DIY VS DFM – Pros and Cons

Want to create a website for your business? 

Zany website solutions offer two ways to create the perfect web presence for your business. A website is usually the first place a visitor will look when trying to learn about your business. Creating an attractive website that attracts the attention of your audience is very important to turn the visitor into the customer. With so many options online, you can overwhelmingly try to figure out which solution is right for your business. 

The DIY Website – Pros.

DIY website builders have become a popular option for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking for a cost-effective way to create a website. Essentially, it’s a drag-and-drop software that can help you build a website with virtually no technical knowledge. 

Here are some reasons why a DIY website builder might be suitable for your business: 

 Pre-designed templates offer hundreds of options to choose from

 Create a mobile-friendly website that looks great on any device. 

 Direct website for faster installation.

 Easy-to-use, drag-and-drop editor 

The drag-and-drop editor allows you to edit your website without the need for programming skills. Save time and money without letting the Web developer make the changes you need. This gives a sense of satisfaction by spending your own time and effort creating a website for your business. If you like the process of creating something new, this can be the perfect solution for you. Zany’S DIY website builders are a good option for small businesses that have the time and opportunity to show some creativity and create their own websites. This is the perfect solution for those on a tight budget and who don’t mind spending time and effort on the project. 

The DIY Website – Cons

This means hiring an internal team or spending excess time. This can be a potential pitfall by using templates that might not be optimized for your business, increase launch timing and increase the errors due to lack of previous market testing.

Zany does create beautifully crafted templates, which are carefully designed by professional designers to fit each company perfectly. However, once the Do-it-Yourself user fills the template with their own content things can go amiss.  Companies can disrupt the site’s aesthetic as they may not have the design tools, and skills to adapt content.  They may not know where all the links are, and they may change functions in the template.   Templates are made with SEO in mind.   The result, in many cases, will be a far cry from the stylish model it started with.  Search engines index websites based on specific keywords that appear in both the actual content of the site and the backend code.  This backend code and metadata can not be pre-filled in before filling in a template.  This means that templates have no depth.  This means that when most people are done with a template they have no SEO value and means the business will be losing out on new customers from search engines.  

Other reasons which templates are not superior are because they lack custom coupons, pop-ups, contact forms, chat-bots, social share buttons, FAQs, portfolios, and interactions. 

Finally, templates lack complexity.  They take forever to turn into a full CRM (customer relationship manager) which means that businesses need to spend extra time to make their websites work for them.  This may include manual data entry, multiple excessive add-ons, and complex synchronization processes which are poorly understood.  (With an agency although they may utilize these items, they are carefully curated and linked together and often include analytics)

The Done-For-Me Website – Pros

If you have more specific design requirements, e-commerce needs, something designed for moderate traffic volume, FAQs or chatbots, memberships (the list can be extended), you need professional help to complete your website, The “done for me” plan may be the best option. Professional Website Designers create your website and become a great solution for those who don’t have much experience in web design. Simply saving time can make this process more attractive to many entrepreneurs. “Time is money.” By choosing a “done for me” approach allows you to save time, effort and create a hassle-free professional look. 

Websites complement offline business and help drive sales by increasing reliability, making them available 24/7 for customers to see, and improving marketing efforts. Companies want to encourage customers to buy from them by providing an optimal viewing experience that will simplify the purchase process, whether online or offline. 

Contracting out allows you to hire an agency.  This means you hire pre-vetted processes, an external team of dedicated experts, and a big-picture overview of the digital marketing landscape.  These agencies (like Zany) have experience driving traffic to businesses, are able to dedicate experts to each task, and focus only on the ROI from the digital landscape.  Zany has a “chat-bot” expert, a “Linkedin” expert, a “Sale’s Funnel” expert because we have multiple clients and utilize each expert in their appropriate field.  While most small business owners have accumulated knowledge in various areas related to their business, the reality is that skills outside their core business refer to the field of “master at everything, a master at nothing. 

When considering having a web presence we optimize for the customer journey.  These include effective and decisively placed action calls and logical user flows that allow customers to quickly find the right information.  

 For example, if a potential customer enters a website and cannot quickly find the contact information nor locate an about us section, chances are they are quickly going to move on to another website that offers all of this information upfront. The probability that that potential customer will turn into a customer is very low if they are not thought of at the beginning of the creative journey. 

A considerable amount of web browsing is now done on mobile devices, so it’s important to ensure customers can quickly and easily find the information they need. 

For example, if a potential customer finds your website online and then later wants to contact you it is highly likely that the second visit will be done on a phone.  If your web page is not optimized for this a visitor might not be able to see your phone number and reach out.

Similarly, the visual design must be an accurate representation of the company and be aesthetically pleasing.   An attractive website will trigger an emotional response from the customer and increase a sense of professionalism and trust towards the company. 

For example:  On the other hand, a poorly constructed website, especially one that is not on a par with competitors, will be unconsciously avoided

Done-For-Me Website – Cons

We don’t really believe there are any cons, except that it does cost money to hire an agency, and if you really are a control freak and want to do everything yourself…. Well, we can’t work with you.

 Ultimately, the decisiveness between DIY and hiring a designer to create a website depends on time, not just financial resources. The smooth operation of the simplest websites requires several days or even weeks of continuous work. Most entrepreneurs miss the time it takes to invest in an effective website that combines all the above elements. Every minute that full-time employees devote to creating a website is a minute they don’t generate sales by performing other tasks for the company. If the construction of the site suspends business development, the company may actually be losing money. An experienced web designer can not only save time but also help you create a perfect end product. 

Make a decision today.  Invest in a DIY template or Hire a professional like Zany to get your Website done today