Every business needs a website; it’s no longer possible to thrive in the marketplace without one because most people connect with each other online, including businesses. However, building a website can seem like a daunting task to business owners who have never built an online presence.
To get a website quickly, some businesses turn to DIY platforms that make it easy and cheap to build a website. While saving time and money is great, there are several disadvantages when businesses build their own websites. For instance, they lack the customization required to make their site fully embody their brand.
If you’re a business owner who needs a web presence, here’s are several reasons you should hire a professional website developer instead of taking a DIY approach to building your website.
- You might have to rebuild your website
You would think building a website would be something you only need to do once, but that’s not always the case. Many business owners find out the hard way that the site they initially built isn’t going to carry them into the future. The problem is that many DIY websites don’t support some of the necessary aspects of marketing, like SEO and lead generation.
According to web design pros, having to rebuild your website is a likely possibility when you need to take your business to the next level. A basic site will only take your revenue so far.
Once you reach a certain point, you’ll need a professionally-designed site to support advanced marketing strategies. For example, for SEO you’ll likely need the ability to edit certain parts of your HTML code to insert JavaScript, and that may not be possible with a site built on a DIY platform.
Having your website rebuilt will be a frustrating and costly experience, so it’s best to have it made by a professional designer from the start.
- You’ll get frustrated with a DIY site
There’s no way around the frustration you’ll encounter when building your own website. At some point during the development process, you’ll run into a problem you can’t solve on your own. This might be an HTML error, an image that won’t show up properly, or something you’re trying to achieve, but can’t. For instance, you might not be able to change your website’s font color or size.
Building your own website seems easy, but when you try to edit the details, you’ll find your DIY site will fall short of your needs. That’s why it’s critical to have your site developed by a professional from the start. They’ll build your website exactly the way you want it and if you want to change the details, they’ll make those changes for you.
- You’ll get exactly what you want
Your website should be an accurate reflection of your brand and it should look exactly how you want it to look. If you try building your own website, chances are, your finished design will fall short of your expectations. Not only will you need to work with a limited selection of templates, but you won’t be able to customize certain elements like a web developer.
When you hire a web developer, you can guide them while your site is in development to ensure it meets all of your expectations. You can have a say in the color scheme, layout, and typography. You can also request a custom theme from your developer, which means your site won’t be a templated copy of other people’s sites.
- A professional website will make your business look good
Maintaining a professional appearance online will help you build credibility and earn trust from your customers. People are less likely to trust websites that look like they were sloppily built. In fact, 70% of visitors don’t trust a poorly-built website. If you want credibility in your market, your website needs to look professional and it needs to work on mobile devices.
Visitors judge a business based on their website’s design. An aesthetically pleasing website isn’t the only factor that goes into establishing a credible presence, but it will go a long way with your customers.
Hire a professional for the best possible results
You can’t afford to have a sub-par online presence for your business. You need a website that not only serves your customers, but one that you can market easily and optimize for search engines.
When you need a website for your business, hire a professional developer to get the best possible result.