Why Pay When you Can Get a Website for Free?

The simple answer is to get it right the first time. Many of our clients have tried the do-it-yourself approach. If you’re on a budget it’s the most logical thing to do. There is a vast array of free web creation tools, websites and software available all over the Internet. The two problems often associated with free web building sites are the learning curves and limitations.

Most free web building sites like Godaddy’s Website Tonight work very well. They come with hundreds of professionally designed templates and graphics and allow you to customize your site to an extent. As we do, they make it pretty easy to update pages and write blog articles, but adding the exact look and feel as well as creating the functionality you need for your website and business comes with a price; the price being quite a bit of your time learning how to do what’s necessary.

Let’s break down what functionality really means when it comes to your website. You’ve heard the most common term called an app. App is short for application. An application is programming code that creates some sort of program that’s added to your website. Other terms for apps are scripts, modules, plugins, macros, functions, routines, and the list goes on.

Here’s an example of what we’re discussing. Rather than just a plain contact page with a phone number and email address, you’d like to collect particular information from a user. Perhaps you want to get their name, phone number, email address, the type of service they are interested in, maybe a date they would like to book that service and possibly what’s in their budget. Let’s say you want that information to come to you in a nicely formatted email. You would first find the app that does all that you are looking to do. In this case it would allow you to create a custom form that contains the information you want the user to fill in. Then the app will mail that information to you in a very structured layout. The app is then installed on your server and applied to the page where you want the contact form to be displayed. This is a pretty simple example. Something more complex might be an app that allows a user to create an account, log in and then be directed to a particular page that applies to their level of membership. If you’re computer savvy and know a bit about coding or at least coding concepts, you can search for the perfect app that will do this. You have to test it, understand  its securities and limitations.

There have been many instances where I’ve searched, downloaded apps, tested them and it took days and sometimes weeks before the perfect app was found or one was modified to do the job. This is just one instance where a web developer or web master would benefit you over taking the D.I.Y. approach.

Design and layout of your template is another factor that has its limitations if you’re not utilizing the skill-set of a developer. While WYSIWUG editors are great, there times when you just really need to access the hard code to make it work properly. Personally, I have never ever created anything without going at the hard code a bit. A good designer and web master will complete all the customized tasks at hand in a relatively short amount of time. This leaves you free to work on the projects that need your attention and allow you to build the business.

Give us a call and see what we at WebAuthorings can do for you!

973.657.0447