Build Your Own?

Like many self employed and small business people you may be considering building your own website. This can work if you have the required IT background and skills to do this. Otherwise it could be a VERY bad decision for your business.

Obviously we have a vested interest in discouraging people from building their own websites. After all if everyone did this we would be out of business. Specialising in websites for self employed people and small businesses makes us particularly vulnerable to this.

However, we have had several cases where people have come to us after attempting to build their own websites and subsequently failing. This means that they have to start (and pay) again. This is a fairly common occurrence.

There are tools that are available online and from hosting companies that attempt to make this process a bit easier for you but the bottom line is that this is your business that is at stake. Are you willing to jeopardise its success to save a small amount of money - perhaps less than you are currently paying to Yellow Pages?

Checklist for Building Your Own Website

Before commencing ask yourself these questions and be honest with yourself ;o)

• Are you capable of deciding what DIY website route will be the best for you? There are literally thousands of DIY website tools available on the Internet, both free and commercial. Are you capable of assessing these to determine which one best suits your requirements and skills? Attempting to learn to use a system which is not a good match for your skill set can waste lot of time and money.
• Do you have sufficient PC skills to follow the instructions? Taking on PC related tasks like this should only be attempted by people who are very familiar with PCs and software applications. If you do not have the necessary skills you will only subject yourself to unnecessary hassle and waste many hours of your valuable time.
• Building your own website design components and features: Is your eye for design good enough to allow you to turn out a presentable, professional looking website offering? What looks good to you may make others cringe. This will not do your credibility any good. Do not attempt to build your own website unless you are sure that you have an eye for colour and design.
• Building your own website structure: Websites (even small websites) have to be structured in a way that presents your information in an appropriate way to your website visitors. You must be able to understand how people view websites, where they will look for info and how they will seek to navigate through your website. Don't get this wrong!
• Search Engine Optimisation SEO: This is the process of building a website to make it search engine friendly so that it has a chance of attracting traffic when people search for the products and services that you offer. Some people can make a reasonable job of this by studying and being able to understand the information that is readily available on the Internet. The problem with SEO is that DIYers can pick up some knowledge in this way but most of them do not know what they do not know. In other words they are not aware of the things that can damage rankings and cause your site plummet or worse, to be dropped from the search engines' index altogether. We would advise you to put your trust in professionals when dealing with SEO.
• Google and Google Analytics: Google is really the only game in town here in the UK when it comes to search engines. It will normally deliver more than 90% of the traffic to your website either directly or indirectly. If you are building your own website and doing your own SEO you must know how to make it Google friendly.
• Making updates to your website: Some people can afford the many hours that it will take them to build their own websites and to learn how it is done. When they have done so they may be happy with the result but sooner or later they will have to get back to their real job of running their business. Perhaps three months later they may need to make changes to their website. When they start to do this they realise that they have forgotten half of what they previously learned. They have to spend an inordinate amount of time picking up thee threads again - not cost effective.
• W3C Standards Validation: Many website designers believe in the process of website validation, which is ensuring that it meets acceptable website design standards. Most people do not realise that different browsers (like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera) can display websites differently. Internet Explorer is still the most popular but our website visitor statistics tell us that Firefox and Google Chrome combined account for almost half of our visitors. If our websites did not validate then potentially they would not be displaying properly for half of our visitors. Do you know how to check this?

The Alternative to Building Your Own Website

In conclusion, before attempting to build your own website check the list above. This list tells you the things that some of the DIY website companies try to hide. If you still feel that you are capable by all means go ahead and try it.

Alternatively have a look at our ready made website design offer. That way you can get involved in the design and be guaranteed a professional solution that validate according to W3C standards.