Build Your Own Websites For Your New Business

Starting your own business is not for the faint of heart and candidly, it’s not something that just anybody can do. The needs of a typical startup are immense. Your great idea seems easy enough but when it comes down to doing all that is necessary to achieve and maintain success, you will learn that starting your own business isn’t nearly as easy as you thought it would be.

One of the more challenging aspects of starting a business is understanding how you plan to market your product or service to potential customers. Most businesses depend on a wide array of collateral assets to accomplish this important task. Let’s concentrate on one very important one that almost every business needs… the website.

Simple website solutions for small business?

Most business owners become overwhelmed with the process of getting their business up to speed so by the time we get to collateral development it is not uncommon for them to take shortcuts. Although important, the development and launch of a website for your business is oftentimes one of those shortcuts.

Big tech companies know this so they’ve developed a simple, highly commoditized way for you to check the box when it comes to your website. All facets of making this website have been simplified in a plug-and-play manner so that the site ends up looking relatively professional.

Here is a partial listing of the most popular platforms that some businesses use to create a simple website:

• Wix
• SquareSpace
• Canva
• GoDaddy

WordPress also has a ‘plug-and-play site-building option that’s a little more in-depth than the ones listed above.

Most of these options allow you to build a site relatively simply and for little to no cost. The money is made on monthly hosting costs which are inflated to create profit for said platform. The business owner checks the box that a website has been created to represent their product or service and moves on.

There are cases where no further action is needed and the business operates with its new website, monthly hosting fee, and relatively simple means for updating both copy and imagery.

If that sounds like an endorsement, it’s not.

The pitfalls of ‘build your own’ website platforms

Simple, build-your-own websites are a thing for sure. We have clients who have them and we do our best to operate with some of the limitations they pose to a business competing for clients. Here are just a few challenges we see with these types of sites.

1. Plug-and-play sites can be limited in their ability to track user behaviors that are critical to optimizing your paid search strategies.
2. It’s very important to understand organic search when you build a website. If you don’t understand that, you can significantly compromise your website’s ability to attract new customers.
3. Templates can be problematic when trying to stay ‘on brand’ with what your product or service is all about.
4. Limited design equals limited messaging capability. Self-built sites don’t convey your brand attributes well.
5. Not being a design expert often shows on a self-built site. This can reflect poorly on your brand.
6. Self-built websites are oftentimes poorly structured to deliver a favorable user experience that can be critical to getting the user to convert.
7. Backup and security are two key elements that some self-built sites lack.
8. A self-built site can have challenges with being properly responsive on cell phones, tablets, and other screens.
9. It’s important to commit the time to updating your website with fresh content for search purposes and relevant changes as they pertain to your business.
10. Over time you will pay too much for a ‘build your own’ website. The pay structure affiliated with self-built websites gets expensive with basic ‘add-ons’ and the hosting charge ends up being costly in the long run.

If that sounds like an indictment, it’s not.

How startups should approach their new website need

Understanding the challenges and limitations of a ‘build your own’ website is important to minimizing the negatives. Most businesses operate on a budget so a self-build website can be an affordable solution in the short term. That being said, they do come with limitations and if you choose this particular solution know that it’s not nearly as effective as hiring professionals to design, build, and maintain a high-functioning and properly optimized website for your business.

Regardless of the pitfalls, ‘build your own’ websites are here to stay. AI-driven content solutions will continue to enhance the simplicity of these websites as we move forward. As a digital ad agency in Phoenix, we’ll compete with them in one sense (website building) and work with them in another when we acquire clients who have them.

As always, we’ll work to the best solution that’s in the best interest of our client given their current business circumstances. That’s what we do and yes, that’s an endorsement.

If you have or are considering ‘building your own’ website and have questions on what’s best for your brand, feel free to email me at ed.olsen@rethincadvertising.com or give me a call at 602.284.6722.