Pros and Cons of Using a Website Builder For Your Small Business Website

Source: bartxdigital.com

As a small business owner, we can only assume that you don’t have access to a huge capital. But any business, no matter its size, needs a website. Luckily, creating a website isn’t as complicated as it used to be.

You don’t need an entire army of designers, programmers and testers anymore because nowadays you can just do it yourself. How is that possible? By using a website builder, such as wix.com. These platforms (compared by Hosting Foundry) offer you the perfect playground to build your very own website. 

All you need to do is choose one of the thousands of templates available, customize it as per your needs and launch your website! However, as with every piece of technology, there are some pros and cons you should know about.

Pros

1. You Don’t Need Coding Skills

Source: techlog360.com

The first and best advantage of using a website builder is the fact that anyone can do it, without having to learn how to code. You don’t need to spend a fortune on hiring a team of experts and you don’t need to waste time trying to learn how to write complicated lines of code. Website builders are created to serve the needs of the people with no coding experience.

So how do they work? It’s easy! You create an account and browse through their selections of website templates. After you’ve chosen one, all you have to do is add your own content, customize it with a drag-and-drop editor and launch your website. Piece of cake, really.

2. They’re More Affordable

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When you use a website builder for your business, you will save a ton of money. If you’re going for a fully customized option, you’re looking at at least $6000 in invoices. And that’s not to mention the cost of upkeep, hosting and occasional changes required from the devs. But if you’re going for a website builder, you’re going to spend anywhere from $30 to $50 a month. 

On top of that, website builders will also offer you hosting capabilities and will help you with domain purchasing. This is a great choice especially for small and new businesses that can’t afford to drop thousands on a website.

3. They’re Intuitive

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Let’s face it – not everyone is tech-savvy. And that’s fine. You don’t need to be a tech guru to use a website builder because most of them feature a drag-and-drop editor. On top of that, almost all the website builders available come with their own high-quality pictures and videos that you can instantly add to your new website.

Modern website builders allow you to use beautiful themes, with tons of features and customization options. So even if you have no experience in web design or coding, you can still create a stunning website from scratch.

4. They Have Lots of Features

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Every website builder offers its users a wide range of features. You can use contact forms, ecommerce tools, image and video sliders or blogging features, just to name a few. Seeing as website builders aren’t designed for just one type of business, you can always expect to find the features and options your website needs.

You need to launch a full ecommerce business with stock management and payment options? You can do that! You need a way for your customers to easily get in touch with you? Just add a custom contact form on your website! You can do all these things and more in a manner that’s quick and efficient.

Cons

1.  Not Fully Custom

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If you want a top-notch website, you need the experience of a professional. Most of the themes offered by website builders are not fully custom and only come with a minimal degree of personalization. If your website demands are very specific, a website builder might not be the right choice for you.

Not to mention that some of the themes look very generic and there’s a high chance your website will look like the other hundreds that used the same theme. And when you own a brand or a business, that’s the last thing you want – you need something unique that makes you stand out from the crowd. If you do use a website builder, make sure to customize the theme enough to make your website unique. 

2. Slower Loading Times

Source: websitepulse.com

More often than not, sites created using website builders are slow to load, due to the lack of proper optimization. If you want your videos or images to be compressed, for example, you will have to do that by yourself. And if your website is rich in such content, this will prove to be quite tedious. 

Back to the loading speed, however, this is not where website builders excel. It’s a well-known fact that users will leave any page that takes more than 2 seconds to load. So, if you want something fast and reliable, you’re better off paying for a custom option.

3. Limited SEO Options

Source: forbes.com

While most website builders will offer you some built-in SEO tools, they still won’t help your website rank better. That’s because you won’t have full access to the source code and thus, you won’t be able to fully optimize your website. Sure, you have full control of the primary design aspects of your website, but you will never be able to access and modify the actual source code. 

Sites created using website builders give you some control over the more basic stuff, but you will never be able to compete with the custom-built websites. However, that’s not to say that you can’t rank and rank well when using a website builder – you just don’t have the same control.

In Conclusion

There’s nothing wrong with using a website builder for your business needs. But before you choose one, you should do a bit of research to see if they offer the features your business needs.

Your website is one of the most important parts of your brand – it’s the business card every new client sees before making a purchase or using your services. And because of that, your website needs to be perfect. Depending on your business size, type, needs, and so on, using a website builder might be the perfect option for you.