Thinking about a ‘free’ website builder for your business?
Learn why you shouldn’t even consider it.
There are quite a few website builders out there, like Wix, Weebly and Moonfruit. Funky names, but they’re going to cripple your ability to attract the right leads to your business. Why? Let’s find out.
Ease of use & ‘free’
Not all things were created free, but we do like to get something for nothing, don’t we? Using a free website builder for your business website is a bad idea though.
Most don’t allow monetisation at all, which means you aren’t going to be able to sell your services. Yes, most people think at this point “Well, I don’t ship products so I’m A okay Nick!” and if you think that you’d be wrong.
You should be selling online (or at least be able to encourage people to jump into your sales funnel and process): not being able to actually sell to someone takes a big chunk of that away.
This is also true when you think about a WordPress.com website (a sub domain) and having your website on there. Yes, it’s a bit of a grey area because they do allow ‘services that you provide’ to be sold on your WordPress.com website, but that part of the terms is up for discussion.
Also, if you want to sell on the others you’ll usually have to pay a monthly fee anyway (this is usually restrictive and is going to lock you in to that particular provider).
US-based hosting
If you’re like me (a Brit) then you might have put roots down in your home country (which isn’t the USA). That means a free website builder is going to be an annoyance for your customers.
The likes of Weebly et al. have their servers that host the websites in the US (usually around California), so if your customers aren’t based there then they will feel the slowness.
When I’m in the UK and browsing online I can always tell when a business is using one of these platforms. The website loads slowly and it usually looks a bit weird on a mobile device. Do I stay around, browse and then buy something? Nope. I head to another service provider who makes it easier and quicker for me to pay them money.
They change the goal posts
It’s happened before and it will continue to happen. Companies and organizations change the goal posts. Maybe they change their free model to a limited selection of things that you can do on their platform (many already have) or maybe they decide to add percentages or charges to any payments you charge through their platform. The list is endless.
This is a key reason why you should be careful. If things change a month or two down the line and it’s totally not what you want to be doing then how do you get out easily? It’s hard. With WordPress it’s simple: backup, change hosts and restore.
It’s similar to building your business on unfamiliar foundations like we highlighted in the article about social media and growing your online presence solely on social media platforms. It isn’t a good place to be if you’re serious about the future of your business.
Will they shut down?
Do you know for sure that the company you are building your online presence on is going to be around for as long as your business? There have been a lot of companies come and go, especially since the recession of 2008.
Are they going to be around for the foreseeable future? Do they have the capacity (both financial and strategic direction) to keep on keeping on? I know that’s hard to tell from the outside (of any company really), but there is the point where you need to make the decision. If the company went bust tomorrow could you take your website and put it up somewhere else?
Why should people buy if you chose free?
You’re using a free platform (sometimes people can tell, sometimes they can’t), but if it’s a blatant point like a sub-domain of the provider or you’ve got a massive great logo of theirs on your home page then that sends a big signal to potential clients: I’m cheap; I don’t believe in investing in my business, so neither should you.
Restricted growth
What happens if you suddenly have an uptick in business? Maybe you got local press mentions or your business just took off. What happens when you outgrow the platform? You take a good few weeks (or maybe even months) to then transition to a new platform/CMS.
With WordPress you’ll be able to click a few buttons and upgrade your hosting. Sometimes you’ll find that your site will go down for a few hours due to server moves, but most of the time upgrading is easy (but that doesn’t mean it’s free).
A lot of time website builders are seen as an entry point, but that can also mean you’re putting restrictions on your future.
Drag and drop isn’t so great
A lot of people argue that these free providers encourage people with little technical skills to make a website, and they would be right. Some of the websites I’ve seen look like a four year-old built them, and they load reaaallllly slowly because the images haven’t been optimized (that’s where a pro would help).
Also, that drag and drop functionality has to go somewhere: bloated and unreadable code.
That means your competitor – who decided to invest in their business and online presence – is ranking higher than you in the search engines and are converting more visitors into clients because they understand CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) is an important step in the online world.
Poor online presence in Google
While I’m not going to go into the specifics of the free website builders and their ability to rank highly in search engines (using SEO), I feel it’s important to point out certain issues highlighted by leading websites in the SEO industry.
Search Engine Land’s post from 2015 is quite alarming, and I’ve seen a number of improvements when businesses change from a website one of their staff setup to one where a professional correctly configured everything. The results were clear to see.
Why We Believe in WordPress
So, where do you go and what do you do? Well, it’s WordPress – the .org version that is open source. And yes, the actual CMS (content management system) the WordPress system is free, but all of the added benefits to using it for your business are going to cost you a few shiny coins. We help point you in the right direction.
I’ve been using WP since 2008 and I love it. It’s versatile and gives a business owner so much flexibility. Not because “it’s as simple to use as Microsoft Word”, because it really isn’t: people who say that really have no clue what they’re talking about. (It is not as easy as writing a letter to someone, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult either.)
Why then? Because there are literally thousands of people all across the world who can help you with the technical aspects of your web presence all at varying skills, abilities and price points: you have your own choice of provider.
And, what’s important: you can change provider if you feel that you’re not getting the best from the deal.
Read more about setting up your own WordPress business website or ask us to take care of everything for you.
