Why You Should NOT Use a DIY Website Builder

You’ve worked hard to build your business. And now you want to get it out there for everyone to see.  The best way to reach as many potential clients as possible is through building an informative, user friendly website. Maybe you’re not the best at building websites, or you might not have any idea of how to get started. But you do know that you don’t want to spend a fortune doing it. You might have seen advertisements for do-it-yourself website builders who claim how easy and affordable it is to get a professional website up and running in no time. With pricing ranging from nothing to $100 per month, why wouldn’t you consider such an option? After all, these prices are extremely appealing, especially when compared to the prices quoted by professional companies (which can reach into the thousands of dollars). While you may want to save money, DIY website builders may not be the way to do that. Here are some reasons to avoid them.

Not All That Easy

DIY website builders are advertised as easy, and that they save you valuable time. This is far from the truth. Sure, if you don’t really care how your website looks, it doesn’t take that much time. But the chances are good that you want a website that is going to draw in customers and keep them there.  Your potential customers can tell the difference between a quality website and one that was just slapped together. In order to get a website that you are proud of, it is going to take some time and effort.

There are over one billion websites on the internet. According to current statistics, approximately 74% are created by professional builders and only 3% are created by DIY builders. Why the low percentage? So many business owners who set out to create a website with a DIY builder quickly realize how difficult and time consuming it is to get the look and feel they want. And when they reach out to the company for help, the company charges for their services! As a result, 98% of those who attempt to use a DIY builder give up, and their website never gets up and running.

You Don’t Own It

You’re taking the time and effort to create your website. Clearly, it’s yours, right? Wrong. When you use a DIY builder, whatever content you put on it for your business is no longer yours, even though you created it AND you paid for it. It’s even in the terms and conditions portion of the agreement that you have to click to accept (and unfortunately, many do not read through these terms). Many of the DIY builders have terms such as the agreement (and your website) can be terminated at any time by the company, they have the right to change anything at any time and there is no guarantee that the website will be up and running. What’s worse, if you decide to terminate your agreement, you cannot take your website with you. Everything you created and put on that website is now property of that company.  How does that even make any sense?

Not Google Friendly

93% of online experiences start with the use of a search engine, and Google owns about 70% of the search engine market share. And when a search engine is used about 75% of people never scroll past the first page. What this means for you is that if you can’t be found by the search engine algorithm, you are missing out on a significant potential client base. These algorithms are constantly changing to refine the process, so practices that once worked in the past are no longer relevant. And using irrelevant processes can actually be detrimental in your attempts to make it to the top of the search results. By the time DIY builders catch up to the latest algorithms, they have already changed again. Your SEO is crucial for a higher ranking, and your website needs to be structured in a way that promotes this.

Poor Performance

The experience your potential customers have while browsing your website can make or break their decision to invest in your services. These days, people want information, and they want it fast. If your website is slow and doesn’t perform properly, users will quickly get frustrated and move on. That’s lost clientele for you, which translates to lost money. And by losing so many viewers, your ranks on the search engine fall. But what causes the poor performance?

There are a few issues that factor into poor website performance. One of the biggest reasons has to do with being hosted on their web servers. While these DIY website builder companies do have decently sized servers, you have to consider that you are one of hundreds of accounts hosted by that server.  When multiple people are accessing the same server (even if they are different websites), load spikes occur, greatly impeding speeds and performance. Unless you pay for a server upgrade, your website most likely won’t be able to handle the server traffic. And this poor performance will ultimately cost you clients.

No Personalization

As a company, you want to stand out to your potential client base as unique. If you can set yourself apart from the rest of the companies that are similar to yours, you are much more likely to garner clients. In order to do that, you need a website that is tailored specifically to your potential clients, your company and your message. You can’t really do that with a DIY website builder. This is because these builders have templates. It’s hard to convince your potential clients that you are different from all the other companies in your industry when your website looks eerily similar to just about every other website out there. First impressions are everything. Even if your wording is different, if your website looks even vaguely similar to others out there, viewers won’t even bother to stick around.

Lack of Support

If you have a problem with building your website, all you have to do is call up customer service for support and troubleshooting. Not quite. Some DIY website builders don’t have a phone number to call for support. And trying to get in contact with someone via email, and then troubleshooting your website that way, can quickly become a nightmare. And what’s worse is that professional website developers can’t even bail you out, as these DIY website builders are not easily disassembled. As a result, they can’t, or even won’t, help you. Which means you are at the mercy of the DIY website builder and their “support” line, whether or not it has a phone number to call.

Your company is important to you, and you need a website that will get you the clients you want. While some companies can operate successfully using a DIY website builder, this is hardly the case for everyone. You want to save money, but building your website may not be the place to cut costs. If you really want to grow your business and increase your client base, it may be a much more worthy investment to hire a professional website building company.