There are a large number of companies in the UK today who know they need a website but “feel” that the most important thing to do is to minimise the cost rather than maximise the return and so turn toward the DIY website solution (I use the word solution loosely!)
There is nothing wrong with building your own website or getting a friend of a friend to do one – “if” you/they have been trained, have the knowledge and understanding needed to do it well, know all the pit falls and ideally are qualified!
Building a website is very similar to building a house. When building a house you need –
- A good location that is easy to access and in a popular area
- A good architect to ensure that your structure will be built correctly in the first place
- A good foundation you don’t want a house to be built on subsiding ground a flood risk area etc
- A good builder you want the house to be built correctly – all the bricks to be aligned and the roof to fit correctly
- A good interior designer so it doesn’t just look good from the outside but also on the inside
- A good insurance company just in case something goes wrong
So would you attempt to build a house DIY style after watching some “how to” videos and reading up on bricklaying on the internet. I doubt it and building a website should be no exception either,
A good website provider will:
- Ensure that your website is found in the correct locations online and with the correct keywords/phrases that you need it to be returned via SEO
- Build the website correctly including things such as headings, metatags, site maps, inbound links, Alt image text etc
- Offer not just website building but also website design advice on things such as images, colours , fonts ,style etc so that people searching online don’t just find your website but they also like what they see when they find you.
- Offer website performance tracking to prove they have built it correctly
- And finally the biggest one – be a provider that will be there no matter what – so you know that your website is insured and won’t just disappear one day off the internet.
So don’t be the little piggy that built their house of straw be the clever little piggy that got a professional in to build one for them.
