Before creating a website for a business, the owners ask themselves the question: which way to choose to create a website? What is better to use a website builder or web development services? So, there are three ways to create a website for business:
- By yourself using a website builder if you do not have programming skills
- With the help of a webmaster when using typical site templates and CMS
- With the help of a web programmer who develops a project with a great web design for the goals of your business
Creating a website using the website builder
Companies such as Wix, WordPress, Weebly, or Squarespace offer users and website developers a versatile, simplified website builder for any type of activity, called Site Builders or website builders.
The nice thing about Site Builders is that they allow you to create DIY websites relatively cheaply. That is, what you see is what you get. Basically, the offer looks like this: “Fast, cheap, great”!
Is it really so? Are you really getting three-in-one at the end? And why, then, is the market of web developers for business at the peak of development, and their services are becoming more expensive every year?
Tools like website builders are gaining popularity as they offer individuals and small businesses a platform to build a web presence within minutes. These platforms usually have an easy-to-use graphical interface that allows you to use drag-and-drop functionality.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs choose web builders, mostly WordPress site builders because these tools do not require a large marketing budget as well as the technical know-how of setting up an online business presence.
Website builders seem to be the most economical and easy-to-use solution for creating websites, using the offered hosting for unwary users. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a “free good site” on the Internet.
Not all website builders, they are boxed solutions, that work as well the first time, as the demo version of the product shows. The downside to website builders is that many of them are quite difficult to customize. Most of the box solutions require fine-tuning.
Website builders aren’t perfect, they always have additional requirements when creating certain elements. The additional requirements of the designers are difficult enough for people who do not have minimal knowledge and skills in web development.
Often, customizations require the addition of elements such as CSS and JavaScript, which is beyond the power of an ordinary user.
It’s hard to tell how many people tried to customize their own WordPress code or theme and then just updated that theme or plugin, accidentally deleting all of their settings. This is one of the most common problems.
Advantages of creating a website by a developer
First of all, remember that a website is an online base for a business. The site doesn’t have to be flashy or expensive for a small business. But it must be useful and must work efficiently for business purposes.
Focus on business goals when developing a website
Professional website builders are focused on creating an online presence for business purposes that are not provided in the (free) generic templates. Web designers develop:
- individual great web design for the client’s business
- create a brand book
- style guide and so on
- help business owners get useful websites that work quickly, easily, and efficiently
Creation of a website concept for business
As well when creating an online representative office – any business needs an expert:
- to analyze your needs
- target audience
- and opportunities for effective management decisions that help make money
Before creating an online business representative, you need to think over the concept of the website:
- web architecture
- method of data processing
- think over the visual-logical part and so on
Availability of all the necessary functionality
Professional website developers provide all the functionality you need:
- to attract users to the site
- to keep the attention of potential customers
- for shopping and other transactions
Based on the experience of working as a developer, we can state that there is no effective turnkey solution for business.
In each business, the approach, services, and business processes are different, and with the help of universal ready-made solutions, it is problematic to individualize the functionality of the business.
Accordingly, the site should be adapted specifically for your project, have the necessary functionality and correspond to the specific tasks of your business.
- Ease of management: For example, a professional development team helps business owners update and manage their own websites easily, with just a few clicks, for example, by developing a convenient administrative panel.
- Standing out from competitors: For each type of business, you usually need a special theme and design that will set it apart from the competition. Businesses also need help creating website content and writing compelling original texts, which can be provided by a comprehensive online business launching agency.
Ready-made design solutions offer typical templates that are similar to each other. And no one offers ready-made template solutions for content, since it is not advisable. The template clearly won’t make you stand out from the competition.
Professional website developer
The main attribute of any professional in web development is analyzing business requirements and developing solutions that maximize business profits.
For example, you need to sell items in a store, or you need to collect email addresses.
A web developer knows how to make internet tools do exactly what you need to do. A designer knows how to achieve business goals through design elements, including but not limited to color, shape, and balance between these elements.
In addition, professional web developers have accumulated experience, talents, and abilities that they put into each of their projects:
- Provide an individual approach to solving business problems
- Create personal solutions for creating website content in different formats
- Create customized e-commerce solutions
- Think over and implement a strategy for integration with social networks and other services, as well as many other solutions
Automatic templates cannot create such solutions. In addition, marketers work with developers to develop strategies for online business development and provide marketing advice to achieve online sales success and increase your return on investment (ROI). The static template cannot achieve this.
Summary
If you are a beginner, you have free time for creativity and you want to create a website cheaply, but without special requirements and adapt it to your business – use a website builder.
But if you need a serious website for the purpose of the business, which you want to promote and thanks to which you plan to earn, entrust this work to professionals, experienced web designers and developers, who have spent literally thousands of hours learning how to create an effective website with selling design.