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Don't DIY your website!! Here's why...


Don't DIY when it comes to website building. Make sure you do some research first! Here we've compiled a list of the reviews from some of the top DIY software companies out there.

 You're welcome.





The first one is Wix. 
One of the main things that makes Wix a poor choice is that they use Flash in their website builders and as a result, get poor SEO results, and slow loading times. Another complaint is their overall look is just not really professional. 

 Also, they may start off as "FREE" but you will find that you need to upgrade at some point, and apparently, they're not cheap. Nothing like surprise costs to bum your day out! Especially after you're somewhat committed due to the time you've invested in building the site. 



You're also going to see a trend with the reviews I'm going to post in their lack of good, available customer service. This seems to be the case with these large companies.

"Wix.com non existent customer support. I've been trying to reach them for weeks. Their phone number doesn't work or you get an answering machine during business hours saying the office is closed. I spent hours trying to locate a number/reach them. It's been a nightmare. I ended up disputing the yearly fee."

 _______

"I have bragged over the years about WIX's customer service - it WAS great. Now customer service is nonexistent! I have made attempts to contact WIX for over one month now to no avail. I have tried every means available...." -Victoria


 Here are more mostly 1 star WIX customer reviews:
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/wix.html
And a link to 5 reasons why you should not use WIX for your website and the rebuttals from WIX:
http://awesomelytechie.com/5-reasons-dont-use-wix/







Next we're going to look at Weebly


 Weebly is a web-hosting service featuring a drag-and-drop website builder. This like many other website builders seem to make good promises about easy interfaces and cheap pricing, but there are also things they're NOT telling you.
One of the main reasons you don't want to build a website yourself is because web design, like many other careers is something that takes years to get good at. Personally, I have been working at this profession for close to 15 years. There have been mistakes I have made along the way, and things I've done right and all of these roll into years of experience that I can lean on to propel me into the future success of building websites for my clients.
Someone who's just trying to save a buck, may end up spending more time and money then anticipated and this is just the way life is. I may be able to cut my own hair and save $40, but it's really not a very good idea. 
One of the biggest problems with taking on this task on your own is that you're going to have limited to no knowledge on how to properly build in the essential SEO into your website to make it friendly to search bots and get ranked high in Google searches. There really is a science and art behind this that takes a lot of research and know-how to do properly.
Here are some of the Weebly bad reviews:

"It almost tells you nothing about how it works, like how to change the destination of buttons, it limits you to where you can place pictures, there isnt even an undo button (had to rewrite an entire paragraph because of this) and sometimes it deletes text. although if done right your website can look professional." -Logan O.

 _______

"...The prices are deceiving and even though they might be slightly cheaper up front on paper, what you are losing in the long run and the product you actually receive is garbage. Even if you pay for the premium product (which says that you will get updates along with what weebly developed) they issue every new trivial update with a price tag next to it, on top of what your annual fee is...." -Kristen V.


Read more Weebly reviews here: https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.weebly.com

Squarespace

I'll just let the reviews for Squarespace speak for themselves. 


"This company does not even deserve a single star. I had a bad feeling about them as soon as I started my so-called "trial" with them. I knew after a few clicks that their product would not work for me. Totally confusing and not user-friendly at all. I tried to cancel my trial and it got worse. They absolutely ignored me and my requests and there was no way to reach them. " -Claire Dobie

_______

"Worst service ever. Homepage not working and the fix recommended was to change my homepage temporarily. When I asked when they can fix the problem, the chat representative said "engineers don't want to share that information." Bye, bye Squarespace!"-Paul

________

"This is the most UN-intuitive interface I have ever worked with. 

I am a pretty smart guy, and have design sites on other platforms. It is simply impossible to design a remotely functional site on Squarespace. It fights and denies the most simple commands. It is useless. 

After several months of paying the steep price for this train wreck of a program, I am asking for a pro-rated refund. In a phrase, it bites." -Will Galison

________

More Squarespace reviews here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.squarespace.com

Here's reviews for Website Builder:

"It is the absolute, far and above, by a mile, without a doubt, beyond all reasonable doubt, with 100% certainty, incontestably the worst consumer service i have ever had the misfortune to cross path..." -John Collins


_______

"Hidden charges, appalling customer service, unreliable site.

Avoid at all costs" -Giles Hanson






Starting to see a trend here?

It may seem like an unnecessary cost to pay a web designer for something that you should be able to do yourself...  
However, this is a myth! If you get a toothache do you fix your tooth yourself? No, you find a dentist.
If you run a business you understand the need for a certain allocated amount for advertising and other marketing efforts. Yet I see many business owners trying to cut costs by going with a cheap website and they end up shooting themselves in the foot.

Listen, let me break it down for you. When you are ready to get a website, you basically have 3 options... 

You can:


1. DIY

2. Use an affordable website company (like me), OR

3. If you have the budget, you can use a high-end website company. These are going to be mainly for your corporate or large business. With a minimum cost of around $5000 to build, on up to thousands. The website is going to have all the bells and whistles, look absolutely amazing, and take weeks or months for the company to build for you.



And hopefully, what you've learned from this post is that you really only have 2 options, and the only thing that determines them is your budget.

Reviews matter. And, so, here is a link to my reviews: https://www.yelp.com/biz/exquisite-pixel-designs-big-bear-city


Was this helpful? Let me know in the comments down below!

-Kate






Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 29, 2017 at 1:21 PM

    Thanks so much! This was very helpful!

    ReplyDelete

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