Website Builders – How Effective are They?
In today’s business environment, having a website is of upmost importance. According to Statista, there is roughly 3.5 billion smartphones users as of 2020 and this number is forecasted to continue in growth. If you have a smartphone, you understand the convenience it boasts when you’re in another city for example and looking for a place to eat. You pull up Google and type in, “restaurant near me,” and Google spits out numerous restaurants for you to choose from based on your location. If you do not have a website, chances that your business will appear decline and you begin missing valuable opportunities. The Census Bureau World Population Clock estimates the world’s population at 7.6 billion, so this means about 46% of worldwide consumers have the convenience and accessibility of using their smartphone to search for products and services. Make having a website a priority.
Popular Website Builders
For some entrepreneurs or small business owners just starting out, website builders are attractive. What is a website builder? It is an online tool that helps the “average joe” create a website rather easily. Some of these builders come with a “drag-and-drop” feature that allow you to write content, add pictures and videos and then give you the ability to move these components of your website around in a way that looks best to you after you’ve chosen a pre-built design that gives the website its colors, fonts, accents etc. Which website builders are people using nowadays?
To name a few of the most popular website builders:
- Wix
- WordPress
- Shopify
- Squarespace
- GoDaddy
- Weebly
- 1&1 Ionos
- Site123
The builder you ultimately choose will be based on what you hope to accomplish. For example, WordPress was first created as a place for bloggers to create their own blogging site and while it is still a great resource to use for a blog site, it has adapted to fit more needs such as ecommerce and the ability to create highly customizable and high functioning websites. Shopify and Weebly are popular among businesses that need an ecommerce website and Wix has gained popularity for its ease of use and well-designed templates so it can be a great choice when you need to make a website quick and without much complication.
What is Web Design and Development?
Some of you may have come across these terms before. There are professional web designers and web developers whose job is to create beautiful, full functioning and customized websites. So, you might ask, “why would I need a web designer or developer if there are website builders?” Once again, this will be dependent based on what your website needs are. A small mom and pop restaurant that want a website to display their menu, a few photos and a few paragraphs about them would most likely feel comfortable with a website created on Wix. While a golf course that runs memberships, takes reservations and sells products might want a website professionally designed and built to minimize errors and to include a high level of customization. Web designers and developers take your website to that next level.
How to Build a Website
In a web designer and web developer’s world, building a website requires a certain set of skills. Web designers typically spend their time on Photoshop, typography, responsive design elements, user experience design, and color palettes/branding while web developers spend their time coding in languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and more. Both positions do overlap at times as most web designers use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to a certain degree, but in a general sense, designers tend to handle the creative look and overall user experience while developers focus on implementation and code.
If you have no interest in learning any of these skills but want to build a website quickly and easily yourself, then a website builder can be of help. In many cases, business owners might start off building their own website using a tool like Wix or Squarespace. As their website attracts a larger audience and the business itself expands, they enlist the help of web designers and developers to make the site more professional, engaging, customizable and powerful. The gap between building a website yourself or having it done by professionals can be huge, but they both serve a purpose.
Professional Website Help
We’ve established the importance of having a website and the different avenues you can choose to get a website. Website builders can be effective for some businesses, but it can often be beneficial to graduate from a quickly self-built website to a professionally designed and developed website. With the growing demand of having an online presence, more consumers search for an answer on, “how to build a website?” Website builders have been growing in popularity to meet this answer, yet many will realize these tools often only act as a first step as there is so much more to creating a website.
D4 Advanced Media has a team of website design and development professionals that have extensive experience in creating beautifully designed, high functioning websites. The benefits of having your website created by professionals lie far beyond just customizability. Regular maintenance, redesigns, updates and fresh content help your website rank better on search engines like Google and a more professional looking and functioning website compared to your competition will drive more consumers to your site. Even if you want to explore your options with building your own website first, D4 Advanced Media offers consulting on how to choose the right platform to use based on your business, discover and implement web solutions to improve operations, cut costs and save time.
Contact D4 by visiting our website or calling us at (775) 636-9986. Our team of professionals specialize in website design and development, graphic and print design, search engine optimization (SEO), digital marketing, product development and design, consultation and more! Our expertise has helped numerous start-ups get their ideas off the ground and experienced businesses further establish themselves in a competitive marketplace.
