When faced with the prospect of building a website for your business, you have two primary choices: use a website builder or hire a professional (BTW, just a few days ago we've released Web Studios Catalogue, I think you need to have a look at it.) This can be a stressful decision if you have no experience with web design, but it doesn’t have to be.
When you weigh the pros and cons of each, you’ll see that one solution is far superior to the other.
The Scoop on Web Designers
It’s important to preface this article by saying that web designers have value. By and large, they are talented, hard-working individuals who fulfill a specific need that many business and entrepreneurs have. However, you don’t need one – at least right now.
Web designers are great, but with 75% probability, they’re a waste of money for businesses that are looking to launch a website. The reason so many people turn to designers is that the design process feels like the one thing they can control and accomplish rather easily. The reason so many people turn to designers is that the design process feels like the one thing they can control and accomplish rather easily.
“We can throw money at a website designer and get it done with minimal work on our end,” says entrepreneur Jeremy Wong. “So, like scared little kids, we hid behind our custom designed website and prayed to the internet gods that our website will auto-magically start getting traffic and generate a million bucks — huge mistake.”
Your average customer doesn’t know the difference between a custom site that cost $3,000 and a template-based site that may cost $80-$200. Until you have an urge for a designer – such as building a highly functional site that does something the competition isn’t doing – so this means that designer services are a waste of your money.
You’ll get a good product, but it will cost more than necessary.
The Value of Website Builders
So what are you supposed to do if you don’t hire a professional designer? After all, you don’t have any design or development skills. Well, thankfully there are plenty of website builders available that you can use. Jay Douglas, another entrepreneur who teaches small businesses how to make websites & the founder of How To Get Online, has listed several good website builders you can choose from. Most website builders require zero experience or design knowledge on your part.
A website builder is simply a tool that comes preloaded with templates, plugins, color palettes, and simple step-by-step guides that allow anyone to design a functional site with just a few clicks. Specifically, here a few of the reasons website builders are so attractive:
- What could be easier than dragging and dropping various elements in place to create your own custom website? Most of today’s website builders have extremely intuitive layouts that allow you to do just about anything you want.
- Having trouble with a certain element? Help is only one message or phone call away. So, not only is it easy to create your site, but you have free access to professional support every step of the way.
- Finally, you can’t ignore the cost. Most website builders cost less than $100 – and you may even get free site building technology if you register your domain and hosting with them.
If you can easily build a website that costs just a fraction of what it takes to hire a professional designer, why wouldn’t you? It’s a pretty simple decision that will yield positive results.
For your reference, not only website builders have a drag-and-drop interface. Our latest WordPress themes like Builderry comes packed with a Power Builder - drag-and-drop page builder.
Builderry - Construction Company WordPress Theme
Ditch the Designer
When designing a website, keep things in perspective. Your site doesn’t need to be some incredible piece of art. It just needs to get the job done. All you’re trying to do is attract, engage, and convert average people. You aren’t trying to get an A+ on a college art exam. So this means that all you need is a website template, and some free time.
A set of our tutorials can help you get the job done.
Trust me, using any of our WordPress themes ANYONE with the least design experience can build a website in five days max.
Do designers have a place in web design? Absolutely. Do you need to hire one? Probably not.
You can spend thousands on a professional site, or just a few dollars on a template-based site that will look the same to an average user.
Why overpay? Get a template and start building your website!