Create a website in haste, repent at leisure

Building a website is easy. Anyone can do it. Simply visit one of the many sites offering a DIY service, pick a template, add your own text and graphics and you’re good to go. It’s so easy that anyone can do it, and you could be the proud owner of your own site within the space of a few hours. Who needs professional web designers anyway?

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Why DIY isn’t necessarily the answer

It’s certainly true that many of these ‘off-the-peg’ website building programmes seem to offer great value for money. Buy your own domain name, or get a free sub-domain from the site building company, tweak one of their designs to your own specifications, and you could certainly upload two or three pages within the space of an evening, or possibly more depending how tech-savvy you happen to be.

But if you believe that simply putting together a simple site will bring visitors flocking to view your products or services, then it’s time to think again. There is so much more to digital marketing than simply uploading a few pages of text and pictures to the internet.

In order to visit your site, people need to be able to find it in search engine results when they search for terms that match your services. And unfortunately for all those who choose the DIY option, they are unlikely to attract the attentions of the web crawlers that search engines use to trawl the web in search of relevant words and phrases.

Unless you have a very clear understanding of the way that search engines operate – and bear in mind that they constantly change, modify and update their systems – then you are unlikely to hit upon the correct keywords and phrases that will boost your site to the coveted top spot on the results page.

Not as easy as you might think

An article in PC Pro highlights some of the main pitfalls with using DIY options. In fact, the very tech-savvy reporter struggled to understand some of the principles involved, which shows how misleading the ‘build your own site in an evening’ description can be!

If you’re still determined to go for the DIY option then This Is Money provides helpful advice and information on what to include, and how to plan your design. Be prepared to spend many hours finessing your design and reading up about SEO, PPC and other digital marketing necessities to drive your business forward.

Call in the professionals

Far too many small businesses imagine that paying for a professional web design service will be beyond their financial reach. And yet there are plenty of small web design companies packed with experts who understand how to create, manage and market websites that will add value to your business and drive profits upwards.

Whether you’re looking for Cumbria Web Design or digital marketing, companies such as this Web design Cumbria will create a site that visitors will flock to which is, after all, the point of the exercise.

Web design and marketing is one area of business where you seriously cannot afford to cut costs. So call in the professionals and see your profits climb!