I recently met with a client who told me the following: “I know how to design a website but just don’t have the time, which is why I’ve asked you to do it for me.”

Now, the fact of the matter is that this is something I hear clients tell me on a regular basis, and I’m never in a position to correct them as naturally I want the business and don’t want to offend them. That being said, here are a couple reasons why you shouldn’t do your own website design if you own a business (even if you think that you could).

Website design constitutes your online face

Your website’s design is the digital equivalent of your business storefront or office front. In the physical world, a potential customer may walk into your office or store and make a number of assumptions about you and the way in which you conduct business. In the same way, a potential customer visiting your website may immediately judge your business based on how it looks, and may even potentially leave (or close the browser window) immediately. We call this process bouncing (bounce rate).

Now the question to ask yourself is… which of the below two storefronts would you rather have:

Enough said…we would all prefer to have the store on the left, and would probably prefer to buy something from that store, as it just “looks professional”.

Website design is both an art and a science

Website design requires a multi-disciplinary skill set. The web designer should posses knowledge of graphic design, coding skills, business analysis and marketing – to name but a few. When developing a website for business purposes, all these aspects should be taken into consideration. Missing one of these aspects could have a significant influence on the success or failure of your website.

Free website design tools don’t work

Free online website building tools such as Wix or Webs will not suffice for your businesses needs. This is a fact for the following reasons:

• These services make use of prebuilt templates (no matter how much they profess to allow you to create custom templates)
• Due to the point above, your website will always looks like it has been stuck together haphazardly (remember first impressions count online)
• They often require advertising (their own) to be placed on your site
• You cannot build a complex website because you won’t have access to a database
• They often include their own platform’s branding (Example: yoursite.wix.com)

Now my final question is, if you are serious about your business and want to take it to the next level, why would you take a DIY approach? Would you make your own desks or build your own office? I think not, so why would you attempt to build something yourself that is equally important or even more so in this digital age that we live in?

For more information or if you would like to have a professional website design for your business, please feel free to get in touch with us.

Any questions or comments? Please feel free to post them below.