You may have seen the hilarious video ads from Wix, and thinking, "Hey, if Will Ferrell can build an impressive Basset Hound website on Wix, it must be an easy and efficient solution." But is it?
There are countless platforms offering "personalized" website templates, most notability Wix, Weebly and Squarespace. You've worked hard to build a unique brand for your business. Templates with generic titles, header images and styled navigation look generic and make your brand look generic. Remember, first impressions matter. A recent study shows that when visitors look at your website, they'll form an opinion of your brand in just two-tenths of a second. Typecasting your brand to a DIY website template is counterintuitive.
It takes constant education to keep up to date with best practices for ranking a site with Google. As a business owner, do you want to spend your time reading up on the latest search algorithms? Today, many businesses depend on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to attract customers to their website. However, most DIY websites are not equipped or optimized to work with the algorithms that are used to rank the websites on the first page of Google search results.
Spending time working on something unfamiliar instead of focusing on your business may actually be costing you both time and money. Trying to get a DIY website up and running is time-consuming. Your efforts are better used elsewhere. Just because you are not paying a professional, doesn't mean you're not paying. Returning emails, client calls, developing business strategies are priorities that will go neglected while you're trying to figure out what's not working, or spending time looking for the perfect hero image. Release yourself, so that you can attend to the things that only you can do.
There is no such thing as a finished website. Sites require monthly—sometimes weekly—maintenance and updating to be as dynamic and fluid as your business. Web design trends are always evolving—what customers responded to a few years ago isn't what they react to now. To adapt to the needs and demands of your target audience, you should be regularly reviewing your analytics and making adjustments based on the data. Website analysis tools such as Google Analytics provide vast amounts of data on your site, including user demographics, sources, and behaviour flow charts. Having this knowledge will undoubtedly uncover something new for you to consider when tweaking your site.
