Many businesses today, especially in the start-up stages always choose to avoid the web design and development team and have a go at building their own website. This is not completely a bad thing as it’s always good to see others having a go to get some sort of online presence. Better than none at all.
How-ever – there are things that you must be aware of when you get started that seem fine at first, but will have an affect later down the line and can be very costly:
1: Initial Setup:
The initial setup of a website is very important and the decision must not be taken lightly. For those that choose a free website builder – they must keep in mind that these solutions are designed to keep you locked in with them so access to you important data is restricted to a point where you will never be able to move the website elsewhere if you’re not happy with the service or want to build on the site you have.
This also means that your data is not your own. It’s owned by the company, which to web design and development businesses like us is not a good start at all as we always make sure your in control every step of the way without restrictions.
2: Hidden Costs:
Many free website providers don’t mention the hidden costs. All is fine until you want to grow the site or add email addresses for new members of staff. This is where their hidden plan begins to show as they will charge you for nearly everything you do and by the end of this – (depending on your product) the cost of running the website can end up outweighing the income it generates.
3: Your Time:
Web design and development is what we do every day at Digital Config. Business owners who build their own website must quickly learn our skills that took years to build up. Whilst the business owner is going through the painful process of learning something they don’t understand – they are actually wasting time. This time could be put to much better use like networking, gaining new clients or supporting existing client more closely.
To understand this – we always ask the business owners to take their hourly rate, multiple the figure by the amount of hours they have spent on their website then add to this figure the potential amount of new clients they could have obtained or the additional sales they could have made to existing clients. Once they do this calculation – they can clearly see the loss they have made so far and are able to avoid further misuse of their time.
Conclusion:
Web design and development just like many other trades out there is a specialist field that takes years to develop to a level of competence. Having a self built website should only be seen as a temporary method. It is always best to have a financial target in place that when reached – they can discuss their requirements with a professional, so that things can be done correctly before too much time is invested and wasted.