“BUT I THINK I CAN BUILD MY OWN SITE.”

You have an awesome business, and you might have time to build your own website. Great idea? Meh. Depends. We all know the ONE thing we can’t get back is TIME. That precious time should be focusing on running your business, right? While there’s a lot of great free tools out there, here is an overview of 6IX reasons why you shouldn’t do your own website design:

1. You Can’t Match Professional Quality of Web Design

Build it and they will come. Not going to happen! The sheer number of websites on the web means that any new website is likely to get lost in the crowd. You need a high-quality, first-rate site to reach your target audience. Businesses with a subpar site lose credibility and authority. Your site should have a responsive design while being mobile-friendly and beautiful.

Close to 50% of people state that the design of a site is the most important factor when determining a business’ credibility. Not to forget, 38% of people will click away if the layout or content of a site is unattractive. You don’t want that representing your brand/company, right?

You are more likely to end up with an inferior layout if you design own website. Website building tools, especially the free ones, offer limited features and tools.

2. More Sales: Professional Design Helps Buyer’s Journey

Let’s say you use Wix for building your website. You can use the drag and drop design to add the different features and elements. You will end up with a functional website. In fact, the platform also provides designing your own website tips to make the process easier. As easy as ABC, right?

Well, it’s easy for you. But you are not building to be used by yourself, right? Your website is for your customers. And you have to design it to function according to their convenience.

Keep in mind that the design of your website has a direct impact on the buyer’s journey. Your sales can drop by 27% if your website takes one additional second to load.

3. SEO Knowledge and Performance

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a constantly evolving beast. Keeping pace with the changes in the rules and algorithms is virtually impossible for the non-expert. Simply put, you have to test your website’s performance in compliance with Google and other search engines before going live.

When you design own website, you might end up making mistakes with regards to SEO. Even a small error can drive away thousands of visitors. Any web designer worth his/her salt knows all about SEO-friendly design and will build your site accordingly.

The numbers clearly show why you should hire a professional for website design. Optimizing your website will boost your visits by 113%, and contributing to 117% more clicks.

4. The Right Tools and Experience

Website builders change the process of designing a site into a by-the-numbers format. Yet, you cannot ignore that it is a specialized task. Web designers use a range of tools to execute their jobs perfectly. These tools include Photoshop, software for auditing your website, and plug-ins. Some of these tools cost a pretty penny.

Professional designers have the expertise and experience to use these tools to create a world-class website. Moreover, they have access to the tools as part of their job. If you design own website, in all likelihood, you will not be able to use this software or tools at all.

You can spend several months (or even years) learning to use the tools to design a truly remarkable website. Or, you can look for a professional designer to do the job for you. Not a tough decision, right?

5. Security and Support

Designing and launching a website isn’t difficult. Securing it, however, can be a major challenge. Google might shut your website down if you are not complying with their regulations. Also, you have to protect your site from hackers. The last thing you want is your visitors to end up with malware or a virus just due to your website.

Vulnerable scripts, plug-ins, or a dishonest vendor, are the backdoors cybercriminals can use to tamper with your site. Needless to say, your credibility goes down the drain even if there is a minor attack. You have plenty on your plate already. You shouldn’t have to play firefighter! Moreover, you will require technical support from time to time. If there are dead links on your site, you need an expert to deal with the problem.

6. Your Best Competitors Use Professionals Designers

You might feel you have sufficient time to design your own website. Easy website building tools make it possible for you to design a site without any major hassle. However, you should keep in mind that you are competing with other websites.

A simple glance over your competitors’ sites might give you some design ideas. Possibly, you might want to tear your hair out if your site doesn’t measure up in terms of quality and attractiveness.

The fact of the matter is that if your competitors hired professionals for the job, their sites will be superior to yours. And not just in terms of appearance but functionality and SEO as well. You get what you pay for when it comes to website design. Hire an experienced professional and you will receive a high-quality website that rivals your competitors’.

A survey by Econsultancy and Adobe shows that over 80% of industry experts believe design-driven businesses are more successful. You have to focus on quality when designing your website!

Conclusion

Boom. 6IX reasons why DIY website design is not a suitable option for any business. We know you can simply Google ‘how to design your own website’ and build one from scratch. However, when it comes to the results you expect, you will not make significant progress. You only have a few seconds to capture a visitor’s interest.

A professionally designed website has a much better chance to succeed.