You’ve seen the ads on Youtube, or the various GoDaddy commercials. You too can build a “stunning website” that will launch your business to new heights. It’s that easy right?

Could you imagine if other industry’s like dentists, brain surgeons, mechanics or electricians all had that same slogan? Don’t hire a professional, you ‘re much better off doing it yourself!

Ummmm…..no.

Unfortunately, anyone who’s ever owned a business knows nothing is ever that simple. Anything that produces a worthwhile result should be done the right way, the first time.

So now if you believe building your own website is not a good idea, the real question is why? What’s the difference between buying a template website off on Wix, Weebly, Shopify, Vista Print or GoDaddy as opposed to hiring a web development company?

These are our top 7 reasons building your own website is probably NOT a good idea, and why you’ll probably end up doing it again if you decide to go this route.

Your site may look terrible and no one will tell you – Have you ever had a child ask you how their drawing looks and you lie and say “it looks great honey!” No one will ever have the heart to tell you your website stinks. People who build their own site have full beer goggles on, thinking they’ve created a masterpiece when it’s more like a turd emoji. You’re probably not likely to create a professional-looking website without experience, even with a template to work with.

Building the website is usually harder than you think – A simple drag and drop, add a quick pic or video and voila it’s finished…not quite. Creating a website through a builder is more like putting together a big piece of Ikea furniture, with some of the instructions missing. Sure some things may be easy, while others like formatting text, creating proper spacing or adjusting the layout can be a nightmare. If your not a technical person you may struggle to get the results you want, with limited tech support to help.

You are locked into one service…permanently? Say you build a website through Wix then decide later you’d like to work through Weebly instead. Can you simply transfer your existing website over to another service provider? Sadly no. Once you pick one you’re stuck with them unless you want to build a new website from scratch. Worse yet these same companies make it very hard to leave, often renewing your subscription without consulting you first.

There is very limited customization compared to a regular website: You may ask yourself why can’t I add this?…or change that? The most likely reason is because you can’t. With most templates, there is a huge lack of customization, including the inability to change layout options or even colours. Most elements of these websites are “locked” so you can’t edit much more than pictures or text. If you’re hoping to have more creative freedom than that you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Bad for SEO & Other Marketing – Builder websites typically have limited access to the back or code portions of the website. You may not be able to add things like meta tags, alt tags or other components necessary to rank better in search engines. You’ll also have trouble installing tracking programs like Google Analytics which monitor your website traffic and how your website is performing behind the scenes. If your expecting your website to actually show up in a Google search, your changes are highly reduced.

Your website will be one of many (bad websites) online – Because of the lack of customization templates provide, you will find many websites online very similar to yours. If your trying to build a brand or sense of identity with your business your website should be unique.

It will devalue your business and cost you customers – If you go into a restaurant and notice the tables are dirty, the floor hasn’t been mopped, and the waiter hasn’t even said hello for twenty minutes how likely are you to come back? If your website looks cheap, tacky unprofessional you are making this same first impression with people. It’s said that 66% of website viewers make their decision to do business with a company based on how their website looks. People will often see your website first, before talking to your or visiting your actual location. Your website is your first point of contact with new customers and must look the part.