Nowadays, most businesses require a professional web design for their DIY website. There are two options available to you when you set out to get one up and running (or redesigned): 1) Hiring a web design agency with experience or 2) Doing it yourself (DIY).
Option two is fairly simple to implement for businesses that do not have the financial resources to employ an agency, and it is made possible by subscription-based platforms, such as Wix. The majority of businesses outgrow these DIY website platforms, despite their excellent beginning. But how can you tell if your DIY website is getting out of hand? That’s what we’re here to assist you with.
Your website has a very cookie-cutter appearance.
The majority of these DIY website platforms start with a set of themes or templates. Although you can alter the text, images, and even the background colour of various pages and elements, it resembles a number of other websites. It gets even worse if those other websites are in your sector or directly competing with you. It can cause damage to the perception and credibility of your brand because it’s near impossible to stand out in a sea of “me-toos.”
The design cannot be easily customized or modified.
In a similar vein, the platform’s limitations prevent you from enhancing your site’s uniqueness and alignment with your brand. As a result, your website looks… well, the same. See the first point above.
Making minor customisations takes a lot of time or is almost impossible.
Occasionally, you will need to add a little bit of code to make things a little easier for the user by making a few minor changes. That is almost unthinkable with a Do-It-Yourself framework. Even though they may seem insignificant at first, restrictions of that kind can quickly add up, especially as your business begins to expand and your website becomes a true sales and marketing tool.
You can’t make your website more functional.
It’s possible that a particular feature is absolutely necessary to advance your business. A different kind of product to sell, an additional contact form, you name it. Whatever it is, you are limiting your business if you are unable to easily extend the functionality of your website.
In order to remove limitations or add features, you constantly need to upgrade.
Even though there might be ways for you to add functionality, each one costs extra. Most of the time, there are ongoing monthly costs that add up. How long will it take for your $50-per-month website to generate hundreds of Dollars or ZAR per month?
Integration with other services is difficult.
If your DIY platform is a “closed” system that doesn’t integrate with your other systems, you’re basically locked into something that could slow down your business’s growth.
Your SEO is failing, and there is nothing else on the website.
Good on-page SEO does not necessitate an amazing CMS or a magic plugin, contrary to what some developers may claim. However, in order to boost on-page SEO efforts, your website must possess the fundamental elements. Your overall SEO efforts may be hampered by the limited capabilities of some DIY platforms in this area.
Your website loads too slowly.
One of the main causes of a slow website, right up there with poorly optimized images, is poorly written code. One-size-fits-all code is developed in advance with DIY websites. The issue with this is that there is no way to optimize the code itself if your website begins to sluggish. You are bound by the system’s code.
Support is either ineffective or slow.
Like any software, websites will have problems. You need to get help quickly and effectively when they happen. Although DIY sites offer support as part of their pricing, which is a good thing, the support you receive may not always be knowledgeable about website coding. Although higher-level support representatives may or may not be present, this does not guarantee that your issue will be resolved.
Instead of running your business, you’re spending more time managing your website.
Managing your website on your own – something that can be done by any good content management system – is one of the most appealing features of a DIY website. But as your business begins to grow in popularity, is managing your website the most efficient use of your time or that of a staff member?
Your website cannot be transferred.
A DIY website’s design and code are almost always not yours. Check out the fine print! You can’t take the site with you if you decide to leave. And don’t even think about trying to copy it; the company that provides the website owns the code and design, so copying them would be illegal (that’s right, they are not yours).
Did a lot of this have you nodding along? It might be time to hire a reputable web development company rather than doing it yourself. Contact us for a quote today.