DIY Websites: The Pros & Cons
Nowadays, most everyone expects a reputable business to have a website and we believe that any business can benefit from a website as long as it’s current, mobile-friendly, and meets modern web standards.
There are several factors that go into making a successful website, and while it may be tempting to create your own for free, there are many reasons why that isn’t always the best idea.
Poor First Impression
Your site is often the first experience a potential customer has with your business and an attractive, user-friendly design can make a powerful first impression and greatly enhance your site's performance. Free websites rarely offer this. They are set up as generic, fill-in-the-blanks templates created to fit the basic needs of any business, not necessarily yours. Sure, it will communicate your address, phone, and product or service but, most assuredly, important factors like site structure, design, usability, and content flow will be lacking.
Slow Or Inconsistent Load Times
Often free website platforms group many websites on the same server, making the websites slow. Statistics show that people will typically abandon a website within 3-5 seconds if it doesn’t load. Besides people dropping off because they are impatient, slow load times are also bad for SEO. I’ll talk more about SEO in a minute.
Free Can Actually Mean No Freedom
Often the trial is not really free
There can be hidden charges
They can shut down your website
They can place irrelevant advertisements on your website
They can make it difficult to move your information to a new site
Your information can be sold
You will likely have a subdomain attached
Malware can be distributed through your website
Poor or no analytics
Possibly not mobile friendly
And often free websites have limited templates, a restricted number of pages, few features, the list goes on and on.
Professional Website Development Means Better ROI
Website companies like ours have years of experience communicating your brand and service/product to the public in a psychologically successful and pleasing way. We know how many pages are necessary and build our websites on a platform that is responsive and expandable.
Today’s web-savvy consumers expect more. They can spot amateur websites a mile away and may associate that with inadequate or unprofessional products or services.
At Simply Online Marketing we can build any website. We also take into consideration the things that will make your website state-of-the-art. Those items include:
Professional design
Top-tier cloud hosting
Easy web editor
Faster loading time
Clear calls to action
Focus on user experience
Clear / professional images
Readable web fonts
Responsive design for mobile compatibility
Expandability
Set up with optimization in mind
Set up with a good foundation to work on getting in the maps section of Google
Set up with a good foundation to begin working on organic placement
Intentional keyword placement
Full training
Customer service
It’s ok to leave some things to the professionals, especially when those things can affect your business or brand. After all, you wouldn’t work on your new Subaru by yourself with no experience…you’d take it to the Subaru dealer. You wouldn’t fill your own cavity…you’d go to your trusted dentist.
The same is true for your website.
If you are in need of a website for your business or are considering updating an old outdated, or broken website, a free website is always an option but it probably isn’t the best option. Give Simply Online Marketing a call. We love doing this stuff and our experts will answer any questions you might have.