Do it yourself websites, on the face of it, are great. Companies such as Wix and Weebly provide pre-existing designs, functionality and a good number of options in order for you to build a website. In theory, all those elements they provide are tested and work across platforms. Some are even responsive (work on all devices). However, in order to build one, there is a steep learning curve as well as maintenance.

Is it really easy?

A client of ours and their marketing specialist decided to give Wix a go and didn’t understand the principles of functions, user interface as well as the principles of good web design. The site was never fully completed and the site hung there like a broken link appendage off the main site. Think of it this way – your accountant has the expertise to find software such as MYOB easy. MYOB is easy to use, however, if you don’t know what double entry is, or what a credit or a debit is, you probably will have difficult operating the software and creating more work and frustration for yourself. There is a similar issue here.

It's Free

The DIY sites do make a big deal of it being free, when in fact it's not all free. It is free to start an account and use their site builder but what is not free is when you are ready to launch or publish your website. They have a subscription system and the lowest subscription attracts advertising on your site. Free does come at a cost. You're subject to subscription (advertising) cost, bandwidth limitations and you don't own the hosting or the design rights to the site.

Search Engine Optimisation

A small but very important issue is optimizing your site for search. DIY sits tend to create strange elements at the end of a link.

For example: www.domainname.com/article-with-many-words/kfjgnd/ or worse!

This may not be too much of a problem for Google to read, but search engine optimisation is partly for search engines and partly for humans. A legible, structured and easy to remember link can help a user manually type a link directly into the address bar or even search it.

Conclusion

The idea of DIY site builders is fantastic, however, the idea that you know how to build one and have a site up and running in minutes may not quite be true. In the end, you will probably find that your valuable time will be spent learning how to use their system as well as tinkering, experimenting and refining what you have. If that is what you are aiming at, then spend the time to do it, but keep in mind your time could be better spent getting your product and service ready. The biggest concern for any website is if you want to move hosts, you can't take your site content and design with you. In essence, you are locked in.

Unlike DIY sites we offer a more unique website – not a template driven system that locks you in or makes you lose it if you leave.