Lately, marketing for website development has spiked for the do-it-yourself audience.
You know – those people who like to tackle projects themselves before they hire someone to do a professional job for them, because afterall how hard could it be?
The “I can do that!” mentality has grown, and now has spread to the business model in different ways.
Technology, with all of the gadgets in every hand and internet google searches, has produced a market for those who would rather just create their own website for their business.
So, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons for this consideration and your business.
THE PROS
* Quick setup. Generating the content you want comes at the click of a few buttons, usually through a hosting and domain provider. They are now selling the option to create a DIY website through content builders that you pay a monthly fee to use.
* Content can be created with themes which are easily pasted onto your pages with stock imagery and sometimes content that you can cut and paste from documents or other sources you use. Many small businesses use general stock photography instead of photos that look like they came from your phone or social blog.
* IF you have the designers eye and have at a minimum photo editing software, experience with some programming language creation like HTML, stylesheets, scripting languages and the latest version control capabilities then you are well on your way to customizing your site with information for your customers to review.
* Ease of use can help businesses setup a website without any programming language and technical coding or computer knowledge. Most content management systems are configured with an interface that is user friendly for non-technical persons to figure out.
THE CONS
* The website builder software that runs behind the scenes through a hosting provider is usually offered at a small signup fee, but will increase upon renewal. Plus that fee doesn’t end.
As long as you have the website up, you must pay the fee to have used the website building software. If the website builder software is free, the con is that you have to agree to their advertising and use of their banner for their company on your site – as in this site was built with XYZ website builder. With a website developer/designer that fee is usually a flat fee for installing & designing and ends upon payoff for their services.
If you need further additions or functionality, you can usually negotiate the cost with your developer.
* If your website is riddled with ads for other companies, your website purpose to bring business to you might be lost.
* The content is limited. If you need a video, photo and text on your site, that’s all great – upload and customize the placement. However, if you require richer content marketed to an audience that requires certain interaction, you may be stuck not having it. As a business runs and grows, the website content and functionality usually grows. This extra content could be services like book an appointment, view and submit a contract online, allow customers to review and rate a product you’re selling, import products from a wholesaler your store uses, submit an employment application, etc. Most providers offer services to help you customize your site with these elements, and they will cost you a high fee – perhaps monthly and ongoing as well.
* Loss of customization is problematic for the business that wants to generate a website geared to their business model, brand and feel. Developers like myself, that are interested in formulating the right design for your line of business, will take the time to create the right layout, incorporate item placement, generate leads with call to action content, add search engine optimization. Loss of custom technical edits and plugins and more important to keep the site updated and fresh, which is likely given up for the DIY website.
* Time to update your site is left to you. Most businesses need the time to run their business, and not be led into the whole technical world of website development languages, content optimization and database back and restore – or even version control for the oops I accidentally updated or deleted something moment. Do you have time to continually update your site? If not, the site will go stale to search engines and stagnant websites do not always do well in the high traffic and ever growing world wide web.
~ So there you have it, a look at the brighter and lighter side to the do it yourself website building process. Either way, the importance of your business presence online grows as the use of online search and deploy for customers becomes more desired.
Trying to do it yourself will open you up to some of the realities of web design and will give you a sense of the constraints and challenges of web design. This will make you so much better when you try to actually hire a web designer.