Wednesday, 9 August 2017

The Pros and Cons of DIY Website vs. Professionally Developed

Is it time for you to build a new website or update the existing site? There are two options available for you:

- DIY (Do it yourself) website

- Hire a Professional

With advent of advanced,user friendly tools that help one build their own websites, many are looking forward to try their hands at website building. However, it is still a decision that’s worth weighing sensibly.

Listed below are considerations that can help you make a decision:

Available Options

Some of the website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly offer the easiest and least expensive paths for creating a web presence. Overall, website builders are less powerful when compared to an efficient and dynamic system such as WordPress. These are popular and admired for ease of use. Visual page editors on website builders help users edit elements in no time. However, they lack flexibility. Hence, these are best used for building smaller sites. Hosting and registration is available with website builders. So configuration is not a problem. These are available at less than $10 on a monthly basis.

WordPress is a powerful content management system. Unlike other website builders that allow you to drag and drop, WordPress lets you choose a “theme” from several thousand available.  A WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface will help you add and edit content. Users need to employ an occasional bit of code for editing a theme or plugin in WordPress. This makes it a great option for those who aren’t comfortable with HTML. Although free, WordPress will require you to find a web host for $5/ month and pay $10 to $20 annually for a domain registration.

The WordPress site can be handed over to professionals. Although expensive, the option promises excellent opportunity for business owners.
























Understand your Requirements

It is very important to know about the kind of website that best suits your business. The simplest form of website is a brochure site. It is a layout that showcases your business activities. It aims at supplying credible web presence to a company and basic information to prospective customers using images, text, and a video. However, if you are handling financial transactions, an e-commerce site is a must have. This is a little complex and offers the facilities to add, remove, or edit products and services.

A website is nothing less than the business itself for a business owner. It requires being integrated with advanced web applications such as online fax services, project management tools, or price comparison engines. These are best developed and integrated by a professional website developer.

Level of Skill

For a programmer who wishes to build a website from scratch, the sky’s the limit. If you are not, then there are a huge number of options available for nearly every skill level. Website builders are easier to use tools. No coding is required to build a website. Using website builder is easier for PowerPoint users.

WordPress demands a higher comfort level. It requires web hosting and HTML. The platform is flexible and customizable. Choosing a website builder should depend on your skill level.

Consider Budget

This is certainly important. Depending on whether you wish to build your own website or hire a professional developer, a brochure website may cost you anywhere from around $50 to over $5,000. Professional developers usually charge a minimum of $5,000 to build a nicely structured, mobile-friendly website.

For an e-commerce site, you need to spend a little more. These are complex designs and require an expert hand. If you opt for a website builder package including quality e-commerce features, expect to pay around $300 per year. A professional will cost you $7,500.

Assess Your Options

If you are a business owner belonging to any of the following categories, hiring a professional PSD to WordPress conversion service is a must:

- Your business relies on custom apps

- You expect to generate 100% of business from the website

- No idea about website builders

Hiring an expert will help a lot under these conditions.

In case, you expect to generate less than 20% of their business from their website and are quite comfortable with basic programs such as PowerPoint, DIY is a good option.

Do you fall anywhere in between? Well, you have a huge number of options to choose from. WordPress platform is one of the best choices which provide excellent cost savings.