Why should I hire a Web Consultant when I can just build my own site?
This is, by far, the most common question I get asked. Of course, this question is asked by those that have seen commercials and advertisements for services like wix.com and the many other do-it-yourself services out there. This question rarely however comes from people who have used those services.
The answer to the question varies depending on who is asking and what their technical skill level is on a computer, but the answer is similar in all cases.
"What is your time worth?"
You probably know how to change a tire or could figure it out, but is it worth your time or do you pay the guy at the tire store to do it? What about your brakes, your broken dishwasher, new roof or coat of paint on your house?
The reality is, yes, you could use a service online to build your own website, pay a few dollars for that service to host it on their servers and save a little money. But if you are like most people, you will quickly find that there is so much more to it than you thought.
Getting the design just right, getting the colors just right, adding the right features, setting up the contact module and figuring out how to get the the email to go to you. There will be a massive learning curve just to get the site to look the way you want it to. Then begins the hard part.
Optimizing your site for loading speeds, search engine optimization (SEO) and listing on search engines. What about social media optimization?
The hours quickly turn to dozens or hundreds of hours that you have now invested into your site. Now, if you achieve what you sought out for, there will be a tremendous feeling of pride and accomplishment. I know there was for me when I achieved my first completed site. Nevermind that it was my fourth attempt and I had well over two hundred hours in learning.
For me, that spurred a new direction in my life. I sought out to learn how to make websites, for me and for others. I spent thousands of hours exploring different services, platforms, systems and modules. I took online classes, watched webinars, found a few great mentors and built and re-built alot of sites. I have worked with wix.com, godaddy, wordpress, joomla and countless others and have built more websites than I can even remember. I have learned alot along the way and have become a Web Consultant.
For you, well, you probably are not looking for a new career. You are just looking for a website, a website that works. A website that is optimized for loading speed, optimized for search engines to read, secured from hackers and hosted on a stable server that won't be down when your customers try to view it.
So again, what is your time worth?
