Why Shouldn't You Use A Website Builder?

Over the last few years, website builders have become a popular way to build small business websites. When you watch their advertisements on TV or YouTube, they look pretty easy to use. They sound like a great option on the surface. You pay a relatively small monthly fee, choose a template, create a few pages, and you have a website on your own. Simple, isn't it? Not that fast.

While this may seem like a perfectly fine option, there are a number of reasons why using an online website building service may not be in your best interest. Here are the reasons for this:

​

Design

And live in an aesthetic-loving world. Almost every potential customer you get will always choose a professional and unique site on a run-of-the-mill website any day... even if you're selling exactly the same products! In order to attract customers, it is important to stand out and call attention to challenge your competition. First impressions are vital and the most successful way to get a beautiful website that suits your business is to have your website professionally developed and designed. There is no opportunity for a unique website with limited design choices that the DIY website builder gives you. Your site will end up looking like thousands of others, all of them using the same template.

 

Slow Website Speed

Slow websites are bad for visitors, sales and even search engine rankings. Google knows all about your website, including how long it takes to load it. If it takes a long time to load, you'll be dinged in the search engines, and probably by your visitors as well.

 

With companies like Wix and Squarespace, you're on a server with lots of other people. This creates less resources and slower websites that are bad for everyone. Websites should be hosted on a fast server that does not have a large number of other websites hosted on it.

 

Ownership

If you choose to DIY a website through platforms such as Wix or Squarespace, you choose to give them rights to your own website. If, over time, these platforms lose money or decide to close down, your website, along with your hard work, investments and/or customers, you may have to go through the site. These scenarios are non-existent by choosing a professional developer. Even if your chosen developer closes its doors, they have the ability to transfer you and your customers to a new developer without losing their rank.

 

Flash Based

Another reason that SEO builders are bad about websites is that they are based on flash. Google and other search engines can't read flash, so they don't know what the website is all about. Not to mention that the flash is very slow and kind of old school.

 

Flash is also very unsafe, it can't be searched, it doesn't have text content, and it's a nightmare for search bots. I strongly suggest staying away from web builders who use flash.

 

Cost

It's a common misconception that you're saving bucket loads of money by building your own website. What most business owners don't realize is that there are more than just photos paired with text on a successful website. Professionally developed sites initially cost more than DIY sites. What business owners need to remember, though, is that a professionally developed website will attract more customers and make you more money in the long run than any 'free' site could ever have.

 

No Competitor Diversification

With 180,000 other people using the same template, how are you going to differentiate yourself from your competitors? If a customer had a choice between a business with a Wix website or a business with a custom website, who do you think they would choose?

​