Team 218 Web Services Blog

TIPS FROM A PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGNER
You have a business. You need a website. Where do you start?
We’re here to help you out with a little guidance on your trek to getting online with a website for your business. Rest assured you’re not the only person to be in this position and since we see a lot of interest in this topic we decided to share some of our experience with you.

Do It Yourself
If you’re on a tight budget and feel confident in your ability with technology you might find yourself in this column.

Keep in mind when considering the DIY route, you’ll also need the time to devote to doing it yourself. There is the time required to learn whatever website product to go with. Don’t forget about the time to conceptualize your design and turn it into an actual digital work of art.

DIY can be a good option for a starter website. The current crop of website builders have a nice array of design tools that let you create a good looking website without any technical knowledge.

What do you need to DIY?

Domain (Your website’s address)
Hosting
Content (text & images)
Actually there’s a little more to it but those are the 3 main categories.

Most of the major players in the DIY business include a domain and shared hosting in their website builder packages. You just need to create your content and choose a template to format it.

Here are a few of the DIY website builders vying for your dollars today.

WIX
Weebly
GoDaddy Website Today
WordPress.com (different from WordPress.org)
Squarespace
Any of these platforms will let you create a website without too much technical knowledge. Many of the low cost versions are limited in one aspect or another. Some limit the number of users allowed in a certain time period. Some limit bandwidth and storage space.

With a DIY package you are also limited in functionality. Most don’t allow you to upload any plugins. You are stuck using their themes, although the themes they offer can look really good.

Most of these website builders aren’t suitable for eCommerce unless you’re creating a small online store. Plan on upgrading to one of the deluxe (more expensive) plans if you need ecommerce.

Hire a Pro
Using a Pro is a much different experience than the DIY route. When you hire a web designer to create your website, much of the work involved becomes the responsibility of the web designer, freeing you to concentrate on your business. Let’s take a look at what we do for a typical web design project.

Domain name research & procurement
Set up Hosting on appropriate plan
Install and configure WordPress
Select and install WP Theme
Create Child Theme
Configure Theme settings
Set default color palette
Set default typography
Determine necessary plugins, install and configure
Create User Interface
Create pages using Organic SEO tactics
Use appropriate images and textures
We take high resolution photographs when necessary
Review design with client & modify as needed
Launch site
Configure Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Maps, & Google MyBusiness
Configure Bing Webmaster Tools
Configure site to use InfiniteWP for continuous monitoring
Provide client training
Configure custom email as needed*
(optional)
Those things are what you don’t get with a DIY website builder.

A responsible web design firm like Team 218 will ensure that the pages of your website are designed and built with solid Organic SEO tactics. This is something that is more difficult to add on after the fact. Without good Organic SEO, your search results will suffer and it will be almost impossible to achieve a good ranking.

When we design a website we include all of the above and we also include hosting and all maintenance for 12 months. We keep a close eye on the site not only to make sure any updates are completed promptly, but also to monitor Search results. We may make many adjustments to a page to affect the SERP.

We are confident we deliver a better result than you can get from a DIY builder.

On top of everything else, we provide the best customer service you’ll find anywhere.

We can’t speak for other web design firms but we know you’ll be happy with one of our websites. Ask any of our clients.