Is a generic business website builder the best way to go with your small business?
Almost every small business owner has played around with a website builder online. If you have not, you may want to try it. It is one option for creating a business website for your small business. Let's examine the pros and cons of an automated website builder.
Here are the pros of using an online business website builder:
• Cheap in actual upfront cost. A generic website template usually costs between $40 - $500 upfront, with a recurring monthly charge of $15 - 50. This is certainly less expensive than ordering a custom-built website from a local web designer. A typical custom-built, freelance website will run between $500 - $2,000. For that kind of price, you will get a well-designed, contemporary business website. The designer will most likely charge 50% upfront, and require payment of the other half upon completion.
• You do not need to design the look and feel of the site. All you do is create the pages you want and place your content on the pages.
• Fun to do if you have all the skills needed. If you are a natural DIY-er, you will enjoy creating your own website. You will need some basic HTML skills and understand how web copy differs from print copy.
Here are the cons of using an online business website builder:
• It takes a long time to build. On average, 200 - 500 hours. If you work all day and only have a couple of hours at night to work on it, finishing could take several weeks or more. Of course, you do not realize this until you're 50 hours into it and already committed.
• You must be a good writer and understand how to write for the web. This is so the search engines will index and rank you correctly. You will have to create all of the content, the file names, alt tags, meta tags, keywords, permissions, etc. Most business website template builders will give you some basic information about how to do this, but many do not. Many still do not allow you to add meta tags and alt tags. Without the correct coding, basically what you are left with as a rather expensive, digital post card.
• You must have your website copy professionally proofread. Many people make the mistake of skimping on this critical step. I have seen hundreds of small business websites with typos, poor grammar, formatting problems, unclear direction and hideous color combinations.
• Has that ready made look and feel that says "Hey, I'm cheap!" People can spot a template site from a mile away. Whether they know it or not, people have developed fairly advanced pattern-recognition skills. They spend masses of time on the Internet surfing business websites and develop an intuitive feel for what a custom-built, well-designed site looks and feels like.
• Not optimized for search engine results. This has improved to some degree, but you can never have a properly-optimized template website unless you are able to do it yourself. Do you know the first thing about SEO? If you do not know what SEO is, you may not want to go the business website builder template route.
• You do not own your own content. This is a biggie. Think it doesn't matter? Consider this. I know of a chiropractor in my town that had decided to leave the region, and wanted to gift his website to a fellow chiropractor so she would benefit from his hard work. His plan was to sell it to her. However, when he contacted the website builder service he had used, they refused to let him do so. They informed him that they, not he, owned the rights to the website design, as well as its content. This may be okay for grandma's homemade pie recipes, but it is definitely not okay for your small business.
For the small business owner, a website builder may be a good option. However, in most cases you'll find that it has limitations with the potential to grow into much larger problems further down the road.
Learn why Site-O-Rific is a better solution for small business owners.
Almost every small business owner has played around with a website builder online. If you have not, you may want to try it. It is one option for creating a business website for your small business. Let's examine the pros and cons of an automated website builder.
Here are the pros of using an online business website builder:
• Cheap in actual upfront cost. A generic website template usually costs between $40 - $500 upfront, with a recurring monthly charge of $15 - 50. This is certainly less expensive than ordering a custom-built website from a local web designer. A typical custom-built, freelance website will run between $500 - $2,000. For that kind of price, you will get a well-designed, contemporary business website. The designer will most likely charge 50% upfront, and require payment of the other half upon completion.
• You do not need to design the look and feel of the site. All you do is create the pages you want and place your content on the pages.
• Fun to do if you have all the skills needed. If you are a natural DIY-er, you will enjoy creating your own website. You will need some basic HTML skills and understand how web copy differs from print copy.
Here are the cons of using an online business website builder:
• It takes a long time to build. On average, 200 - 500 hours. If you work all day and only have a couple of hours at night to work on it, finishing could take several weeks or more. Of course, you do not realize this until you're 50 hours into it and already committed.
• You must be a good writer and understand how to write for the web. This is so the search engines will index and rank you correctly. You will have to create all of the content, the file names, alt tags, meta tags, keywords, permissions, etc. Most business website template builders will give you some basic information about how to do this, but many do not. Many still do not allow you to add meta tags and alt tags. Without the correct coding, basically what you are left with as a rather expensive, digital post card.
• You must have your website copy professionally proofread. Many people make the mistake of skimping on this critical step. I have seen hundreds of small business websites with typos, poor grammar, formatting problems, unclear direction and hideous color combinations.
• Has that ready made look and feel that says "Hey, I'm cheap!" People can spot a template site from a mile away. Whether they know it or not, people have developed fairly advanced pattern-recognition skills. They spend masses of time on the Internet surfing business websites and develop an intuitive feel for what a custom-built, well-designed site looks and feels like.
• Not optimized for search engine results. This has improved to some degree, but you can never have a properly-optimized template website unless you are able to do it yourself. Do you know the first thing about SEO? If you do not know what SEO is, you may not want to go the business website builder template route.
• You do not own your own content. This is a biggie. Think it doesn't matter? Consider this. I know of a chiropractor in my town that had decided to leave the region, and wanted to gift his website to a fellow chiropractor so she would benefit from his hard work. His plan was to sell it to her. However, when he contacted the website builder service he had used, they refused to let him do so. They informed him that they, not he, owned the rights to the website design, as well as its content. This may be okay for grandma's homemade pie recipes, but it is definitely not okay for your small business.
For the small business owner, a website builder may be a good option. However, in most cases you'll find that it has limitations with the potential to grow into much larger problems further down the road.
Learn why Site-O-Rific is a better solution for small business owners.
Business Website Builder