You know very well that your business needs a website! New businesses need a website to build their credibility and an established business needs a website to maintain the reputation they have already built. If you have proactively made the decision to finally add to your marketing plan one of the most important digital advertising tools, then you are probably deciding whether to hire a designer, use a WYSIWYG, or use a do-it-yourself website building platform to so. All three options are perfectly good ways to go about getting a website for your business.
It all depends on which is best for you.
1. WYSIWYG (Wiz-ee-wig”)
WYSIWYG literally stands for, “what you see is what you get.”
Which to use: Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontPage
Pros:
If you have a background in developing this could be the best tool, especially if you need a website sooner than later. Programs such as Dreamweaver, allow you to see the design of your site without worrying about the coding up front.
Cons:
If the coding at times marks a code it believes should be inserted, then you would need to have sufficient knowledge about coding in order to fix the issue.
There are several free online tutorials on WYSIWYGs if you are the type of business owner who has the time to spare and learn the ropes. You will still need to take care of purchasing your domain, any hosting needed, as well as security verification certificates, and e-ecommerce building products if needed.
2. Website Building Platform
Which to Use: Wix, Weebly, Webydo
Pros:
These sites are best for those of you have absolutely no knowledge of coding. They are best if you need a simple budget friendly way to build a website with pre-designed and customizable templates, that will give you an acceptable design to fit your taste.
Website Launch depends on your availability.
Cons:
The free sites offered to you do not have an original URLs, and usually contain an ad for the web platform, letting everyone know exactly where you built the site. Because these platforms give you an easier way of building your site by providing pre designed templates layouts for you, there is a possibility that you will see your website layout on someone else’s page.You can be charged a monthly fee to keep the website up if you choose to remove ads. Also pointing the URL from your domain provider to the platform, can prove challenging for some, especially if your domain provider is not as popular such as Godaddy for example. The packages offered along with your website such as: your domain, e-mail boxes, and shopping carts, are substantially higher than what you would pay if you would go directly to domain and hosting providers. Most importantly, for marketing purposes, these sites are not as likely to move up in search rankings, because most do not let you edit the codes in order to get analytic feedback that can aid in search engine optimization (allows customers to find your business through search engines)
3. Working with a design agency
With the options we have already listed some owners might feel that a hiring a professional designer is not necessary. However, a lot of you might end up hiring one, because of the peace of mind having one provides.
Pros:
These agencies can connect you to not just one, but several designers to design your website, just as you picture it. Perfect for the perfectionist owner or those of you with little time to spare to learn or design your own site.
Agencies can suggest the best way to organize, content, design, and pages in order to fit your target markets needs and improve search rankings in the future.
They can purchase and set up your domain and e-mails for you and your website will be unique to your business as well as customized fully to any specific needs such as an online appointment making feature. Basically, everything you want and none of what you don’t.
Cons:
Finding an agency requires some shopping around and an initial meeting to find out what your website budget can really buy you.
A professional site with coding requires time and the more elaborate the job, the higher the cost. It is important to stress deadlines to designers as well.
Bottom Line:
Obtaining a website can finally provide the image you need to be up to par with your toughest competitor, even if you are half of the size of that competitor. With a website you are choosing to level the playing field. Take the time to explore each option and see which best fits your current situation and skill level.