Now that you want to make your own website, you need to decide how you are going to do it. Do you want to try to build the site yourself or hire an outside website designer?
You understand that acquiring an online presence for your business helps in so many ways.
A website can boost sales, brand your business, and offer your customers another option to interact with your company. If you own a small business, you understand the importance of brand recognition and marketing. A website can help you with both.
Your budget, your knowledge of code, your time constraints, and your need for customization will all play significant roles in whether you make the website or hire someone else to do it.
If you are leaning more towards building it yourself, you will need to find the right DIY website builder for you and your company. Thankfully there are a lot of options out there that can work with your level of coding knowledge.
The top DIY site builders on the market today are Weebly and WordPress.
Weebly is created for those site creators who have little to no knowledge of code. While, on the other hand, WordPress is designed for those who have a little experience in coding.
No matter your experience with code – there are options out there for you.
Each DIY site offers various templates to use for your site. Unfortunately, many of the templates can’t be formatted or changed without a little coding work.
So if you want to customize a template, you can’t do it unless you know how to code.
If coding seems like a foreign language to you, then hiring an outside contract site designer is a great option.
An outside contract site designer is an excellent option for a company that has the resources to afford extra help.
If you are looking for a site developer, don’t let the price dictate who you pick. Many companies try to hire designers with lower costs, but then end up with a site they don’t want. When hiring a designer to find the one that does work more closely to how you want your site done. If they are a little more expensive, know that you will be getting a high-quality product.
4 Things to Consider
Whether you go with a, do-it-yourself site builder, or you hire and outside web designer, there a few things to think about before you make that ultimate choice.
Below we’ve listed 4 important things do think through and discuss with your team:
What is Your Budget?
First things first, you need to figure out how much money you can spend monthly on a site.
A contracted web designer is a little pricier compared to using an online site builder. Most designers can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars per month, depending on how much work you want to be done on your site.
Now they are worth the money because they can create customizable sites that can quickly boost your companies’ business.
For a DIY site builder, you will only need around twenty to seventy dollars a year. The price fluctuates if you decide to pay for site hosting which is an additional five to ten dollars a month.
Now some DIY site builders allow you to host your website on their site. The only downside is they will include advertisements for their builder on your site which can be a little annoying at times.
The positive to hosting your site on their server is that their company makes sure your site is up and running. So, if the server goes down, they are responsible for fixing the problem. If there is an issue with the site, you will have to contact their customer service representatives which can be time-consuming.
With a contracted web designer, they will host the site for you which means they are responsible for the site running properly. The positive to this is that you don’t have to worry about contacting a customer service representative if something goes wrong, you can contact your web designer.
How Much Code Do You Know?
If you do not have a basic understanding of coding, then a DIY site builder may not be the best choice for you.
As mentioned before, Weebly does offer the ability to create a site with little to no coding knowledge. The downside to this is that your site is not as customizable.
Knowing code allows you to change the provided templates to create the design you want.
Hiring a web designer gives your site the freedom to look however you want it to look. A web designer can create custom templates that highlight your business and its services.
Whether or not you go with a web designer depends on how much code you know. If you are comfortable with coding, then using a site builder will work fine for your company.
Do You Have Time to Manage a Website?
Owning and operating a small business comes with a lot of responsibilities. Depending on the size of your company, you are in charge of hiring, marketing, sales, customer service, and finances.
When it comes to building a site, know that it is an investment in time. If you decide to go with a site builder, you are responsible for the daily upkeep. You have to make sure that the content is up to date and correct.
Now the good thing about using a site builder is they are responsible for if the site goes down for any reason. They have twenty-four-hour customer service representatives who work to make sure your site is up and running.
If you decide to host the website yourself, this is not the case. If something happens to your site, you are responsible for fixing any problems. Being in charge of twenty-four-hour maintenance can be a hassle.
Hiring a website designer elevates those responsibilities. Website designers are responsible for keeping the content updated and the website functioning properly. You give the website designer the information you want on the website, and they will update it for you.
Now, if you are what some might call a “control freak,” you might want to use a website builder because you will be in control of every aspect of construct a website.
Make Your Own Or Hire Someone? Which Way Should You Go?
Building a website is a great way to get your business out there and on the market. Having a strong online presence can boost not only your sales but also the brand of your company.
However, when building a website, you need to take into account the many factors that go into doing so.
If you have a small business with a small budget, your best bet is to use a DIY website builder website. Website builders usually only cost your company around forty to seventy dollars a year, depending on if you want to host the site or not. Hosting your website may require little extra money, but usually only a few bucks a month.
Now, if your business has extra income, use that money to hire a website designer. You will not have to worry about the upkeep of the site and have someone available for maintenance twenty-four hours a day. Having a website developer offers freedom of the responsibility of continually checking and updating the website.
Conclusion
Overall, make the best decisions for you and your company.
If you know a little bit about code and you do not have a large budget, use a website builder. The downside is you won’t have as much customization, but the builder offers freedom of making sure the website is operating as it should.
If you have never used code in your life and your business has a larger budget, hire a website developer, but only if you do not mind handing over the reigns to them.
Leave a Reply