As a business owner, you know you need to have a website for your business. But you don’t have an unlimited budget. Do you build it yourself or do you hire a professional to build it for you? Like so many other decisions, there are tradeoffs to each choice and you have requirements and limitations to take into consideration. Every business is different, so what do you have to take into consideration when deciding which route to take.
Cost
The main reason most business owners choose the Do-it-yourself route cost. Building your own website is less expensive than hiring a professional website designer. The cost can be anywhere from free, to just a few dollars a month. Of course, if you really have little or no budget and you have some very basic requirements, then a DIY website may be the way to go.
Functionality
Building your own website using software on your computer or an online service to build your own website typically is limited in functionality. Do you need your website to do something specific like sell products, show properties, collect client information? Then building your own website might not be for you. You will need to know how to implement your specific functionality and the software and tools you use will need to have the capability to add your custom website behavior.
Most of the time, the less you pay for your website, the fewer features it will have.
Portability
Portability is the ability to move your website if you decide you are not happy with your current service provider. If you use a specific online tools to build your site, are you tied to that specific site or can you take your website with you if they go out of business or you no longer want to be associated with that company. With most do-it-yourself websites, you cannot take your website with you. So if you decide to change providers, you will have to start from scratch and rebuild your site with a new provider.
Some professional website builders also try to tie you to their service. So be sure to ask any provider if you can take your website with you at any time. At Fuller Online Solutions, we make sure that you completely own your website and domain.
Customizability
When building your own site with online tools, you are typically choosing a template for your site. This means your site may end up looking like someone else’s website. If you are trying to brand your business and be unique, then having a website that looks like everyone else’s website might not be what you are looking for.
Working with a professional website designer, you can be sure to specify that you want a unique layout, colors, functionality and whatever else you need. This will ensure that your website is unique, stands out from your competitors and targets your clients.
Your Time
As a business owner, your time is valuable. You have to make the highest and best use of your time. So you have to take into consideration how much time you will spend building your own website. What else could be doing with that time? If it’s going to take you a significant amount of time, then it might actually cost you more to build your own site than to hire a professional. When a professional designer builds your website, you are free to run other aspects of your business. You will still need to be involved in the process, but not nearly as much as if you need to learn how to build a website and then actually create it.
If you have time available, minimal requirements and little to no budget available, then building your own website might be the best choice. But if you are short on time and have the budget available, then hiring a professional web designer might be the path for you.