The Pros and Cons of DIY Website vs. Professionally Developed
What is the right path for your business?
So every business usually has to answer a similar question whether you are a new business or been around a while. At some point you should be asking yourself “I need a new website” or “I have out grown my current site” or “My site is out dated”. So do you try to build it yourself or hire a professional?” We feel if you are serious about your business do not leave this task to DIY systems. But we will say there are Pros and Cons to both and depending on what stage your business is at maybe a DIY is the right path for your business.
What are the costs associated?
All the big name web hosting companies can offer web hosting at extremely cheap prices and most of the time these come with the option of utilizing their proprietary website site builder. Now I would love to put some claims to the test such as “your website is up in an hour”, (I hate this claim) it certainly devalues the amount of time it takes to get your website done right. BUT could you have a base starting point with a website builder in an hour, more than likely you will be on your way to having a web presence. Most large companies can offer this service from anywhere from $4 – $10 a month. They have the benefit of offering lower prices because they deal in bulk. On the other hand if you decide to outsource to a professional designer the costs would be much more but as the saying goes you get what you pay for. Typical web design runs from $2 -$10K depending on your needs. I have had clients who got a quote from local agencies and got a price of $30K for a fairly small site build. Depending on who you hire a local independent might charge $75 -$100 an hour depending on their experience. An agency would charge $125 – $200 an hour. For a small site you are looking at 20 – 40 hours of project time. You might want to consider that the cost associated are more than just time designing and development. It would also consider review meetings, revisions, research and other elements.
So is it really worth it?
The question here should be is your business worth it? If you operate a blog, hobby site, small ma and pa site maybe the website builder is for you. You are probably not expecting a ton a traffic you just need a place online people can get a address or phone number. You have small needs and small expectations. You may have a small budget too. Or you may be a start-up that is growing slowly. You understand a professional site is worth the investment but there is really no money in the budget.Maybe after the first year you can re-evaluate and look into a bigger more professional presence.
On the flip side if you are starting with some capital to build your business and you want to start off on the right foot going with a professional is your best option. In most scenarios having a professional build your site means more than just a site. Your web company should look into who is your target market (age and gender), what are the goals of the site, what are the most popular keywords which has a direct impact on page naming and structure, all the back-end coding to make sure you jump start your search rankings in the right direction. The list goes on and on… Any professional worth a damn is gathering all this information from you to use in the build process. Make sure you pick the right one.
Here is a short list of pros and cons when considering a web builder.
PROS
Pro: You Can Do It Yourself
Pro: Tools Are Relatively Inexpensive
Pro: Everything You Need Comes Packaged
Pro: No Coding Knowledge is Needed
Pro: It’s Fast
CONS
Con: Features Are Somewhat Limited
Con: Budget for Up charges
Con: You Will Probably Have to Work from a Template
Con: What You See is What You Get
Con: SEO Options Can Be Limited
Our Conclusion: Not Surprising I am Sure.
So I am sure it is not going to be a big surprise we are anti-DIY but to be fair there are still PROS and CONS of using a DIY system like Godaddy, Bluehost, WIX and 1&1
We feel it has never been more important for businesses to shy away from DIY website builders. Business competition is fierce no matter what industry you are in and if you rely on services like Godaddy, Bluehost, WIX and 1&1 to build your own site you will continue to feel a false sense of completion when in reality the work hasn’t even begun. For Nieto Creative success does not come from the completion of the site but the performance of the site and how many visitors (or paying customers) it drives to your front door.
Businesses need more than a website builder, they need a web and SEO expert if they are serious about their company and it’s growth. Here is a thought…If you really want to build your business tap into the thousands of monthly searches of potential customers looking for you in your local area. It is very likely without the proper training and experience you will never be present enough for them to see you in a DIY situation. If they do you have a very small window to grab a website visitor, if for a second they feel like your web presence doesn’t convey the professionalism most brand sites have you will lose them. So do not half-ass this part of your business, your website could and SHOULD BE your biggest growth asset.
Remember this is an investment not an expense. Start now, be consistent, be strategic. Good luck!