As Bill Gates said, “If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business.” Many unpredictable factors influence the state of your business. But it is in your power to manage the main aspects that make it efficient.

In this article, we cover how business owners can make a website themselves and which businesses should hire a web development company, what the main advantages and disadvantages of these approaches are, and what opportunities you gain or miss.

How to build a website for free

First of all, let’s figure out what it means to make a website yourself. It means that you create a website with a website builder. Scroll down a bit to learn what the top website builders are.

Previously, websites created with site builders were not used for commercial purposes because the first builders were far from perfect. There were not enough functions, designs, and structure types. Also, it was not possible to make changes to the website's code or appearance. Moreover, there were problems with SEO and speed of work. Nowadays, these issues are not as critical.

When to use a website builder

1. You are a super small business.
   And you do not have money for web development. Some small businesses can be overwhelmed by the costs of website creation.
    

2. You do not have enough money for a minimum viable product (MVP).
   An MVP is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers. An MVP is a great option to make sure you want to invest further in your business idea. But if you do not have money for an MVP, the only option is to make the website yourself.
    

3. You need a substitute while your main website is being created or redesigned.
   Quality website creation takes a lot of time. And you know that time is money, so you do not want to lose opportunities. You can use a splash page while your main website is being created or refurbished. The splash page delivers necessary information to users. You can put an announcement about your upcoming website there and gather some information from customers, or provide them with data instead.
    

4. You need a website just for a blog or hobby.
   There is no need to make a website for an activity that does not bring you money, at least for now.

Advantages of building your own website

• The main advantage is the low cost. While creating a website with a builder, you only pay a certain amount of money for a domain and hosting. But be aware: You might have to spend more if you want a unique design since builders have options like free templates and paid premium templates.

• Creating a website with a builder is fast. Any user can build a website in one day.

• You do not have to learn how to code. All you have to do is fill out some forms and upload pictures and other content you want to use.

• You do not have to think about the structure of the site. All decisions are made for you.

Disadvantages of creating a website yourself

• You are not able to customize template designs.

• Slow load speed due to the size of web pages. This can negatively affect conversion since many users do not want to wait for the page to load. A one-second delay reduces page views by 11%, according to hostingtribunal.com.

• You will not be able to edit the code.

• You will have a one-size-fits-all structure for the website. It is a problem for unique businesses.

• There are few opportunities when it comes to promoting your website with SEO.

Top website builders

1. Wix – functional, easy to use, and suitable for small businesses.

2. SITE123 – a simple, beginner-oriented website builder suitable for small websites.

3. Jimdo – great for one-page websites.

4. Squarespace – a website builder for creative businesses and blogs; has elegant templates.

5. WordPress – a very popular tool for creating a website. Be aware: This platform needs basic programming skills.

6. Weebly – easy to use and cost-effective. Good for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

7. Shopify – has 100 templates. Good for e-commerce; easy to use.

Check out these website builders and find the most suitable for creating a website for your business.

When to hire a web development company

For a better understanding, here we have listed some business segments for which website creation will take a huge amount of time and resources. 

• Enterprises, small and medium businesses, B2C (e-commerce, digital service providers, travel and tourism, healthcare).

• Social networks and media (news and entertainment, creative agencies).

• Educational platforms (corporate training, educational and e-learning platforms).

• Not-for-profit (governments, campaigns, charity organizations).

All these spheres have particular characteristics and complex requirements for the structures of websites that call for a whole development team.

Why hire web developers

The main reason is that you will not be able to handle all the tasks that website creation requires.

And web agencies have many people to manage your tasks. A significant amount of work is executed by such specialists as project managers, web designers, front-end developers, back-end developers, testers, SEO specialists, copywriters, content managers, and many others. Use the help of professionals to create a professional website.

You need a specific kind of service.

Software development teams offer both individual services and complex decisions. Here are the services a web development agency offers:

• Engineering a site or web application (collecting and analyzing requirements, developing technical specifications, designing interfaces)
• Creating a website concept and design
• Creating page layouts
• Creating multimedia elements
• Makeup pages and templates
• Programming (development of functional tools) or integration into a content management system (CMS)
• Site content placement and optimization
• Testing and adjustments
• Publishing a project on a hosting
• Website maintenance

Development teams save your time.

It is better to delegate your problem to experienced specialists who will solve it fast than to try to deal with it yourself, fail, and go to the specialists anyway. Save your time; you do not need to do everything by yourself.

Advantages of hiring web developers

• You do not need to worry about coding and other technical skills that website creation requires.

• You save precious time that you can invest in your everyday business activities while your development team is creating the website. 

• Your website will comply with your goals. An experienced development team knows how to create a site that aims at making a profit or gathering information.  

• There will not be any issues with the operation of the website. All buttons and features will work properly.

• A website development team usually provides maintenance for the website, which is convenient because you will not need to seek someone else's help.

Disadvantages of hiring a development team

• Website cost. Sometimes the cost of a website can surprise a business owner. Check out our article about the average cost of creating websites. 

• Time. If you have the intention to make a complex website with many specific features, it can take a long period of time, so you need to take that into consideration when mapping out the business strategy. 

Now you understand when it is better to create a website yourself and when to contact a development team. You have learned the main advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. To help you choose your way, we suggest you answer the following questions: 

1. For what business or activity do you need a website?

2. Does this business or activity need a website at all?

3. What goals will it pursue?

4. How much time and money are you ready to invest?

5. Do you need it for a long-term or short-term period?

6. How are you going to find a development team?

There are no problems with the last question. We are here to support your business and help it grow on the Internet.

Contact us, and we will help with the development and design of your future or current website.