Todd Sumamno
When websites started becoming a valuable tool for businesses, many companies spent an inordinate amount of money on a website that they were unable to update and maintain themselves. They were written in code and the code was considered proprietary to the designer. They would charge for every update, and if they closed down or moved on to other things, the website could not be changed or upgraded.
Many websites became obsolete. They couldn’t have shopping carts added, and they weren’t able to be updated. So, when it came time for a new website many companies were loathe to invest large sums of money on another website. Fortunately, creating a new website became less difficult as more and more packages like WordPress became available.
Should I build My Own Website or Get a Professional to Do It for Me?
Fortunately, this isn’t a $6,000,000 question. The cost is a fraction of that. So, it comes down to what you want to achieve. Knowing what you want is just as important as knowing how to get there. So, if you know what you want to create and how to do it, then you should do it. Unfortunately, when it isn’t your area of expertise it is very easy to become derailed in the process. Spend some tie looking at your competitors’ websites. Work out what you think works well and where you would want improvements. Then look at websites outside of your area and work out what you would like in your website and what you don’t like. Now you have the information to decide whether you should attempt this yourself or whether you would be better off briefing a professional to create your vision.
Is Your Website Going to Generate More Than 20% of Your Business?
There are many different types of websites in the marketplace. Many however are just to direct potential customers to contact them, they aren’t needed as a physical sales tool. What you need in this instance is a brochure type of website, and these are relatively easy to build.
If the website is needed to take online sales, my recommendation is to use a professional. Customers will not buy online if it isn’t a secure site. A savvy person can create this themselves, but if you invest the time and money now to set it up properly, you can choose to maintain it yourself. You can still update stock, add new graphics etc, but if you get the trading portal wrong, your customers will not buy from you again.
Do You Have Someone to Host the Site?
Something that is often forgotten is that you need a host. Your internet provider can provide this service, or there are thousands of companies that offer the service. You need to be sure that if your website goes down or stops operating for any reason that the host company is accessible and will fix the issue promptly. The cost is usually minimal in the scheme of your business costs, and some providers will offer hosting and maintenance packages so you can have some technical support available too when plugins need updating or if anything happens to your website and you need a little help from a developer. This is a great little insurance policy and can be well worth the extra price.
What Will It Cost for Me to Build My Own Website?
Using a program like WordPress, you can go through the whole website design process without spending much at all. If you want to customize anything there will be small costs for add-ons and plug-ins. You can search through a thousand themes for displaying your information or you can look for a plug-in that is more to your liking.
The question to ask isn’t whether you are capable of doing it yourself. You probably are capable. The question should be would your time be better utilized in other areas of the business?
A vital requirement in modern-day websites is their versatility on mobile platforms. Most people searching for information today do this on their mobile or tablet. Not all websites designed on a PC are suitable for mobile devices.
Using a website developer who specializes in WordPress means that you will get your website completed to a professional standard much quicker and without bugs while you’re running your business. It’s always best to outsource areas of work that are not your forte and your time would be better spent doing what you love.
How Do I Build Meta Tags and Keywords into my Website?
Firstly, what is a metatag? Metatags are small excerpts of text that describe a page’s content. They are not visible on the page, but they assist in search engines’ knowledge of what a page is about.
Keywords or phrases are words that describe the most common search results for your type of business.
Where metatags require some knowledge of HTML, keywords can be incorporated into any web page you publish. They will assist in the search process, improve your Google rankings and when done well can assist with the success of your site.
Video Content
Video is very valuable and useful for conversion optimization, so we highly recommend you include a professional introduction video on your website. Most people will spend an absolute maximum of 30 seconds to 3 minutes looking at a video, so you need to keep your message within that time frame. You also need to ensure that it isn’t ‘in your face’ when a person loads your page. Having a button to play the video in their timeframe is more valuable. Also, you need to ensure that the music isn’t polarizing. It needs to be neutral and not too loud.
Summary
It is up to you to decide what will work best for you. To design a simple website doesn’t take a lot of expertise but it can take some time. You need to work out color schemes, layout, buttons, inclusions, text, images and video. Where is your time better spent? If you are to find an experienced professional to put into place what you want the site to achieve, with all the inclusions that you want and all the bells and whistles that will make the site shine, it will be done professionally and ready to go.
Brittany
