The development of your brand or ministry’s website is a decision that could leave a significant impact. This type of project could necessitate a sizable investment of funds and time. Therefore, it is easy to see why so many small business owners choose free or low-cost website builders such as Wix and Squarespace.

One could argue that the many built-in features available on these free platforms make DIY tools the obvious choice for those with modest marketing budgets. However, there are other important factors to consider when choosing between a professional service provider, and a free or low-cost DIY tool, when developing a website.

The most notable disadvantages of DIY website building tools:

1.  Design customization options are limited.
2. To change to a different website service provider (e.g. from Wix to WordPress), the entire website needs to be redeveloped.
3. In most DIY website builders, all users on a free plan are subjected to display advertisements.
4. SEO Tools and extensions available on DIY website building platforms are extremely limited, if available at all.
5. When you partner with a professional web developer, you’re going to get experience and industry knowledge. You’ll be working with people who know best practices and can advise you so that you’ll see increased traffic and conversions.
6. Ongoing support is available as often as you need it. A professional developer will also be happy to assist with queries and questions that may not be directly related to their responsibilities, such as which hosting service to use and how domain registration or renewal works.
7. An experienced website developer will also be able to analyse your website traffic every month to make suggestions on ways to optimize it and keep improving it over time.

Most notable advantages of a professionally developed website:

1. Most professional service provider can develop a wide variety of customizations.
2. A professional developer can recommend strategies for incorporating a website into your current marketing plan
3. There are many more tools available to extend the functionality of your website and integrate it with external software and systems. Therefore, you are not limited to a handful of tools, as is the case with DIY website builders.
4. When using a professional service provider, you are able to adjust the design of your website so that it looks unique and different, while aligning it closely with the look and feel of your other Branded assets.
5. Some free DIY platforms make it difficult or impossible to export or backup your website data to transfer it to another service provider.
6. If you need additional features on your website like email forms or an online store, you will probably need to pay more. Over time, you may realize that you aren’t saving any money, due to all the additional functionality that you needed on top of your standard package.

The Kreativworx team is experienced in every facet of developing professionally websites!  To request a free consult, give us a call or send us an email.