Which should you choose? Build your own website with a website builder or hire a professional web design company? Choose the best option for you and your business.
To be competitive in business today, you need to have a functional and effective website. Your website is the online persona of your business and your virtual reputation is quickly becoming more and more important. Without a website, you’re almost certain to lose out on leads, sales, and most importantly, your credibility.
With today’s advanced website builder technology, you can easily build a website on your own with the help of a visual website builder or content management system (CMS). However, there are also situations where you need to hire a professional web design company to do the work for you.
So, which one is right for you? We have compiled a list of pointers that will help you determine whether to use a website builder or opt for a web design company to create your website for you.
When to Build Your Own Website
1. Personal / Portfolio Website
You want a simple personal website that showcases your hobbies or passion. In this case, you don’t need to spend the time and money to hire a professional web designer. You can use a free website builder, add your content, and launch your new website within minutes.
2. Blog
Is your goal to write and publish a blog? Most blogs already look great with just basic designs and templates and there are plenty of blogging platforms to choose from. First, do some research on the best type of website builder for your specific blog category and then select the one that has offers the look/feel you’re going for. Most all website builders are set up a bit differently and most of them also offer a free trial. Make sure to sign up for a few free trials and play around with the backend to make sure you’re comfortable with creating and formatting your blog posts and making quick updates to your websites homepage.
3. Starting a new business
Are you starting a new business? If so, you can probably make your website yourself using a simple website builder. Since your business is a new endeavor, you still have a lot of things to figure out; your target audience, a strategic digital marketing strategy, the right marketing tools, and oh so much more. Get your business up and running using a simple website builder, at first. Spend less time worrying about making it perfect, and more time gaining clients, generating leads, setting prices, and dialing in your product or service offerings. Once you have these items more solidified, then it might be time to approach a professional to help you bring your website to the next level.
4. Running a small business
If you are running a small-scale business on a budget, you might want to start out with a simple website that you can easily create and make adjustments to on your own. This allows you to showcase your products and services without having to worry about the expenses, updates, and lag time required when hiring a professional web design.
5. Running a non-profit organization
If you are running a small non-profit organization, you may not have enough funds to afford a professional website company to build your website for you. Therefore, a website made on a simple website builder may be the best option as you get things off the ground.The good thing about building a website on a simple website builder is that you can train multiple people on how to make updates and changes. Now, you’re not relying on just 1-2 people to help keep your site updated. Multiple people in the non-profit can have access to the backend in order to keep the site looking fresh and content staying current.
6. Lack or absence of coding skills
If you don’t know how to code but you have some knowledge on working with a website builder or content management system (CMS), you may want to try building a website from scratch. Many website builders are either visual builders or CMS platforms which allow you to easily build your own website without any coding knowledge or experience.
When to Hire a Professional to Build Your Website
You might be asking: if using a DIY website builder is considerably cheaper and easier than having it built professionally, why would I pay someone to do it for me? Aren’t you saving thousands of dollars using a simple website builder?
Not necessarily. It’s not just about how much a professionally designed website costs. It’s about how much it will cost if you decide to build it yourself... In other words, it’s the opportunity-cost that you should consider when deciding whether you need a professional designer or not.
In this case, the opportunity cost of hiring a professional to build your website for you is, instead, having to spend the time and effort to build it yourself. At the end of the day, you’ll have to ask yourself, is my time worth it? Or is my time better spent doing something else?
Another thing to consider if your competition. Do they have professionally built websites? Do they incorporate powerful search engine optimization (SEO) and online marketing tools to make their websites even more effective? Can you compete with their online presence on your own? Do you have the skills to create an even better website so you can have a competitive advantage?
Sometimes, it’s worth making the investment to have your website built by a professional. Here are some specific examples:
1. Large e-commerce platform
Does your business generate most of its revenue through online transactions? If so, you should consider hiring a professional to help build your website. There are plenty of e-commerce website options out there, but once your business reaches a certain level it might make sense to hire a professional to help you customize your e-commerce website and workflow. Hiring a professional website development firm can help you streamline your business and improve efficiencies with order fulfillment, shipping, and inventory management. As your business grows, you’ll be happy that you invested in a rock solid e-commerce platform that can help you scale.
2. Professionals and solopreneurs
If you are a professional and licensed solopreneur (e.g. a lawyer, dentist, doctor, etc.), it is highly recommended that you opt for a professional website design. This is not to say that a lawyer or doctor can’t build their own website, instead this comes back to the idea of opportunity cost. Is a lawyer’s time more valuable sitting behind a computer building a website? Or are they more valuable working on a new case for their client..? If you work in an industry where your billable hour is over $100, then it probably makes more sense to leave website development to the professionals and spend your time on more high value tasks.
3. Complex functionalities in your website
You may need to have certain functionalities and features on your website such as e-commerce, a custom booking system, client portal, etc.. If this is the case, a professional website company can incorporate those functionalities and features in your website. Although some simple website builders can have simple e-commerce tools, most of them are not robust enough for high volume and very customized products. Additionally, when it comes to features like scheduling, invoicing, or allowing users to log into your site via a client portal, these are all items that will require the help and expertise of a professional website development company.
4. Customized website
Do you need to have a highly customized website? Perhaps you want customized animation on your homepage or an interactive map showing all of your business locations. If so, you may require the services of a professional web design team.
By enlisting the services of a professional web design company, you’ll have the ability to build and create just about anything you want on your new website. The only factors that will stop you are time and money… The more customized you want your website to be, the more it’s going to cost.
5. Not a tech savvy person
If you are not a tech savvy person, it is always a safe bet to hand over website development to the professionals. Although some website builders can claim to be easy to use, some people do not have the time, desire, or technology experience required to build their own website.
Sure, you can always study web design on your own. There are a lot of resources...books, online tutorials, and an actual academic course. But is your money, time, and effort really worth all it? At the end of the day, hiring a professional website development team can be the easiest and most efficient way to get your new website up and running.
Whichever route you choose, Folio Websites can help you with either option! We have our own simple website builder where you can use to create your own website quickly and easily. We also have friendly, professional, and experienced web designers who can help you build the website you’ve always wanted!
Interested? Get in touch with us today!