Old Fashion Webmaster Coding vs "Do It Yourself" Site Builders

Is a site builder or a custom website created by a webmaster best for me? If a question like this is on your mind... then you are asking yourself a very important question! It's important to "be in the know" when it comes to starting your own online business website!

You have a business that you have been working for a while and now you feel settled in the business enough that you feel it's time to branch out into the big world of the internet... but you don't know what do you do or how to make your dream of going global with your business a reality!?! If you feel all knotted up like a pretzel with questions and uncertainty... you are not alone! Alot of people feel this way! I know I sure did when I first started out in business and then decided it was time to have an online presence and go global! In this article, I will share with you much of what I have learned about the differences between the "do it yourself" site builders and coding a website the old fashioned way... with your two hands!

When I first started out in business, I had NO CLUE WHERE TO START or what to do! I tried "do it yourself" site builders and I didn't like that at all because I couldn't do anything I wanted to do. I had to accept whatever templates they offered (which I didn't like), and half the time the page didn't lay correctly so I had to edit the page 5 or 6 times to finally get it just right! That's when I decided a "do it yourself" site builder was NOT for me!

My husband (a very talented Senior IT Analyst) and I worked very LONG AND HARD to form a very plain and extremely basic website, a temporary open template design with no background or borders, and began adding all of my products on it. When I saw the behind the scenes of the creation of a website... I was in AWE! I couldn't believe what looked like a bunch of gobbly gook (coding) could look so amazing when seen as a webpage! What really got my attention and took my breathe away.... was the way everything worked so perfectly together! That is when I started teaching myself all I could learn about websites... how to design and develop them!

Once I had that mastered I then learned all I could learn about search engines and I began optimizing my website so that I could get a favorable response from the search engines and so that I could MAKE MY ONLINE PRESENCE A REALITY!

Once I felt I had learned enough... I started trying to create a series of completely different and unique website designs! Through A LOT of trial, error, and experimenting... I soon was so skilled at what I was doing for myself... that I found that there wasn't much that I couldn't do! That is when My Colorful Treasures Web Design & Development was born!

My web design & development business is a far cry from my first business but I am so happy that I learned all I could from my previous business because... web design and website development quickly became MY PASSION and a HUGE success! I have enjoyed every aspect of it!

When it comes to creating a website... you can go one of two ways! You can go with a
site builder or you can have a website developing firm (like us) create your website and then maintain it for you.

Pros & Cons Of Using Site Builders:

I don't use site builders because do it yourself site builders offer only very limited features like: category menu systems, certain website design templates, certain layouts and page structures, certain graphic placements for header/logo etc, fonts, colors, etc., you have to edit the page in the do it yourself site builder several times before the page lays correctly, it does not perform SEO (search engine optimization) for you, you have to pay a costly monthly fee just to have the do it yourself site builder plus the cost of hosting as well, you can't change the layout or structure of the website, you have to figure out how to add your own pages, products, shopping cart all by yourself with no one to help you! Alot of times you envision one thing but you are not able to make it happen because your site builder will not allow you to do what you want to do. The BIGGEST con of site builders is that once your website is created... you don't completely own it. You can't go elsewhere if you choose to... and if you get these packages that include your domain name with it... they own your domain name too. So imagine working for years to make your domain name and website popular... and then decide you move your website to a different updated site builder... nope. Unless you want to re-add all of your products and information... you aren't going anywhere. You DO NOT own it.

Pros & Cons Of Old Fashioned Coded Websites:

If you have a website developing firm (like me) create your website for you... they will create your web pages for you, provide you with a custom designed one-of-a-kind website template, add your products for you, add your shopping cart for you, edit your images, and maintain your website for you as well! You have an endless selection of features to pick from (like category menu systems, website design templates, layouts and page structures, graphic placements for header/logo, etc, fonts, colors, shopping cart features, form features, SEO performed on your web pages for you, you have no monthly fee for a licence, having a webmaster tend to your website for you leaves your hands free to work on your business instead of spending tons of time working on your website and the list could go on forever! Having a trained, talented, and honest webmaster could open a whole new world up to you!

ALL site builders & even most website designers only offer 1 menu system choice... where we (My Colorful Treasures Web Design & Development) offer 6 custom designed website menu systems, custom designed templates, custom designed java scripts, custom designed css stylesheets, custom designed forms, custom designed graphics, & SEO to ensure that your website is beautiful, customer friendly and most importantly... search engine friendly! The MOST IMPORTANT PRO... is that YOU OWN YOUR WEBSITE. You own everything. It belongs to you. You are free to leave to a new host.... to a new webmaster.... and not have to re-add anything. It's totally yours.

