Why DIY websites are setting you up to fail
So you’ve doubtless seen the adverts going around Facebook and Twitter and even the TV about the “Do it Yourself” website builders that exist these days, the biggest two being Wix and Weebly.
Now we can appreciate that our point of view on these is likely to be biased, but all we are going to do in this blog is explain why DIY website builders are not a great investment in relation to your long-term business aims.
We shall for the purposes of this article attempt to be as balanced in our views as possible – obviously, we would describe these DIY websites as being the McDonald’s of websites; if you want something quick and simple then you can’t really do much wrong – but if you want something that is going to benefit you long-term and be substantial, then they really are not for you.
So what’s the difference?
Well it is very long-winded to explain and frankly quite boring and half of it wouldn’t mean much to you most probably.
Therefore, we have made use of two images to try and give a visual representation of what we are talking about.
Essentially the easiest way to explain it is to say, Google sees a very different version of your website than you. What Google is looking for is the code beneath your website, as well as the content, so it can accurately determine what your website is about and attribute a relevance to it – quite simply DIY sites don’t give you this.
A visual representation being:
With a DIY website what it is giving you is a framework that you essentially put pre-built sections on top of – think of it like a Lego set! They’re saying; “Here are the pieces at your disposal, go make a house!” and I think we all know that a house made from Lego probably wouldn’t be the best house to live in.
In a professionally built website, much like a professionally built house, the pieces are more substantial and more suited to purpose. The construction worker (hopefully) knows how to put it together and what can be done to adapt the pieces to make the very best house possible.
What they’ll also do is build in the back-end stuff. The stuff you NEVER see. The stuff that wouldn’t make any sense to you if you did see it. Like the foundations, under floor heating, the wiring or the plumbing in your house– you’ll never know how it works so you get a professional to deal with it!
So to visually represent a professionally built website:
What are these “inner workings” doing?
Well that is the million-dollar/pound question! Basically, what this is doing is trying to show Google how good your site is. There is no exact science to this, but it is VITALLY important that it is done.
Search Engines
Yes, sorry, search engine’s again!
It is an unfortunate fact of the modern internet world that in order to compete you need to play by Google’s rules. Simply put, a professional website will always win out. Yes, they cost more but there are so many options available to make them easier to use!
