Online website builders: the fast food of the web design world
When it comes to building a website, many people are tempted to use online “website builder” software which are free or ask for a low monthly subscription fee. While these tools can be useful for those with limited experience, they can also come with a host of limitations and drawbacks. Here are 10 reasons why hiring a professional web designer may be a better option.
Note: This blog post was enhanced with AI.
1. Customization: With a professional web designer, you can expect a fully-customized website that is tailored to your specific needs and goals. Online website builder software, on the other hand, often offers limited options for customization and can result in a website that looks generic and uninspired. When you finally find a template that looks great for you business, you are often limited in what modifications you can make to it including colors, spacing, and fonts. This leads to a website that looks bland and boring. And worse, can lead to a site that looks exactly the same as someone in a completely different industry. Imagine a customer navigating your pet grooming company having just been to the same website template that was used for a funeral home! That doesn’t instill confidence in your business.
2. User Experience of website builders made websites: A professional web designer has experience and training in creating websites that are user-friendly and intuitive to navigate. They can ensure that your website is designed with the end user in mind, leading to a better overall user experience. Things such as fonts, spacing, colors, and images need to go together, not just be randomly inserted onto pages. These nuances can trip up even experienced designers and are nearly impossible for someone without a graphic eye to look at. As an example, when you add a photo to a page, do you know it should be facing inward to the page? A photo with a person looking off the side of the screen psychologically signals your visitor to leave or at minimum draws their attention away from your content.
3. SEO Optimization: Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical component of website design. A professional web designer will have the skills and knowledge necessary to optimize your website for search engines, leading to better search rankings and increased traffic. While we don’t specialize in search engine optimization at Starcresc, we do ensure that your website is built to suit search engines, and utilize all the knowledge of the latest and greatest search engine techniques to make your website optimized for search engines.
4. Mobile Optimization: With more and more people accessing the internet on their mobile devices, having a website that is optimized for mobile is essential. A professional web designer can ensure that your website looks and functions well on all devices, from desktops to smartphones. Most builders will leave things to imagination, assuming a user will, never for example, use a long word that doesn’t fit within the viewport, or utilize an image that needs to appear without being chopped off.
5. Branding: A professional web designer can help you create a cohesive and consistent brand image across your website, social media channels, and other digital platforms. This can help to establish your brand and increase brand recognition. When left to free website builders, you have to fend for yourself with what few options they gave you. Maybe you can change the fonts, or the size, but you will inevitably run into something you cannot change because it is part of the “template”, or worse, without an experienced designer, you may have difficulty recognizing the small touches that can be done to make a website appear as part of a cohesive brand.
6. Security: Online website builder software may offer some security features, but a professional web designer can ensure that your website is secure and protected from hackers and cyber threats. They can also provide ongoing maintenance and updates to keep your website secure over time. Did you know that with most popular website builders, if your website becomes popular overnight, or even slowly over a time, will be shut off if it uses too many resources? In order to limit oftentimes cheap, crowded, and, inefficient servers from shutting down other customers websites, they may turn yours off or demand a fee for excessive data usage. A legitimate company can prepare your website before you go viral on TikTok and work to preemptively allocate resources before your yearly holiday rush.
7. Functionality: Depending on your business needs, you may require specific functionality on your website, such as e-commerce capabilities or custom forms. A professional web designer can build these features into your website and ensure that they function seamlessly. With most builders, this becomes a puzzle piece of online software integrating with the builder, which often introduces compatibility errors and can quickly become expensive. Some builders don’t even give you these options, and you are at the mercy of whatever functionality they offer by default.
8. Time and Effort: Building a website can be time-consuming and overwhelming, especially if you have limited experience. Hiring a professional web designer can save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on running your business while they handle the website design.
9. Support and Maintenance: Online website builder software may offer some customer support, but a professional web designer can provide ongoing support and maintenance for your website. They can also make updates and changes as needed to ensure that your website remains up-to-date and relevant. We’ve discussed When to Update Your Website before. Builders empower you to make these changes yourself, but many times are clunky and confusing, and when you reach out to their support you are charged just as much as a normal website developer would charge, -plus you are stuck making the change yourself!
10. Long-term Investment of website builders: While online website builder software may seem like a more affordable option upfront, hiring a professional web designer is a long-term investment in your business. A professionally designed website can help to establish your brand and attract more customers over time, leading to increased revenue and growth for your business. Building your website on a concrete platform, such as WordPress, Drupal, Laravel, or Joomla, will ensure that updating your website in the future is possible. When you use an online web builder, your website must generally stay with them indefinitely. You have no access to the source code and if you want to tweak it down the line, you are at the mercy of tools they make available to you. A professional website is like a literal tool for your business. It is something you can take with you, modify, tweak, and change as you see fit.
In conclusion, while online website builder software may seem like an easy and affordable option for building a website, it can come with a host of limitations and drawbacks. By hiring a professional web designer, you can expect a fully customized website that is optimized for search engines and mobile devices, supports your brand image, and provides ongoing support and maintenance. Ultimately, hiring a professional web designer is a long-term investment in the success of your business.
So let’s chat! Visit our Contact form to let us know what kind of website you are looking for, today.
