By Derek Ashauer
You need a new business website, and there are more tools than ever designed to help you build your own – including WordPress templates, starter packages from web hosts, and do-it-yourself online services. The commercials make everything look easy, and beginning with an existing design could be the perfect way to save time and money, right?
Don’t assume you’re going to get a good deal by building your own website. You might save a bit of cash up front, but you’re likely to end up wishing you just paid a professional to do the job. To help you understand why, here are a few of the biggest downsides to being your own web designer…
It Will Take Longer Than You Think
Even if you’re working with a pre-designed web template, it’s going to take you several hours to arrange and format things like text, images, and logos so that they’ll fit into the existing design correctly. Rush through that process and your pages won’t look right; spend too many nights trying to make it work, and you’ll wonder why you bothered in the first place.
DIY Websites Lack Personality
Because you’re beginning with a template that was designed for thousands of different businesses, it goes without saying that your website isn’t going to have an original feel to it. In fact, it may end up feeling generic, and without any personality at all. That’s not the impression you’re trying to leave customers with.
You Will Want Your Website to do More at Some Point
Web templates and starter kits are set up to help you create pages that are essentially online brochures. The problem with that approach is you are eventually going to want a website that does more. You’ll want to add plug-ins, analytics, e-commerce functionality, or something else to make your business more profitable. Then, you won’t just need the help of professional web designer, but you’ll have to transfer or undo all the other work that’s been completed to that point.
Your Website Might Not be Stable
Speaking of plug-ins, add-ons, and content, the more you tack on to your template-built website, the less stable it’s going to become. Then, you could run into a situation where your pages crash, don’t load on mobile devices, or come up very slowly for new visitors. All of these are bad for sales, not to mention your public image.
In the End, the Costs Outweigh the Savings
The best reason to hire a professional web designer is that you want potential customers to be impressed with your website and to do business with you. If your design doesn’t make you look like you’re on par with your competitors, then you’re going to cost yourself far more in missed sales than you could ever save on web design fees.
As a business owner, you probably have gotten used to the fact that you have to handle a lot of things on your own. But, your business website probably shouldn’t be one of them. Opting to do things yourself might save you a little bit of cash, but not nearly as much as the decision will cost you in the months and years to come.