In recent years I have found that small business owners, especially sole traders, want to run their own website.
It’s understandable; if you run your own website you have control. You can make updates yourself without having to wait for your website designer to have a slot free. It can also save you money as you don’t have to pay every time you need an update.
The problem.
Lots of people have a go at building their own website because they believe this is the only way that can have a website they can run themselves. Sadly, they tend to find it’s a lot harder and much more time-consuming to build a website than they anticipated. They become frustrated, spending hours and hours getting nowhere trying to build the site only to find it doesn’t work on mobile or it doesn’t look professional.
The solution. A couple of years ago, I decided that I would provide a solution to this problem. I now build all my websites on Wix, a popular website builder that’s user-friendly to the non-techie. The idea is that I build the website and then I hand it over to the business owner to run themselves thanks to it being on a robust and easy to use platform.
The advantages. The website is set up properly so it looks professional, has an effective customer journey, clear navigation and an attractive, contemporary design. It will also work on mobile as well as desktop.
The business owner saves themselves a considerable amount of time and frustration. They can use the time saved to work on the bits of their business they are good at. This is especially valuable if they are in the busy launch period of a new business,
Once the website is complete they can run the website themselves because it is on a platform designed to be used by the non-professional. Wix has a drag and drop interface, no coding is required, it’s intuitive and there are lots of how to videos and a good customer helpdesk. Best of all, there are no pesky plugins to update.
Wix offers reliable hosting and a security certificate plus a host of useful options such as contact forms, live chat, automated responses to enquiries and the ability to blog.
You won’t be on your own.
Once the website is handed over I will email you a pdf of helpful tips to make your role as website owner that bit easier and more effective. I’m always on hand to answer odd queries if you get stuck. I can do bits of ad hoc work on an hourly rate if you need it in the future.
The costs. I offer transparent fixed prices. Please take a look at my costed examples page for more details. I will only charge you for the website design and build. There will be no ongoing charges from me although you will have to pay for the hosting (usually around £100 p.a.).
The takeway. If you are a business owner who wants to control their own website PLEASE DON'T TRY TO BUILD IT YOURSELF. Let me design it for you so that your website will look as professional as the rest of your business. Then when it’s ready, it’s over to you to add blog posts, update details and make any changes to your website on a platform that is one of the easiest to use.
Your website will look great and work properly and YOU will be in control.