Modern website building tools such as Wix make it easy for you to build a website yourself so why do I get so many clients coming to me, that have built or started to build, their own website?

I think it's important to understand what your website is...

Your website is possibly going to be the first thing potential customers know about your business - it's your shop window, your exhibition stand, a bridge to your business and your chance to explain what you do. It needs to be clear, uncomplicated and targeted to your potential customers.

Many clients I work with, have previously built a website using; Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Wordpress, GoDaddy etc. ...and I'd actually encourage anybody to go down this route as you will gain some understanding of what's involved in building a website - simple isn't it?

Anybody Can Build a Website

This is absolutely true, in the same way that anybody can build a bridge but if you need a bridge to get traffic (i.e. people) to your business, would you trust that you'd done it properly? You could start with a bridge-building kit but do you know enough about building bridges to know which bridge-building kit to buy? Once you've built your bridge do you know enough about how to sign-post people to your bridge rather than somebody else's bridge?

What Can a Web Designer Bring To Your Business?

I always try to put myself in the shoes of your potential customers, something that can be a difficult thing for business owners to do, as it can be easy to think of the goods and services your are promoting rather than who actually wants those services and why. I've been building websites for over 20 years and during that time I've worked with hundreds of businesses, organisations and individuals - that's an immense amount of experience and it's not just about the way that a website looks.

Much of what I do is not just building a website but involves...

• Writing copy or at least advising on content
• Correctly structuring text for humans and search engines
• Photography advice and / or choice of images
• Logo design
• Using social media alongside your website
• On-site Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Off-site factors such as analytics, search console, Google Business Profile
• Blog writing

I hope you've enjoyed this article. Yes, this is a biassed point of view but it's a bias built on experience.

Looking for a web designer - get in touch...