Why NOT to build a website in 10 minutes
You’ve seen the ads (by Go Daddy & Wix for example) - a business owner with no technical skills can build a website in 10 minutes…. giving start-ups the impression that building a website is an easy and quick task.
Sure, if you have a template where you change logo, a picture and text might take you 10 minutes to do but is this a proper website?
My answer is a big NO.
There is so much involved in setting up a good website that represent your business and brings you sales – strategy, design, user experience, optimisation of imagery, use of technologies and search engine optimisation to name a few.
Website Strategy & Vision
A good web designer is not only a technical coder, a good web designer is first of all a web strategist that has the ability to understand your business (‘get inside your head’), take this information alongside best practice in web development and produce a tailored solution for your business.
Unique website Design
A good web designer will help you have a unique and interesting design that sets you apart from your competition. Websites today are beginning to look the same so having a bespoke custom designed website can help your business stand out in the crowd.
Photos form part of overall design but as they are a crucial part of a website it is important to get it right. Simply uploading any picture to a template banner is not enough – there so many issues to consider - automatic cropping by the template, overlay, web optimisation to name a few.
A professional web designer will not only help you source the right images but will make sure they work with your brand and might add some artwork to brand them.
An external and professional view point
Most business owners are so emotionally involved in their business that this can affect clarity when it comes to their website. An external view point that independently and objectively looks at the market, product, customers will help you clarify the message and product a clear website.
Experience
A good web developer lives and breathes web 24/7 – this means they read about the latest trends and technologies available, participate in forum and conferences and most of all understand the complexity of this industry. This means you do not need to be up to speed and can focus on what you do best in your business and be assured that your website will still be up to speed with all the latest trends and technologies available.
Get found on Google
Understanding SEO (search engine optimisation) is key to making your website search engine friendly. This involves research of your targeted key words and implementation in front and back end of your site. Without at least basic SEO your site will not be indexed by Google and you will not be found online. An experienced web developer will incorporate all of this in the development of the site and will guide you as to what to do moving forward.
In conclusion, many of my clients use my services after spending hours trying to build a website using a template website builder (such as Go Daddy or Wix) and arriving to the conclusion that it is not what they thought it will be. They realise that there is much more into developing a website that will work for their business.
So avoid wasting time on a website that does not work for you and get a professional web developer to support you in your business journey.
