Should I Build My Website Myself or Hire a Professional?

There is much more that goes into developing a website than most people realize.  If you have the knowledge required to build a website yourself then you may want to give it a shot.  However, time is money and it does take significant time to properly develop an effective website that ranks well on search engines and helps your business grow.

Website development involves a process of checks and balances.  A website that violates search engine best practices can actually hurt your business more than help.  Once Google and/or other search engines index a page of your site it counts either “for” or “against” your search engine rankings.  If search engines index pages that do not fall within best practices, you are compromising your overall rankings.

Let’s take a look at some reasons why you should consider hiring a professional website developer who is also knowledgeable in search engine optimization (SEO):

User Experience (UX)

We design your site with the UX in mind. The UX is important when it comes conversions on your website. It also plays a role in SEO.  Think of your website as your online storefront.  Would you patronize a brick and mortar store that is cluttered and disorganized or choose one that is neat, tidy and makes it easy to find what you need?  Most of us would choose the latter.  The same philosophy rings true with websites.  If your site is cluttered, difficult to navigate and not appealing to the eye, then people are likely to go elsewhere.  You have 3-5 seconds to capture the attention of the user.  If your UX is poor, then there is a greater likelihood they will navigate off of your site.  Search engines also consider the UX when it comes to rankings.  A poor UX does not bode well for search engine rankings.

Mobile First Indexing

Google recently announced the implementation of mobile first indexing.  This means that Google will now consider the mobile version of a website first when it comes to search engine rankings.  So, if your website does not function or display well on mobile, there is now an increased likelihood of it not ranking well on Google.  There is an art to designing a website to display well on both desktop and mobile.  We have been developing websites with both desktop and mobile users in mind for years.

Optimization of Pages

If you want your website to show up in searches, then your pages need to be optimized for search engines.  Our team of experts writes and optimizes each page of your website to ensure the content is both appealing to the user; and includes the proper elements, formatting and SEO metadata to rank on search engines.

Overall Quality and Function

Poor quality websites and websites that do not function properly not only adversely affect the UX, but they also tend to not rank well on search engines.    Users won’t come back and visit a site that is of poor quality and search engines will penalize sites that do not function properly. We take time to ensure each site is built to the highest industry standards!

These days, your online presence is everything.  Ensuring your website is developed properly from the beginning is important now more than ever.  We often have business owners who either built their websites themselves or hired an unqualified website company come to us in crisis because their website is not functioning or ranking well on search engines.  Investing in a professional and experienced website developer can save you a lot of time, money and headaches in the long run.

Need a new website or assistance with an existing site?   We’re here to help!