(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/oldblogs/2012/09/free-website-builder1.jpg alt: free website builder web design)
**Free website builder software, as advertised on TV, has become exceptionally popular. **
With ready-made website templates, no upfront investment required and the potential to reach a whole new market for your business, what could be better? So, why pay a professional web designer when you can do it yourself, I hear you ask? Well, not everything is quite as it first appears.
We reveal the downside to DIY web design here:
**a. Time is Money**
As the saying goes ‘time is money’. Despite these website building tools claiming to be simple to use, in order to get the most from them a great deal of time needs to be invested to realise the capabilities of the software and achieve the results you desire.
Whilst you are spending time deciding on the design of your new website and then trying to actually create it, you’re neglecting to plan where your business is going. Outsourcing skills for certain aspects of your business is worthwhile when it could potentially bring long term benefits and improve the overall growth.
**b. ****You’re Not a Designer**
Ensuring your website portrays a good representation of your business can be a challenge. In order to build your brand, your website design needs to be consistent with your other corporate identity, continuity is key.
Styling content and achieving the best looking and functioning layout for each webpage takes time and practice. Undoubtedly, you have full control over what goes on your website using this type of software but you are also faced with trying to fix things when they don’t work out as expected.
There is also the usability of the website to consider.
A design which is easy on the eye and also easy to navigate is harder to achieve than one might think. Fonts need to be legible and the nature of the website needs to be obvious as visitors aren’t going to hang about long if they can’t see what they are looking for, or if the site is unappealing.
**c. ****Basic and Dated**
Such website building software may claim to have a readymade template for your niche, but on closer inspection you may find the look is dated and the functionality basic. The internet is a fickle place and if the appearance and functionality of your website doesn’t meet the grade, your business will receive no benefit of having this online presence.
If anything, it could portray your business as being out of touch and unprofessional.
**d. ****Is it actually free?**
It’s unlikely that you’ll get something for nothing, or if you do it’s probably for a limited time only. So, at what cost does this website building software come?
The most popular website building tools have a monthly fee which will continue for as long as you have the website. Some providers offer the first month free of charge as an incentive. On other website building tools you can opt for the free version by displaying a small advert on your website for the provider. But what message does this give to your prospective customers? (The removal of this ad incurs a charge.)
As mentioned previously, there is also the time factor. Your time is not free, even if the software is.
**e. ****Are You Frustrating Your Potential Customers?**
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to navigate your way around a poorly designed website. So too is waiting for the content to appear on slow loading pages. Unoptimised images are going to jeopardise the success of your website. Not only will visitors navigate away before waiting for the full page’s content to load, your site could be penalised by Google for providing a poor user experience.
**f. ****Search Engines**
If no one can find your website there is little point in having it, especially if you’re relying purely on search engines to send visitors your way.
Unless you’re SEO savvy, it’s unlikely that you’ll be aware of (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/digital/search-engine-optimisation-seo/ text: search engine optimisation popup: true title: Search Engine Optimisation) best practices. Well-written and regularly updated content, relevant to your target market can go a long way to earning your website good rankings but dabbling in SEO when you don’t fully understand it can do more harm than good. You could end up with your website being lost in the depths of Google’s results pages or worse still penalised for poor quality.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/oldblogs/2012/09/google-results.gif alt: google results pages)
The quality of website content and user experience is taken into account more than ever when Google ranks your website and decides where you will be positioned in the search results. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, duplicate content, broken links and page load time are all aspects which they take into consideration.
So, whilst the opportunity to build your own website may be very appealing, take on board the points we have made here. Outsourcing to a (link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/web/ text: web design agency) will help ensure your business has the best chance of being successful online.