Hiring a professional web designer pays for itself
Hiring an experienced, professional web designer offers huge advantages over relying on DIY website builders or cheap web design services. Yet many small businesses still cripple themselves by falling for the false economy of cost-cutting on this business-critical investment.
So, put simply, here’s how the key benefits of professional web design compare to those other options:
- Saving Time vs Wasting Time: Time is not free. It’s the only thing you can never buy back. Professional design is not fast, but learning to do it well enough to compete takes far longer — and you are competing with firms who hire professionals. DIY site builders may look like a shortcut, but buying a spanner won’t make you an engineer.
- Increased Business Credibility vs. Amateur Appearance: Professionally designed websites establish strong business credibility, which DIY or cheap designs often cannot achieve. The latter often come across as less professional, actively deterring customers.
- Flexible Online Presence vs. Limited Customization: Any established business will tell you there’s no straight line to success. So flexibility is vital. Unlike professional web designers, DIY site builders and cheap website designers restrict customization options, hindering your growth and chances of long-term survival.
- Wider Audience Reach vs. SEO Limitations: Professionally designed websites are optimized for better reach and can target a global audience effectively. In contrast, DIY solutions are rarely fully optimized for search engines, limiting your visibility.
- Consistent Branding vs. Generic Design: Hiring a professional website designer allows for a unique design that reflects your brand identity. DIY website builders often rely on generic templates, making it harder to differentiate your brand. If you’re new to this, it’s easy to undervalue branding and get it wrong. So professional advice can help to avoid that, too.
- Improved Customer Engagement vs. Poor User Experience: A professionally designed website is tailored for user engagement, ensuring an enjoyable experience. Experienced web designers have spent years learning what actually works — and it’s often not what amateurs think. Cheap or DIY websites frequently suffer from poor “UX/UI” design, reducing engagement and loyalty.
- Effective Promotion and Marketing vs. Limited Features: Professionally designed websites can leverage advanced features for promotion and marketing. On the other hand, DIY and low-cost options might lack these sophisticated tools, limiting your marketing potential.
- Cost-Effective Advertising via SEO vs. Lower Search Rankings: An experienced professional web designer will work with SEO in mind, as that offers significant long-term cost savings by attracting organic traffic. It’s fair to assume every human visitor obtained that way is worth at least £1, as most paid ads cost more than that per visitor. DIY solutions and cheap web design services rarely follow SEO best practices, resulting in lower search engine rankings and far fewer (if any!) visitors.
- Insights into Consumer Behaviour vs. Inadequate Analytics: With a professional web design, businesses can gain valuable insights from data analytics. Running a business without these is like driving whilst blind. Yet DIY site builders often provide only basic (i.e. inadequate) analytics and many cheap designers overlook these completely.
- Increased Sales and Leads vs. Lower Conversion Rates: A well-designed, professional website can significantly boost conversions and sales. In contrast, websites built with DIY tools or through cheap services might struggle with conversion optimisation.
So Is DIY Website Design A False Economy?
In summary, yes, using DIY website builders and cheap web design services is a false economy. Their low upfront costs are more than offset by the opportunity cost incurred by lost sales and other hidden costs of DIY design. These pitfalls lead many small businesses to struggle. Many become zombie businesses, whilst others learn the hard way that cheap web designers often disappear.
By comparison, hiring an experienced, professional web designer is an investment that more than pays for itself. So in the long run, professional web design costs less than DIY.
Professional Web Design For Small Businesses
As a professional web designer who has specialised in helping small businesses since 2005, my affordable web design packages offer the most cost-effective, flexible starting point for most small firms. However, those with bigger plans or more unique requirements may need my full bespoke website design or web development services.
