Whether you’re starting a new company or looking to revamp your current look, your website is the most important part of your marketing arsenal. Let’s face it. Just about everyone you know, including yourself, searches for things online. Therefore, if you don’t have a website, you basically don’t exist to the majority of the population in your area. Now, you may not know the first thing about starting a website and look for a quick, easy fix such as Wix or Squarespace.
Wix boasts more than 53 million users and offers free web design services featuring a simple drag and drop design system. You may wonder how Wix can afford to offer this free service to so many people. The answer is: through ad revenue. Wix will give you a free, simple website but it will also display advertisements that include lots of self-promotion. You don’t exactly want to make it obvious to your customers that you’re using a free platform, and advertisements on your website come across as both cheap and tacky. Wix also offers hundreds of templates to choose from, but once you commit to a design, it’s final. If you decide you don’t like the look of your site, you’ll have to start over again.
Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a free trial and then charges a monthly subscription fee for their design services. Prices range from $8/month to $24/month, depending upon your needs such as storage space or products sold online. When creating or editing a page, you’re unable to see it live without going to another screen. If you want to edit again, you’ll have to back to where you were beforehand. This switching back and forth can be time consuming and test your patience. While their Style Editor allows for just about every type of customization you can think of, it can’t be done without beginner or advanced HTML knowledge. If web design if not something you’re not familiar with at all, you may find that your choices are more limited than you initially anticipated.
While Wix, Squarespace, and similar do-it-yourself design programs certainly have their perks, there are several reasons to consider using a professional web design company to handle things for you. First, while you may not have the knowledge and experience to successfully build and update your website, this is what a professional web design company does every day. There’s something to be said for experts who are fluent in SEO, best design practices, browser compatibility, and so on.
You may want to consider finding a web design company that offers content writing services as well. While you may have images you’d like to use, or a list of services you provide, do you know how to effectively sell your business through your website content? Do you have enough material to fill several pages with information and incentive to contact your company? Have you thought about adding a blog for added marketing power? Not only do you need this initial information, but your company site should be updated regularly to yield the best search engine results.
The truth is that you have you a business to run and though some design programs make it easy to get a website up and running, it still takes a significant amount of time and effort. A full scale marketing company that also offers web design services can ensure a clear, consistent message throughout the site. They can build you something unique that stands apart from the competition, and they’ll help you build trust and credibility in the eyes of your customers. While simple web design programs may seem like the most cost-effective answer for your business, long-term, it’s much more practical and beneficial to hire a professional designer.