with the website builders there are a few drawbacks:
Navigation and User Experience (UX)
The knowledge web designers have extend beyond coding and graphics. The experience they bring to a project is invaluable. (This is NOT me tooting my own horn! With any skill, a professional will know the ins and outs better than anyone who has only built a website on the side as a hobby).
There are many best practices that do not affect a website’s functionality but make user experience better. User experience is directly related to conversion rate. If a user has a hard time navigating your website or feels like your website is clunky, the likelihood of them filling out a contact form or buying your product, decreases.
Good UX involves market research, product development, strategy, and design to find out what the user wants or needs. Here’s a TINY list of what user experience could entail:
- Should your logo link to the homepage? if so, do you really need a home link in your main navigation?
- Should the pop-up to my lead magnet appear after 10 seconds? On page exit? Not at all?
- Are my users concerned about the security of their information on my website? How do I alleviate that fear?
- How can I guide my users through the navigation of my website to the end of my sales funnel?
Website Hosting
A basic understanding of managing your website hosting is a must for this option. If there is ever an issue with your website you want to know if it is caused by the files that you’ve uploaded or something more advanced due to a server incompatibility.
For example, one of my clients spent hours trying to upload a picture but she kept getting an error when she tried to upload it to WordPress. The error message did not specify what the issue was so it was impossible for her to troubleshoot and solve the problem.
When I looked at her file size, I was able to quickly determine that we had to contact her hosting provider in order to increase her PHP max file upload size. For someone who is not as knowledgeable with the settings of different hosting services, it would be hard to determine whether the issue stemmed from the file or the hosting.
If you are looking for reliable hosting, I can’t recommend Nexcess Managed WP Hosting enough (affiliate link). I’ve been using their service for years and their customer service has always been helpful in troubleshooting.
SEO & Analytics
Websites aren’t just what you see on your screen. In order to attract the right potential clients, convert them into new clients, and grow your business, you must have data in order to improve the areas of this robust marketing tool. Understanding and implementing search engine optimization and installing an analytics tool gives the ability to identify and optimize the performance of your website.
Your website is a powerful sales and marketing tool that you have autonomous control over. A growth-driven design and continuous improvement of your website to increase profitability can only happen when you have the historical data to back up your decisions.
Option #3: Hire a Website Designer
This last option is for business owners who don’t have a lot of time to learn the skills needed in the previous options. It requires a lot more capital up front but the time saved and a final product that fits your brand will be worth it if you hire a web designer who understands your needs and goals.
Conclusion
All three of these options are a great way to get your website up and running to start building your reputation as a business. It all depends on your level of expertise with design and coding, time constraints, and capital. If you’re just starting out in your business, you can always start with a website builder to make your information public and start collecting email addresses. Then when you’re ready, you can switch to a more robust website, either when you have more time or money.
Understanding all the aspects of creating a website, such as: design, mobile, site speed, web hosting, UX, SEO & analytics, is necessary to make an educated decision on what is best in your journey of entrepreneurship.
Do you already have a website? Let me know in the comments!
If you are an entrepreneur or business owner who is looking for option number three, fill out the following and I will get back to you as soon as possible so we can discuss your upcoming project.
