If you are looking to build a website for your business, and are wondering whether you should try a free website builder or whether its worth paying the extra for a professionally built website, here are a few things you can consider when comparing between the two.
Free Website Builder Benefits
- Its free. That’s a no brainer right?!
- They have software that helps you build your website, even if you don’t have any coding knowledge.
- There’s a few to choose from.
Professionally Built Website Benefits
- Your website will be professionally built and look the part.
- Most website companies build your website in a CMS so you can edit it yourself.
- You’re website won’t look run of the mill, it will be unique and designed for you.
- A good website designer will include Search Engine Optimisation when building your website.
- A good website designer will submit your website to Google, include a sitemap, and make sure your website is built and set up properly.
- Your website will be built on your business domain, like mybusiness.co.nz.
- There’s plenty of different website companies to choose from, with prices ranging from $10,000 to $500.
So, What Does all that Mean?
Let’s break down those points a little more.
A free website is free, right? Well, it might seem that way, but actually they make back their money by charging a higher monthly rate to host your website. I saw a customer being charged $99 per month for a free website built through Domainz just yesterday. Most of our medium sized websites fit in our Standard Hosting Plan and costs only $22.94 per month.
A free website is built in the CMS of the company you are building it through. A free website will probably not sit on your own domain, you’ll get something like mybusiness.websitecompany.co.nz instead of mybusiness.co.nz. Not too professional for your business cards and business promotion, not to mention much harder to tell people.
Even though you will have all the building blocks to be able to build your own website, you may find it hard to make it look professional. After all, website designers spend years studying and many more years working in the profession to be able to create the stunning, modern, professional websites they make. It’s not a good idea to settle for an average website that looks like it was put together in your back shed, your customers will likely move on to a more professional looking company.
Another interesting point is that you will not be able to move your website elsewhere, should you no longer want to have it with that company. It is also worth noting however, that many website design companies also have their own licenced CMS they use to build websites, so you wouldn’t be able to move that website either. In fact, you will be limited by both these choices if you wanted to change anything outside of the basic template changes. That’s why here at Kiwi Web Works we use free CMS’s like WordPress to build your website. There are no licencing fees, you can 100% modify every aspect of the website, and you can move it to any website company you like at any point.
Another aspect of your website that a free website can’t teach you is Search Engine Optimisation. A science of its own, SEO is imperative to getting your website ranking well and your clients finding it when they search for your services. All our websites include base search engine optimisation, along with assistance in setting up really important marketing softwares like Google’s Business, Analytics and Webmaster Tools. We can even help set up your Facebook Business page, all included in the cost of your website.
A free website might be the best option for you while you get your business up and running. There are lots of website companies that offer great free website building tools, so if that sounds like the best option for you, give it a go!
If you find that your website is just not stacking up against the other websites in your field, give us a call and we can build you a professional website for less than $6000. It will be mobile friendly, professional, optimised and you’ll be able to edit it yourself anyway! Call us on 0800 999 549 to find out more.
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Are you ready to smash some exciting goals? Or just need some help with your website, Google Ads or social media marketing? Let us know how we can help and we’ll be in touch.