So, you need a website for your business. Now you need to decide how you’re going to create your website. Should you pay for a professional website designer, use paid-for website design software, or should you use free website designer software?
What is a free website designer?
Many tools are available to help create a website, including website builders suitable for people with little or no experience in website design. These website designers often offer both free and paid plans.
The benefits of using free design software
- Budget-friendly – A free website designer is, of course, going to be an attractive option if you have a limited budget.
- Simple – Many free website builders such as Wix or GoDaddy use “drag-and-drop” functions, so they are easy to use and don’t require any experience in website design or coding knowledge.
- Fast – If you want to get your business online as quickly as possible then a website builder can give you the quick results you want. Using one of the web builder’s templates, the design process is done for you, and you can have your new website up and running in just a few hours.
The cost of a free website designer
It’s free, right? While it might sound contradictory, a free website designer will not come completely free, longterm it will cost you. What are the drawbacks of a free website designer?
- Ads – Most free website designers will include on-site adverts on the free plan, and you won’t see any profit from them. Unfortunately, a website littered with ads will annoy users and look unprofessional, causing you to lose website traffic.
- Limited storage – Free plans will usually only allow a certain amount of storage, limiting the amount of content you can have on your website.
- Restricted bandwidth – This again will lose valuable traffic as once a certain amount of data has been loaded on your website, it will stop working.
- Limited design – Many website designers restrict your creativity allowing few options for design, some even limiting the size font you can use and layout options such as where you can put your text and images.
The benefits of paying for a website designer
If you spend even a small amount each month on a paid website builder, you can expect a much better overall experience compared to using a free plan. You can have a website with no ads and a bigger bandwidth and storage allowance that will load faster. Paid website builders often come with built-in SEO features to help you be seen on Google – the biggest search engine and source of website traffic. They also can give you many more options to customize your design.
Unfortunately, there are still many limitations to the type of website you can create using a website builder. Even with paid plans, you still need to work within the constraints of the templates and won’t be able to change the design much to make it unique. In the long term, as your business grows and you need to expand your website, you will come up against even more limitations with the amount of content and pages you can create. You may also be frustrated by having to work within the creative restrictions of your website builder. The result will likely be a complete redesign and rebuilding of your website.
Another problem you may face is that your website simply does not rank on search engines. The type of code used on the backend by web builders can factor into this. Longterm, you may need the help of a professional to perform SEO services on your website.
Why choose a professional design company?
As we have discussed, there are many options of website designers that you can use to make a DIY website at little expense. With these options available, why consider paying a professional website designer to do the job for you?
A professional website designer can create a custom website for you that is entirely original and made to suit your business needs. If you want a website that will look great on mobile devices and desktops, then it is best to hire a professional website designer with the skills to create a great site with a great mobile user experience. In addition to functionality, a custom-built website will be completely unique and unlike any other site built by your competitors. A professional, such as Torque Media website designer in Burlington, Vermont, can create a website with clean coding and can use good SEO strategies so that your website will rank higher on search engines.
So, should you use a free website designer? If you’re looking for a quick, cheap solution, then a free website designer will get your business on the web. However, there will undoubtedly be benefits if you have the budget for a professional web developer. In the long term, if you want a professional website that can deliver a great user experience, the best option is a custom-built website. Torque Media is a website designer in Burlington, Vermont, with clients nationwide that can create a website to suit your company’s needs, now and into the future. If you want a sophisticated website that can attract customers and help grow your business, contact us today for a consultation.