5 reasons why using a free website builder is a bad idea

5 reasons why using a free website builder is a bad idea

22/10/2016

Using a free website builder may seem like a good idea from a financial perspective when setting up your business. The interface is pretty easy to use with it’s drag and drop features.

But there are very good reasons you shouldn’t be tempted in to using a free platform for your website.

1) SEO Limitations

The free website builders usually have a section to “add your SEO”.   However SEO is a very complex process and requires far much more than just typing a few keywords. In order to succeed in SEO and have any chance at all of improving your ranking in the search engines you need to have the ability to custom craft keywords and target your niche on each of the individual pages of the website. One size does not fit all in terms of SEO.  The lack of customization puts your website at a disadvantage right from the get go.

Google likes and rewards unique content but the very nature of the templated free website builders means you are no different to others using these builder for their website. With no differentiation you have another strike against your site and you’ve hardly even started to build your business.

2) Customer Service

If you’re using a free builder for your business website and something goes wrong what do you do? You don’t have a whole lot of options to get your problem solved in a timely manner, leaving you with costly downtime.

Your options are :
1) Send an email to the free builder company and hope someone answers quickly

2) Searching for hours on end through a knowledge forum and trying to find someone else who has experienced the same problem

3) Googling the answer, and again trying to sort through the results to find one that matches up with the problem you are having.

Remember the whole time your doing this your businesses BRAND and IMAGE are on the line and you are LOSING CUSTOMERS!

These are the reasons that Perth Online Services use an Australian based hosting company. When we have an issue with one of our websites we simply pick up the phone and have a conversation with a technician who understands our sites and knows exactly how to fix them.

3) Limited Design Options

It takes years to become a good web designer and understand all the layers involved in what makes a good website. Mobile compatibly, mobile responsiveness, visitor usability, navigation, load time, user experience, site hierarchy and site structure, to name a few aspects. These all play a big role in the effectiveness of your website. What many people do not fully understand is that websites are far more than just their appearance. And of course if your site looks like a template that tens of thousands of other sites are using how do you expect to stand out from the crowd?

4) No other option

If you decide down the road that you no longer wish to use a free website builder and wish to move your website to another hosting option, basically you’re stuck. You are virtually at a dead end when it comes to transferring all the hard work you put into your site to another host. Perth Online Services have helped many businesses transition off of these free platforms and its challenging to say the least.

5) Brand credibility

A successful business requires credibility. The perception your potential customers have can very quickly become a reality. Imagine you search for a quality home builder company and you land on a page that is built on a free website platform. You will know almost immediately you are on a free website because you’ll see the ads that invite you to “build your own website for free”.

Ask yourself, if this company chose not to spend money on a professionally made website, then what does that say about the quality of their work or their credibility?

Your business maybe very professional but internet decisions happen in a split second. The result is the visitor leaving your site and going to your more professional looking competitors site. It’s a harsh reality, but your free website is actually costing you money.

If you require a website for your business or already have a website that needs improvements, contact us and we will be happy to assist you.