Should You Create Your Own Website or Hire a Pro

In my personal opinion, in today’s business world having a website is a way to legitimate your business. It provides a place where your prospects can check out your products or services. However, according to recent statistics, more than one-third of small business do not have a website. How so many companies can create a successful marketing strategy or promote their business without a website.

For instance, I have been wanting to go to this one restaurant that a friend told me about. Due to my busy schedule I have not had the time as it is not on my usual route. A few days back, during spring break when the children were away, my wife and I were searching for a place to eat. I immediately suggested that restaurant as it had been on my mind. She quickly got on her phone and began to search. The name pop-up, but it did not have a website, nor a menu. Because we could not find relevant information, in this case a menu, we decided to go elsewhere.

A lot of small business owners think it is either expensive or a hassle to have a website. If you, as a business owner, have the same assumptions, I regret to inform you that you are missing out on a lot of business. And your competition is taking away many of your prospects.

Without a website you are taking your chances

Your business might be on google places, and it will most likely be listed when someone search for an organization in the particular geographic area where your company is located. Where would your prospects go to find more about your business, or relevant information about your operation.

You do not look legitimate

Some professionals claim that a website is not relevant to their industry. I cannot think of any industry that a website would not be relevant. Whether you focus on end consumer, or you run a B2B business, your clients like to get information. For instance, for my real estate turn key company, even though we only provide services to businesses, my clients often times visit my site to see all of the services we provide.

Email marketing is less effective

As I mentioned in a previous post, email marketing is extremely important for anyone. Regardless of the business you are building, you should be building a email list, and connecting with your prospects regularly.

People receiving emails from a business will, more times than not, visit the website as a result. If you do not have a website, they will end up going to your social media page, which could or could not have what they are looking for.

Should I use a website builder or hire a pro

Let your needs dictate this answer. If you are running a e-commerce, and most of your sales comes from the site, you will want hire someone to ensure your site has all the bells and whistles.

On the other hand, if you have a small welding shop, and the site just a one pager showing basic information and a few pictures. Then by all means, you might be better off just selecting a website builder and doing it yourself.

1- Hiring a pro

I have always been the type of person who believes that I can do anything I set my heart to do. And I believe anyone can as well. With that said, I do believe that you are fully capable of creating a incredible website. But before you take on this task, think about all the other things you could be accomplishing with your time. Things that only you can do for your business.

There are many ways to get someone to build your website. The most natural way would be doing a google search. Or you can purchase and park a domain and just wait for a million of phone calls from India (trust me, it has happened to me).

Before you make a decision, be sure to check the following on your contractor:

• Check their experience and background.
  • Look through their portfolio and ensure their work is compatible with what your need.
  • Talk to some of their clients, see if their came through with their promises
• If they are turning over and you are going to edit the website, check the platform they use.
  • The most popular is WordPress. It is very user friendly, and very powerful.
• Ensure they can make a SEO friendly site, and a great landing page, which is one of the most important factors for your site.

2- Do it yourself

A lot of small business owners are turning to website-creation portal such as Weebly and Shopify. Those portals allow you to create a site two different ways.

The first and one of the most popular ways is having the actual company build it for you. You would still have to pay a premium for the service. The biggest advantage is they have a large team of pros and they will deliver on their promises. Another upside is that it is easy enough that you can edit it at any time.

The second way is you taking your time and building it from scratch or using one of the available templates. This is certain more time consuming, but it can save you a few bucks.

Furthermore, you can just build a WordPress website using a free template, which there are many available. WordPress has several tools and plugins available making it easier to build and import information. There is a learning curve that you will have to overcome, but once you are on top of that, it is smooth sailing from there.

I have built a number of sites over the years, and learned a lot from my mistakes. If you are choosing to build it yourself, and you are using wordpress platform, I strongly suggest using Bluehost. It is by far the most reliable and user friendly hosting company I have used.

Being in business is a challenge and you will be navigating uncharted territory. Nevertheless, you must always remember… stay bold, stay fearless.