8 reasons not to use website builders

Website builders, such as those offered by GoDaddy and Wix, promise easy-to-use website creators that will have your website up and going in virtually no time at all. Remember the old saying, that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is? It applies to website builders, too. While it may be easy for anyone to create a website with them, it won’t be a fantastic website that will get your business noticed on the internet, and there are many reasons not to use them.

You Often Only Get One Page

When website builders say that you can create a website, they really mean that you can create one web page. Custom, professionally-designed websites have multiple pages, and this is very important when it comes to search engines indexing your website. Having a single page means that there is only one page of content that can be crawled by search engines, which hurts your chances for your website to rank well with quality content.

You Pay for a Website That You Don’t Own

This is the biggest downfall of using website builders. They own your website and often, your content, images, and logos. If you ever want to shift your website to another hosting service, you will almost certainly have to start from scratch. Also, whatever progress you have made with search engine rankings will be lost, because those rankings are based on the builder website, not your business.

The Website Templates Look Alike

There’s a reason that websites created by website builders look similar. Those website builders offer limited selections of templates that are similar to those of other website builders. If you want your website to look like all the other websites created by builders, that’s fine. But if you want your website to stand out, you won’t get that from a website builder. Also, you can’t just switch templates if you want to redesign your website. You’ll have to start all over from scratch and rebuild your website.

No Custom Domain Names

With a website builder, you can’t fully develop your brand. Branding starts with a URL that reflects your business and is easy to read and remember. When your website is www.websitebuilder.com/yourwebsite, people and search engines are going to know the site as Squarespace, not as your business name. Your website won’t be a catchy URL that you can display on business cards, and people will easily remember.

No Access to Data and Metrics

Only a few of the website builders provide access to quality data and website analytics to track your website’s performance. A website created through a website builder can’t be verified for Google and Bing Webmaster tools, and you won’t be able to get crawl information about your website. That information can give insights into website traffic, conversions, your Call to Action, and other factors in website performance.

Flash

Many website builders still rely on Flash to create websites, which can create a number of problems. Flash is not friendly to search engines, and Google actually advises against using Flash in websites. Flash can’t be viewed on Apple tablets and cell phones, so it’s not a mobile-friendly program, and this will result in unhappy website visitors.

Ads on Your Website

If you use a website builder, they’re going to advertise themselves on your website, and it looks very unprofessional to have ads taking up strategic space on your website. Not to mention, it’s annoying for website visitors and distracts from what you want them to be focusing on, your business.

Bad Customer Service

The customer service support that comes with a website builder is lacking, to say the least. Many website builders proclaim that it’s easy to create a website on your own, but many people give up on that and pay the website builder a fee for professional assistance. You may spend hours trying to find a solution to your problems because websites designed with builder sites often don’t work properly.

Why WordPress Is a Good Option

Rather than relying on website builders that don’t produce good, high-quality results, we suggest WordPress as a better option. WordPress makes it possible to create a quality website, without the need for advanced web design skills. It’s a solid platform that many businesses already use, and the possibilities are endless. Through a large database of plugins, you can add e-commerce, a blog, or a members-only area to your website, and you can set up permissions for other people to access parts of the content management system. WordPress website design is flexible, allowing you to edit templates and optimize your website for SEO. Most importantly, with a self-hosted WordPress site, you own it. Your content is portable, and you’re in total control.