Short answer? It depends. If you’ve been searching for a website for your small to medium-sized business, chances are you’ve seen or heard of Wix and Squarespace. Both platforms offer similar products and similar price points. Their target market (at least at the time of writing this) it seems is small business owners who want to play the most active role they can in developing a website for their own company by doing it themselves.
Both of these companies have massive advertising budgets and have been quite successful in reaching their target market. If you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur, then by nature, you’re probably the type of person you likes to do things yourself. Small business owners like to save money where ever possible and Wix and Squarespace capitalize on this do-it-yourself mentality.
So is it a bad thing to want to save money and choose a platform like Wix or Squarespace? Not at all. This is why we say, “it depends.” If you match the description above and you’re looking to save paying a designer to design your website then either one of these two options are a good choice. However, there are couple things we recommend that you understand before you decide to go this route.
- While Wix and Squarespace are fairly easy to navigate and build with, this process is not for everyone. We recommend a certain level of computer savviness. If you’re not particular fond of working with computers, then designing a website yourself is probably not going to be for you.
- Make sure you understand copyright law in your country. While it is very simple to cut and paste text and pictures from the internet to use on your website, you are more than likely violating copyright laws by doing so. Even many “free” image sites will still require you to use attribution on your website. Using your images or text copy is best.
- It is important to understand that even with starting templates available, many do-it-yourselfers are not able to produce the same results as a professional website designer. This isn’t exclusively true, but many people find themselves frustrated when their end result doesn’t look as polished as they thought it would.
At Xtego, we’ve had many small business owners come to us either frustrated or overwhelmed after trying to build a website on Wix or Squarespace. There are several reasons for this, but most fall into one of two categories.
- Those overwhelmed by the platform. – Building a website is actually a lot of work, and while modern platforms can things easier, it’s still no walk in the park. Even a 5 or 6 page website can be overwhelming when you consider all the pieces that need to go into a well-built and functional website. People in this scenario often burn a lot of time trying to figure out what to do next or in some cases, even where to start!
- Those who are frustrated with the outcome of the platform. – There are many pieces to a website design that need to work together to make a website both beautiful and functional. Like most areas of design, there are certain rules that should be followed. Some of these rules can be broken for the right purpose, but in doing so it is important to understand those rules first. People in this scenario often waste a lot of time building, but are left with a mess of a site which doesn’t meet their own expectations or standards.
In both of the above cases, the common theme is time lost. Business owners have a business to run, so dedicating time trying to build an online presence by oneself is not always time well spent. This is where a professional website designer can help optimize your spend on both time and website budget. Of course, there will be design fees, but while the website is being built a professional, business owners can focus on what they do best, running their business.