It sounds expensive... but it's not. You only pay maintenance fees when work is actually performed on your site. My motto is this: if a revision you ask me to do takes less time to do it then it does to bill it... then I simply don't bother billing my client for the revisions to the website. I am much too busy to spend time billing someone for revision that only took a tiny bit of time... so to me it's a waste of time to bill it. That happens often. : ) A simple change here and there is basically free. That also is not typical for a webmaster but I try to give back to my clients by giving them a break and saving them money... : )

Alot of people use the easy to do it yourself site builders & do really well with them, but MANY do not! I (as a website developer & webmaster) know that there are literally hundreds of features available to business owners if only they knew about them and had a webmaster to implement them! Site builders do not provide these options to their clients and they don't educate anyone either. Alot of business owners that are using site builders and maintaining their own businesses do not know enough to truly do their business justice.

Most people don't want to spend the money for webmasters to take care of their website for them; however, they often spend more on the site builder licence and monthly fee than they would have ever had to pay for a webmaster to tend to their websites! Most people don't realize all of the possibilities that open up to them by having a webmaster create and maintain their website for them. I hear so often people complaining about their "do it yourself" site builders and that is when they usually come to me.

Webmasters (website developers/designers) offer SO MUCH MORE than any site builder and most web designers offer. Most of the web designers offer their designs up for sale but will not create your web pages for you. They offer do it yourself site builders to go with the web designs instead. They are not website developers. That is usually where people get stuck because they are then on their own adding their own products, shopping carts, etc. The only thing you gain by creating a business like this is that you have a custom designed template; however, you will still have to deal with the HUGE limitations of the site builders.

Most of the population in the world is technologically challenged. Many people who are not versed in html or coding try using the site builders but end up coming to me because site builders don't offer their users any flexibility. Many people don't realize the benefits of having a webmaster creating and tending to their websites. So many things are available to business owners that have websites... and they don't realize it because site builders don't tell you it's available... where webmasters will let you know what's available. Site builders can not customize a design and layout the way a user would like them to. It's just not possible. Many of my clients who have left their site builders to come to me... love how custom their design and layout is and how hands free the website world is for them.

You might think $20 an hour sounds expensive... to have a webmaster maintain your website for you but if you get the right webmaster... one who is honest about the time they put into your website... in all reality it's not.. it's quite affordable. I take my job, as a webmaster, very seriously and I always try to find my clients ways to save money! You only pay maintenance fees when you want your webmaster to work on it... or add to it unlike a "do it yourself" site builder where you have to pay to use it on a monthly basis regardless if you change anything on your webpages. My motto is this: If a revision you ask me to do takes less time to do it then it does to bill it... then I simply don't bother billing it. A simple change here and there is basically free. That also is not typical for a webmaster.

Tips from a website developer/designer to help you out -

Just to make things clear.... SEO is very very important to a business's success. SEO is how the search engines will rank you and without it.... you will not get up in the search engines and you will be lost in the mass businesses trying to get ranked who have used site builders. When it comes to having a website created for you (with your specific wants and needs in mind).... it's very important to make sure you go with someone who will create your website to be search engine friendly, who knows how to do SEO, and one that can maintain the site for you as well. Site builders are NOT search engine friendly either.

Deciding what to choose having a webmaster create a site for you or going with a "do it yourself" site builder is a hard question. Some people will offer to maintain the website for you as your webmaster (that will only charge you when they do actual work on your website) and others will offer you a site builder but will charge you a monthly fee just to have your site builder plus your hosting AND YOU END UP DOING ALL OF THE WORK. Site builders cost at least $12.95 a month often with a one time $50-$100 site builder cost. Alot of times people pay for a design as well... which is between $75 - $2000. Then they pay an SEO specialist... to come in on top of the other sky high costs and perform SEO services on their website which can start at $70.00 per month, as high as $400.00 - $500.00 per month, and sometimes even higher!! Truly.... having a website created and maintained the old fashioned way is clearly the most affordable way to go!

Please do not allow any web designer to purchase a domain name for you..... because the moment they do that...... they own it and you don't. Protect yourself every way you can. Many have been taken for a ride by unscrupulous web designers and I think it's so sad! Especially when people spend large amounts for websites and make a domain name popular and then find out they loose it if they choose to leave. That is just not right! Some web designers/developers... offer the domain name for free or purchase it for their clients and then when it's time for the clients to leave them... the web designer still owns the domain and if it's quite popular they won't let it go. I do not do things like this because it's cheating the client out of what's rightfully theirs. I can assure my clients will never have to deal with anything like that with me. I operate my business with a code of honor and ethics. I assure you (and even specify this on my website) that the website and domain name is the client's that it belongs to. Theirs entirely. I will only maintain their website for them and if at some point they choose to take their webpages and domain name and go else where... they are free to do so. I hope my clients won't go elsewhere but if they choose to... they are free to if they so choose. The most important thing to remember when choosing between a site builder vs having a webmaster create and maintain your website for you... is that you have to decide which choice best suits you and your needs. Good luck in the business world! I wish all who read this article much success in their business and a prosperous future!

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Thanks so much for viewing this post... I wish you all great success!


Lisa ~ Owner of My Colorful Treasures Web Design & Development
Website: http://www.mycolorfultreasureswebdesign.com
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