PART TWO IN A THREE PART SERIES
(Missed Part One? What Is the Difference Between DIY and Professional Development?)
Building your own website leaves money on the table
Your website can be the single most effective tool in your marketing toolbox. A good website can drive new business, nurture current customers to be more loyal, and strengthen employee morale.
There are dozens of tools available to build your own website. However, you are unlikely to build a site that is as effective or productive as it could or should be. Just because you can build your own website, doesn’t mean you should.
Building your own website can be penny-wise, but pound-foolish
At first glance, it may look like you’re saving money by building your own website with tools such as SquareSpace, Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy’s Drag and Drop Page Builder, or something similar. Yes, it is true, you will save yourself that one-time development fee. But imagine how much you’re losing in the long-term. Any money you may save could easily be lost many times over when your website isn’t working for you. Rather than saving money, building your own website can mean you’re leaving money on the table.
Tools that allow non-developers to build websites are always proprietary. This means that the website you build using that tool will always be tied to that company. If the service no longer meets your needs or if you find the fees too high, you cannot take your site and move it elsewhere. The company essentially owns the website. If you are not happy, you have to leave the site behind and start over.
Knowledge is power when you hire a professional web developer
As professional web developers, we spend a large portion of our time learning and experimenting. Web technology and best practices are constantly changing and evolving. To be in this business, you have to love learning and not be afraid of change. To stay on top of what works and what doesn’t, we regularly test new tools, hosting services and SEO techniques. It is only natural, then, that our sites are more powerful in the short term and more robust in the long term.
There is one enormous benefit of having a strong online presence. Customers who are shopping for a product or a service that you offer can find you!
If you sell gluten-free cupcakes to a local market, you’d better rank high in search for gluten-free baked goods in your area. Simply building a website with this product is no guarantee that you will rank at all, even if the potential customer is searching for your exact product.
- Tell Google know you exist.
- Develop copy and content that your customers want.
- Format content properly so that it can be indexed.
For a professional image, hire a professional web developer
When you choose us to build your website, we become your partner. We stay current on the changing demands of search engines. When the rules change, we let you know. We can help you analyze the traffic you are getting and help develop content that will drive new business.
Visit our website design and development page to learn more about the services that we offer. If you are interested in learning more about how we can work together to build the best website for your business, please call us at (518) 392-0846 or email [email protected].
most of the online tools and software today allows “dummies” to make their own websites. I do agree with this to an extent, but the biggest factor for the small to medium sized because is time and resources in setting up a site. But its not that hard and its getting easier.