Can I do it myself?
Well, the short answer is you absolutely can. There are a variety of different tools that enable anyone to build their own website. The longer answer is that you can, BUT you have to keep in mind the other aspects around making a website: the design, search engine optimization, page speed optimization, domain management and a variety of other aspects. I do caution you to be careful around Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content, however.
As proven by studies, having a website makes a client much more likely to trust your business. Even better, having a website that conveys your value to the client could be a deciding factor between picking you and a competitor. Trust is everything when it comes to finding the right business. SEO is king and ranking high on Google requires time investment and know-how.
For now, let’s get into the common options of creating your own website. We’ll keep this one to a very high level overview of different services.
AI Generated/AI Builder
Let’s get the first, hot-topic out of the way. AI website builders and “AI Agencies” are offering cheap, easy websites. If you don’t have a website and just need something quick and simple, this may be an option for you. The premise is that you essentially describe what you want and AI will spit something back out to you that tries to match that. Whether or not it gets close is hit or miss.
While that does sound good, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, your website will blend in with all of the other AI generated content. AI tends to generate sites with similar images, fonts, and designs. The content and copywriting tends to follow very similar flows and structure. It doesn’t at all understand what your business does and how to convey that to the user. I believe AI has a place in website creation and copywriting, however I don’t think it can take on all those responsibilities simultaneously while delivering a good experience.
WordPress
This is probably the most common website builder out there and accounts for a large portion of all websites out there. One thing in common between all these platforms is that you can find a theme and build pages based on that theme with a relatively simple visual builder. Wordpress is no different. You can browse and find a theme you want (likely pay for it), and try to customize your website to your needs. You also aren’t restricted to only their service for hosting. You’re able to host on your own computer or your own server. It’s definitely an affordable, all-encompassing option if you can dedicate time to learning the details.
Since WordPress is also the most commonly used website builder, it is also more prone to being targeted by hackers. You’ll want to make sure that your website is kept secure and that plugins are kept updated in order to mitigate this risk.
I recommend looking up guides or tutorials on WordPress prior to starting the journey to see how well it clicks with you and if it makes sense to build your own site.
Wix/SquareSpace
Both are a more simple, easy to use approach than WordPress. They offer less in-depth customization and capabilities, however they’re generally sufficient for any small business or business that may want to create a blog. You can definitely still establish an online presence with these. They have the same capabilities of finding themes and customizing them to fit your brand and your content. The pricing is on the higher side and any add-ons may pile that price up to higher than some small businesses would like.
One factor that drives people away from them is the lack of ownership of your content. You have to host with them and have an active subscription with them to access your site. With SquareSpace, you are “technically” able to export your site into WordPress or other options, however it won’t produce anything remotely similar to what you had. With Wix that option doesn’t even exist.
Keep in mind that building a website will be a time investment on your part. Taking this on yourself is no simple task and although it can be done by just about anyone, it will take time and commitment. A bit of frustration along the way is very normal, however, you can build something yourself and be proud of it.
Where we come in
Defib Digital builds custom hand-coded websites and doesn't use any of these platforms. The websites are secure and won’t involve the risk of being hacked and held hostage for thousands of dollars.
We help to fine tune your branding, create custom designs, handle hosting, and write content. A quick introductory call with you gives us all the information we need to build out an initial preview for you to see. We then discuss and tweak it to your liking.
We establish analytics on your site which can tell us how pages are performing, which pages are visited more, where users visit your site from (Google, social media, ads, etc). This can help identify pain points in the website and iterate on it to decrease the bounce rate.
Our goal is to drive organic traffic to your website through Google, and more commonly now, AI searching. For example, people may ask AI: “Who is the best painter in Houston?”. Well, there’s a method to how AI will handle that search, and that’s also something we optimize for.
As a result, that means more business for you and a website that can be tailored to drive more traffic without the hassle of creating your own website and trying to maintain it.
