Building your own website?

I can’t tell you how many awkward situations I’ve encountered when someone has designed and created a digital file, be it a PowerPoint presentation, Word document, .jpg design, website, or anything else. I’ve seen some serious garbage! It’s so awkward because all I want to do is tell them that their design is subpar and that they lack the necessary skills, but I can’t bring myself to be that blunt, so I politely navigate the situation.

Let’s break it down so you have some context for my point. Take a word-processed file; you can change the font, font style, font colour, etc. I’ve seen documents with five different fonts, various font sizes, colours, styles, underlined text, capitalised text, bold text, and clip art—all in the same document. Yes, it looked like a mess, yes, it appeared as if an 8-year-old had designed it, and yes, the client thought it was amazing! (OMG… and breathe!).

So, the lesson here is that it’s simply not enough to be able to use design tools; you need to know what you are doing. And just in case you’re thinking, “Yes, but I’m quite good at design,” it’s not just about design. It’s not merely about making something look good, nor is it solely about understanding IT and getting things to work. It’s definitely more complex than that.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

Companies with substantial marketing budgets have been promoting their website builders for years, and technological advancements have resulted in some impressive versions of these services. However, that doesn’t mean you can create a website that is worthy of showcasing your business to the world using a website builder. Yes, these tools can help you create a visually appealing website, connect it to Amazon, and start a business. But nowadays, your website must outperform your competition. It has to generate revenue, be optimised for users, search engines, and different devices. When you consider these factors (and more), websites become quite intricate. I could write educational courses (my previous role) on just how complex websites have become.

Hiring a graphic designer to design your website is like asking a kitchen designer to design the next Tesla Model XYZ

It’s worth mentioning that this is also true when you hire a so-called professional to do the job for you. For instance, hiring a graphic designer to design your website is akin to asking a kitchen designer to design the next Tesla Model XYZ! So why do people think they can design a proper website? The same goes for a programmer—there are exceptions, of course, but as a general rule, programmers know how to get things to work. That’s not enough to beat your competition because your competitors aren’t using a website builder. Would you rather your leads go to your competition because they rank higher or because they have a superior bounce rate (how quickly users hit the back button) than you? Or would you rather your website outperform your competition and make you money?

Is there a case for a website builder?

I’d like to highlight one point here: different businesses require different levels of performance from their website. For example, Apple needs the highest levels, whereas your local phone shop doesn’t need the same. The point is that due to the varying levels of performance required, you need specific flexibility from your website. For a startup that simply wants a website to showcase their business and doesn’t care about competitors taking their leads, improving their website to compete against local businesses, or where they want to be in three years, then fine—use a website builder and do it yourself!

For businesses that do care, consider these questions:

• Will SEO companies be able to perform all the necessary tasks on your website if you use a website builder? No.
• Will growth hackers be able to perform all the necessary tasks on your website if you use a website builder? No.
• Will a programmer be able to perform all the necessary tasks on your website if you use a website builder? No.
• Will a web designer be able to perform all the necessary tasks on your website if you use a website builder? No.

If the professionals mentioned above can’t do their jobs properly, then how do you expect your website builder to beat your competition? How are you going to secure the potential leads that your competitors are getting right now? It’s the finer details that go into designing and building websites that ensure a website reaches its full potential. Speak to any reputable web designer or agency, and they will all avoid using website builders.

Conclusion

Although it’s possible to create a website and make it function, it might look pretty and work, but it’s not enough to perform on the global stage any longer. Businesses are hiring professionals like UI designers, UX designers, web designers, programmers, and marketing professionals to carefully plan, design, implement, and tweak websites that outperform competitors, generate leads and sales, and meet new guidelines set by companies like Google and accessibility standards.

Let me share some insider knowledge: even the professionals mentioned above struggle to keep up with advancements in their fields!!! It’s a challenge. I spend half my professional life reading, learning, and practising new skills to offer market-leading services.

So, that’s why I say you can’t build your own website using a website builder or by hiring a so-called professional. What do you do? You can either find a freelance web designer (who would need to understand UI/UX design) and an SEO expert or go to an agency that has the professionals on hand.

What you don’t do is be naive and think that anyone can slap up a website online, and it will be enough.