Should You Hire a Web Developer Or Use A Web Builder?
When deciding on whether you want to hire web developers or use web builders, there are several things to keep in mind that will help you make an informed decision. It’s important that your website functions well and works for your business, and making this decision will take you one step further in that process.
A web developer is a person who will code your website from (almost) scratch. This means that you will have a fully customized website in the end.
A web builder is a program like WordPress.com or Wix that will guide you through the process of designing your website while often also offering hosting services (a host gets you on the world wide web in the first place). You don’t have to have any coding knowledge to create a reasonably attractive website.
Both of these are great options – but they are very different, and it’s important to choose the right one first unless you want to backtrack, losing a bit of time and possibly money. Here are three factors to keep in mind as you think through your decision.
1. Customization
Website builders offer a degree of customization, but it’s nowhere near the freedom that you have when working with a web developer. A web developer works with you to first come up with a design that works for your company so that you can be sure to stand out. To stand out of the crowd, a custom website will showcase the originality of your brand in a way that connects to customers and makes them excited about working with you.
2. Cost
It’s true: a web developer will cost significantly more than the cost of a web builder upfront. There are hours and hours of work that go into creating a truly unforgettable web page. At the same time, if you are using a web builder, while the monetary cost is cheaper, you are going to spend many hours getting it set up. If you don’t have much experience with website design, this can be a bit daunting.
The bottom line
As with any business decision, it ultimately comes down to deciding on the potential return on investment.
Professionally developed websites are obvious to anyone with a trained eye and can add an air of prestige to your brand. A well-designed website directly correlates with a higher conversion rate, and a cookie-cutter site theme, while perhaps sufficing in the early days of the business, may end up costing you more revenue than the investment of hiring a web developer.
© Joshua Brown 2019, all rights reserved
in Phoenix + Denver. 
