Easy Website Claims
“All you have to do is input your info, and you will have a professional website, creating a steady income flow in less than 3 hours!!”
“You can make your own website and save money!”
Do these claims sound too good to be true? They are.
Creating a website that is kept on a server that you have no access to, and built using another company’s software that you also have no access to can be compare to buying a turn-key business on someone else’s property. Your business landlord would maintain the signage, the grounds, and furnish your new business. They may even increase foot traffic because of the advertising they do for other shops in that location. Sounds awesome! Right?
Where’s the catch?
Now, as a business person, you may think to yourself:
- “What happens if the location is sold, and the new owners discontinue the services required to grow your business?”
- “What happens if the owner changes their business plan, and now you have to take on the expenses of advertising, maintenance, and buy your own displays/furnishings?”
- “What happens if a shop on the property gets busted for selling drugs? Your plaza is suddenly all over the news, for all the wrong reasons. Now, none of your potential customers want to come to that location.”
What do you do?
The simplest (and yet, most complicated) answer in all of the above cases would be…walk away and start over. No matter which situation, you own nothing except the items you purchased and have receipts for, or products you created. You have no recourse if the owners change their plan, sell the property, or lease a neighboring spot to criminals.
The easy website builder catch…
When you create a website on one of those “FREE EASY CHEAP DIY Website builder” sites, you are setting yourself up for the scenarios listed above. You may own your website content (your pictures and text) but the website itself could just disappear if they should go out of business. And if they start charging you way too much a month and you can’t afford to keep the site up, your future visitors get a “this site suspended” notice, which will be a negative impact on your business’ reputation. And if another website on your server (and IP) gets hit by the internet police for doing very very bad things, suddenly your email gets blacklisted, and your website won’t be accessible by people using certain “bad site” filters, or anyone at all if Google determines it’s not a safe website.
Build a solid foundation for your business online.
Investing the money to build your own site, on a server that you lease space on, with all the information to move it if you ever decide to is like leasing an office for your business. If you decide it’s time for a move, you pack up your equipment, products, staplers and coffee pot…and you move to a new location. Once you have a new location, you notify anyone that might be directing people to you of the new address so customers can still find you, and you are still in business.
Your business is an investment for your future, you want to do it right and build it on a solid foundation. Don’t let the allure of getting something easy, or free, blind you to this fact: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
What does a solid foundation look like?
Our client, RVRoof.com, has invested a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money into their business. As they grow into a nationwide company, we look back to see how the solid foundation of a good online presence has helped them move forward, instead of wasting time fixing and rebuilding their website (ok… there was one rebuild before they hired us), or putting energy into a strategy that doesn’t produce the desired goal. They built a solid website, they had a great social media strategy that included advertising and scheduled posts, they advertised in print publications, and they go to tradeshows. It’s a well rounded marketing plan that has the vital elements that work for them. Not everyone needs the same thing, and that’s also why DIY easy website builders aren’t ideal. Research is needed to determine what factors work in your industry, and what won’t.
A good online presence might be a lot of work, and it might cost quite a bit of money, but…in the end…you have a far better chance of building a successful business that will be around for a long, long time.
Call if you have questions, we are happy to help.
If you have questions about what it would take to set up that solid foundation, or want to discuss getting your site off one of those DIY site builder sites, before you invest more time into it, call us toll-free at 833-326-7357 or send us a message using the form below:
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