Should I Build My Own Website

Question:  Should I Build My Own Website?

Should I build my own website?  This is a question that many small business owners often ask themselves.  There are many tools on the web that make it “easy” to build your own website for free, or very little cost.  So, why not?

Before you invest a whole lot of your valuable time building a website with one of the on-line website builders, take an inventory of the skills required to build a first class website.  If you have all the skills then absolutely you should build it yourself.  However, if you don’t have the skills, you must take into account the time required to master them.  For example, I’m sure everyone with basic woodworking skills could build a cabinet.  However, if you compared the results of a first time cabinet maker with one with years of experience in the trade, there would be no comparison.  Building a website is similar.

Here’s a checklist of skills you need to build my own website:

1. Do you know the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? Many people don’t!  If you build a website on wordpress.com, it’s hosted by wordpress.com and you are very limited in what  you can add to your website.  If you build your own website and download WordPress and install it on your own server, you’re using the wordpress.org version.  This is a very important distinction.  There’s nothing wrong with WordPress.com, however most businesses will opt for hosting their own site.
2. Copywriting -do you know how to write proper sales copy that will entice your readers to buy?  This is a critical skill in web copywriting.  You must make every word count and have a plan and structure to your writing.
3. Photo Editing – Do you have a creative eye? Do you know how to use Photoshop or another image editing software to convert photos and images to proper web images that will load fast and fit in their intended place?
4. SEO – Do you know how to optimize each one of your pages for search engines?  This is critical.  Even the best websites will not convert traffic  into business if they don’t get  found on Google and no one sees them.
5. Calls to action – do you know how to build a proper call to action that leads to a squeeze page and a sign up form for collecting leads?  If you don’t, you’ll have a hard time converting your traffic into actionable leads.
6. Keyword Research – Do you know how to find good keywords that people are searching for that you have a reasonable chance of winning?  If not, you’re going to find it difficult to design a website around high traffic keywords and write copy that enables your website to rank on these keywords.  The result is a website that gets very little traffic.
7. Do you know how to create a sitemap and submit it to Google?  This allows Google to fully index your site.  This is important because if the pages aren’t indexed they won’t appear in search.  If they don’t appear in search, you won’t get any traffic on them.
8. Do you know how to write a 301 redirect?  This is a line of code in your .htaccess file that you can use to make sure you don’t have any duplicate content like “http://mysite.com” and “http://www.mysite.com” showing up.  You need to redirect one to the other.  Duplicate content can hurt your search engine rankings because the search engines think you have two copies of the same page and your authority is split between the two.
9. Filezilla – do you know how to use Filezilla or another FTP program?  If not, you’ll struggle to gain access to your website’s root directory to access the .htaccess file or add the Google webmaster tracking cookie.
10. Google Analytics – Do you know how to set up and use Google Analytics?  Google Analytics is used for monitoring traffic and finding out how people are finding your site and navigating through it.  If you don’t have this installed, you’ll find it difficult to monitor your traffic and improve your site.
11. Webmaster Tools – Do you know how to set up and install webmaster tools?  Webmaster tools is used to submit site maps to Google and also to monitor the index status of your website.  Webmaster Tools is also useful for finding duplicate content and missing pages.  If you’re not using Webmaster Tools, you’re going to find it difficult to know how Google “sees” your website.
12. Screaming Frog – Do you know how to use Screaming Frog?  Screaming Frog is a website crawler that extracts information from you site like URL’s, images, H1 title tags, H2 title tags, SEO Title and meta description.  This is a useful tool for making sure the design of your website fits with the keyword strategy you’re trying to accomplish.  If you don’t know how to use this, you’re missing valuable information for search.
13. Auto-responders – Do you know what this is and how to set one up?  Auto responders create a sign up form on your site where people can enter their contact information and then you set up an auto-responder to send them a thank you note, an offer, or further information on your company.  This is critical for driving your mailing list and turning subscribers into customers.
14. Internal Linking Strategy – Do you know how to create useful links within your website?  Search engines catalogue your site in part by the context of words it’s linked on.  In addition, each page of your site has a different amount of “juice”, or authority with the search engines.  You need to know how to conserve it where you need it, or spread it out to other pages through linking.  If you don’t know how to do this, you’ll have trouble ranking on search engines for pages other than your home page.
15. Google Adwords – Do you know how to set up and manage a Google Adwords account?  If not you’re going to find it difficult to promote your site.  Google Adwords are the search results that appear in the top box on a Google search and down the side.  These are paid search results.  Google charges advertisers every time someone clicks on them.  This is a great way to build traffic on related keywords, especially when your website is new.
16. Google Local and Google Plus – do you know how to set up a Google+ Page and Google Local listing for your business?  If not it’s going to be difficult for your site to get found  in local search results.  Up to 30% of search is now performed on GPS enabled mobile devices.  This means that Google serves up local results based on location to these searches.  You want to be  here if you are a local business.  If  you don’t know how to set this up properly, you’re competitors are going to get found before you in local searches by potential customers.
17. Social Media account set up – Do you know how to set up Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Digg, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pintrest for your business.  If not you’re going to have trouble promoting your site and building an audience outside of search traffic.

Decision Time

Do you have all the necessary skills to build a professional website?  You’re website will be the first impression many potential clients have about your business.  If you’re sure you can build a website that reflects your brand, drives traffic and converts it to leads, then the next question is do you have the time?  Building and marketing a website properly takes a significant amount of time.  Time that you could be producing income for your small business.  You must ask yourself where is your time more valuably spent?  Building a website, or servicing your customers?

Most small business owners will outsource their web building project to a website designer.  If you are considering building your own website, feel free to contact me I’d be happy to talk you through more pros and cons and if you wish discuss building one for you.