Why building a website on your own almost always fails

Are you an architect? Maybe you own a restaurant.  Or maybe you manage a construction company.  Whatever you do, you’re probably an expert in your field.

I’m a website designer and I’ve been working in the marketing and advertising field for over 15 years. I feel confident saying that I’m an expert in websites, SEO and how to help business create effective marketing strategies.

In the last 2 years I have noticed a very interesting new trend.  The website redesign request we receive do not come in majority from the companies that have a 10-year old and outdated website.  They come from individuals and businesses that have attempted to redesign the site themselves, and simply failed.

Why not WIX?

The truth is – WIX is beyond easy to use and I can tell you that my daughter who is 10 years old built her own website at school using WIX. It looks better than I would expect, but at a closer look, it’s lacking… well of course everything a business would need. It has an Instagram feed and some cool fonts, but that’s pretty much where the ability to build with WIX ended.

You think the site is free, but in order to remove the WIX ads, you absolutely have to start at $5 per month.  From there, you realize your free theme does not allow you to accomplish everything you need and you need absolutely need a form on your site.  That puts you at a minimum of $14/month. This is just a basic cost to start.  The reality is, you are not a web expert and when it comes to getting images that you will absolutely need, you turn to Google searches.  Saving images from Google and using them on your site is not legal, so make sure you don’t do it.  You have to look at services like Shutterstock or Getty – where you need about $200 to purchase enough images to start the site.

If you need any support, you have to turn to the $25/month plan.  Buy the time you are done, you realize you spent $600 on a site that looks and well… functions not quite as you first envisioned it.

The most concerning side of any website builders (Weebly, WIX and all other) is that they don’t perform.  They are the most SEO unfriendly builders and in reality, you would not know exactly how to incorporate SEO in order to get any exposure on Google.

While writing this article I entered “why WIX” into my search bar, and you can see below the auto-complete results I had from Google. What does it mean?  It means that not just us professionals understand that website builders don’t work.  The reviews are coming from real users and they quickly realize that while they might be great marketers, architects or clothing designers – they are not web developers. At the end of the day, why would you spend any money on a site that brings you no results.

Should I build my e-commerce site with Shopify?

We just received a request to help build a Shopify e-commerce website. Client has a already made a Shopify subscription purchase and custom theme and later realizing that setting it up is too difficult.  The site they paid for is $75/month + $49 for the shop option and custom theme at $180.  They decided to pay the 2.6% +o.3 for each transaction using the Shopify credit card processing. They are already committed to $1,200 in the first year for a site that they cannot complete.

The reality of the store builder is that if you have a simple product with no options, you might be able to set it up and actually successfully use it. As soon as you add any conditional logic to your product: S size comes in only certain colors, adding a gift option or multiple custom fields or pick-up options, you would absolutely have to hire a Shopify developer.  They don’t come cheap and you are working with a person you have never met, who is nowhere near your business.

You end up spending more money than hiring a local developer, who will work with you closely, visit your business and have a long-term relationship, offer support and training.

Our Conclusions

While the free or low-cost builders are truly great for personal sites using your own photography, they are not meant for businesses. If you own a company and you are hoping to generate leads via your website, you are destined for SEO failure.  Talk to a local company that understands your market and can help you build SEO strategy around your service or product.

Are you an architect? Maybe you own a restaurant.  Or maybe you manage a construction company.  Are you an expert in website design, UI, UX, SEO and code? You most likely are not.  Sometimes it’s best to leave things to professionals.   I would not have my broken arm treated by a car mechanic.  I would chose a qualified doctor. Good luck with your new site and don’t hesitate to contact us in case you need an expert developer.

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