Why shouldn't I just DIY my website?
You're on the fence about hiring a web designer, but you’re missing where you’ll actually see the return on investment... Or maybe you don’t even know how a web designer can actually save you money?
Let’s talk about the reasons why you might need a web designer!
A complete website design has a lot of planning, strategy building, principles, industry trends, checklists, etc. A web designer is there to take over a website you couldn't finish, don't have time to even start planning it, or don't want to learn everything related to it..., so you can focus on your business — and on its money-making activities.
If you’re like me, giving up control can be hard, but hiring a web designer can actually increase your productivity + take one important thing off your to-do list + accomplish all those 7 reasons why every business needs a website I explained a few days ago + achieve all the possible ROI (leads, traffic, sales...!).
The other options instead of hiring a web designer are DIY and/or using templates. Which can…
Take up a lot of your time and money
Reading and learning with books, courses, articles, and content about the basics even (for starters) can be draining. Especially when you’re still managing your business and all those million things you already have to do on your own.
Keep in mind it’s not only about the platform you choose: after also reading, learning, comparing, and testing a handful of platforms available out there, don't forget to focus on studying design (and all its sub-genres), strategy, user experience and interface, accessibility, SEO, mobile-responsiveness, integrations, functions, features, metrics, analytics... Starting and pulling through the learning curve on your own can be challenging for the not-so-much-self-taught.
DIY-ing your site also means taking time off from working in your business. If you spent 40 hours learning and then 100 hours trying to create your website, you actually lost money. You could have closed clients/sales, continued to show up for your audience, taken time off... You wouldn't need to put off paying clients in order to block out enough time to learn something it would take an expert less time to complete. And in the end, you might still need to hire someone to achieve those small big things that you want.
Keep in mind...
- It takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave
- 75% of consumers admit to making judgments on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design
So make sure the other areas of your business that demand your time are not suffering if you decide to build your website by yourself. Time and money are finite resources. Use them well.
End up looking pretty basic and similar to all the other million people that use Squarespace and started with the same templates
Squarespace is super complete, but in order to get the most out of it, it needs to be customized with different layouts, on-brand visuals, CSS (coding), etc. When you work with a designer, we'll create a personalized and complete strategy based on your goals, take the functionality of Squarespace to the highest, customize it to your specific needs — and so much more!
- First impressions are 94% design-related (websites were often found to be too complex, busy [...] bad use of color, excessive pop-up advertisements, etc.)
Lead to results that were not quite as expected
Once again... in the end, you may still need to hire someone to achieve those small big things that you want. And there's a high probability you’ll end up missing something important... Or do something that goes against the industry trends.
To cover all those categories mentioned above (design and all its sub-genres, strategy, user experience and interface, accessibility, SEO, mobile-responsiveness, integrations, functions, features, metrics, analytics, etc.) without guidance is a big challenge.
As you might have noticed, I really like to get my facts straight when providing information. So let's talk some more numbers?
- 70% of small business websites lack a Call to Action (CTA) on their homepage
- 42% of people will leave a website because of poor functionality
- 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience
- 57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile (mobile responsiveness)
It's no lie that designing a website has a lot of things to consider, and hiring a designer is a business investment. But when you work with an expert, you’ll have a unique and high-quality experience and end-product, that will save you time and money, so you can focus on the money-making activities of your business. Oh, and did I mention it's a tax write-off?
“Great opportunities are not seen with your eyes. They are seen with your mind.”
Don’t risk losing customers and sales. Don't miss the opportunity to work alongside a designer that has the tools and skills to implement or improve your website’s strategy, functionality, user experience, mobile responsiveness, design... As I’ve said before and I stand by it, web design isn’t just about making pretty websites — it’s about making websites that are easy to understand and enjoyable to navigate.
Contact me if you'd like to start dreaming up your new website together (feel free to also shoot me any questions, comments, suggestions, inquiries, feedback, opinions, doubts, queries, etc.).
New ideas to the Universe
