You’re possibly thinking of hiring a professional website designer, or even building your website on your own. Creating a website plays a big role in your marketing and online presence, especially if you’re a small or medium business. When you’re in the process of deciding to get your website, you will probably ask questions like, “How do I build my own website?” “Can I build it myself?” “Could I get a professional to build it?” You’d most likely Google for a solution and suddenly you get results for so many DIY solutions like WIX, WordPress, Squarespace, and more.
But interestingly enough we’ve had several customers approach us after having difficulty with all the above-mentioned solutions. So, should you design your own website or have a professional do it? Well, both have pros and cons. I share my thoughts on all the pros and cons below.
Cost Comparison: How Much Will It Really Cost?
So here’s one something we all think about from time to time, affordability and “is it cheap?” Building a website on your own can be very tempting because on the surface it’s cheap. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or Worpress.com do offer affordable and cheap monthly to yearly plans that won’t break the bank.
But here’s the thing. DIY platforms might seem cheaper upfront, but the real costs can sneak up on you. You’ll probably end up paying for premium plugins, and templates. The two roadblocks my clients most often face are hiring someone to fix things when they hit a tech roadblock. And they end up spending way too much time on their sites than they originally planned.
It’s a bigger investment to hire a professional and experienced web designer. Depending on the complexity of the site and the experience of the designer, the cost of your project may range from a few hundred to thousands of rands, but the big plus is you get what you pay for. An experienced designer can help prevent you from hitting technical roadblocks and headaches. Think of it as an investment in your business’s long-term success.
Wix even has an option for you to hire a professional to work on your site. I found that interesting because so many of our clients simply don’t want to build their sites on their own. Wix is a very simple tool, yes. But there are so many tools and options that it can be quite daunting for someone who has never before worked on design or web design.
Design Flexibility: How Much Creative Control Do You Need?
DIY platforms were created to be as simple as possible. They give you pre-made templates that are easy to customize. You load a template, change some of the text, drag and drop an image, and then you’re done. But sometimes you want a “wow” factor or something that specifically gives the look and feel for your brand. So many of my clients have added issues with these templates, either they can’t find a template that matches their brand, or the template they loaded as modules and sections they’re not sure to do with, or the font faces just don’t work.
When you hire a professional designer, you have far more flexibility. They can tailor your website to fit your brands personality and needs. You might want things like custom animations, special features, or a layout that “out-of-the-box” that’s where an experienced website designer can help you.
SEO Benefits of Custom Sites: How Does Design Impact Your Ranking?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is what gets your site to show up in Google search results. And funny enough design can impact your SEO. DIY platforms give you basic SEO options like adding meta tags and descriptions, but the options are pretty limited. And even then you’re advised to hire a skilled professional to look into your SEO audits. And a lot of the DIY templates don’t include already done SEO setups for your pages. Most professional website designers are knowledgeable in SEO best practices they can give you the stepping stones you need for SEO.
Mobile responsiveness and website speed are very important for good SEO performance. Professional website designers will make sure that your website will load quickly and even ensure that your site is mobile-friendly.
Time Investment: Do you really have the time to work on your site?
Don’t get me wrong, building your own website can be a fun project, it’s a big reason I got into this industry, it’s super fun at times. But let’s be honest, it’s a time-consuming endeavour. You’re essentially paying with your time, that’s wasted time you could spend on your business or even with your family. It’s quite easy to underestimate the amount of time it takes to build a website.
When hiring a professional, you’re not just paying for their skills and their time, you’re (most importantly) also paying to get your valuable time back.
Thanks for reading. Please get in touch with us today if you have any further questions.
