Is it really worth your time developing your own site….

When you start out in business or decide to change your current website it is so easy to think of doing it yourself. There are lots of different websites out there professing that you can build your own website quickly. These are fantastic for putting together a personal site or one for a local club but do they really give the right impression for your business?

As a business you need to put across a professional image, remember people deal with businesses that they feel they know and trust. Your website can be a key element in that relationship building, especially when you are dealing with customers/clients that you may never meet. Also, when people meet you and you give them a business card most will take a look at your website. Their impression of it could be the difference between them considering you as a supplier or not.

It can seem to be more cost effective to do all of the work yourself, saving your valuable start up capital and profits. Now, lets think about how much doing the work will cost you. Your time is your most valuable asset, learning how to develop a website is a time consuming job, even to do a really simple website. Ensuring a site works quickly, is optimised for search engines and has all of the features you really want is quite a complex process. The fact is that the time you spend learning site development will never be repaid. You will only remember those skills if you use them regularly and with your own site will you use those skills enough?

It may seem a huge investment to get a website developer in to create your site but how much time and money will you save by doing so? Another way to look at it is, would someone with a few hours of practice be able to do your job well? I imagine the answer to that is ‘no’, most of us have spent many hours, and often years, learning our profession.

My advice would be to let a professional do your website, it will save you time and, in the long run, money.