If you want to update your current website or build a new one, you will have to decide on whether to hire a professional web designer or do it yourself. In the past, one would not have had to question whether to hire a professional, but website builders such as Weebly, Wix and Squarespace have made it easier for more people to build decent sites. However, you should consider your choice carefully when it comes to website design and ensure you look at both sides of the coin first.
DIY Website Builders
Advantages of Website Builders
- The reduced price is perhaps the biggest advantage of using a DIY website builder as you can have your website up and running for just a small investment. Bare in mind that some DIY websites providers may charge a monthly fee.
- A website builder allows you to have your site up in just a short time while a professional designer will take more time to launch.
- A best of breed website builder will provide you with decent templates and designs. You only have to copy the design template to the tee for it to work.
Disadvantages of Website Builders
- Even though some website builders have good templates, it doesn’t mean they all look great. Using a website builder also means you will not have the benefit of optimising your site’s conversion design through someone who is conversant in visitor conversions and marketing.
- Website builder site designs tend to have a predictable and generic feel as most people are opting for free website builders resulting in more of the same designs and templates.
- Most of the site builders offer poor Search Engine Optimization as they lack the optimum tools for optimising websites for Google search traffic. On the other hand, professional design firms are very efficient in terms of site optimization and usually sufficient keyword research.
- Website builders’ backend user interface is supposed to be easy to use but usually, this is not the case. This makes it frustratingly harder to enliven your site’s vision when working within an inflexible framework.
- Working on your own website might cost you or your employees valuable time that could be better used on something else.
Professional Web Design
Advantages of getting your website professionally designed
- Hiring a professional web designer saves you lots of time and will deliver the best results, both in terms of design and conversions.
- Hiring a professional means, you can call anytime for ongoing support throughout the web design process and someone who can solve all your issues for you.
- An expert web designer has sufficient knowledge on keyword research and SEO to ensure your website is tagged and optimised for the relevant keywords helping you rank on search engines.
- When you hire a professional website designer, you will have an original and unique design as opposed to the generic web builder templates.
- Professional designers know about information architecture, user interface, design influence on visitor flow, and the best design practices. Hiring professionally brings the benefit of all these skills to the table.
Disadvantages of a professionally designed website
- You may need to pay more money upfront, professional web design services usually cost between £250 – £1000+.
- It will take you longer to launch a custom-designed website; roughly 3-4 weeks.
- You could pay lots of money only to get undesired results if you do not like your designer’s portfolio. Make sure you choose a designer who is willing to work closely with you to understand your brand.
- The quality of the design differs, so if a design firm’s reviews and portfolio are not the best, you are better off moving on. creative pixel are proud of our 100% customer satisfaction rate and we work closely with all our clients to ensure they are totally happy with their finished website.
- Some design firms may not provide you with ownership rights to your website.
In Summary
In conclusion, a website is built to make money and your decision on whether to go with a website builder or a professional designer will likely depend on a variety of factors. Consider your budget and how quickly you need the website to be build, as well the importance
creative pixel offer a unique approach to web development, offering both bespoke website development as well as our template perfection service; where we optimise and improve the design your Wix, Weebly or Squarespace template website giving your brand a more professional online presence at a fraction of the price of a custom site. For more details, contact us today.