Build your own website or have one built? The unfiltered truth

Is it worth having a website built? On sites like Wix you can build your own for a few euros a month. Is there really that much difference between the two? And what is that difference?

The truth is that your six-year-old niece could make a website. With the tools available today you do not have to be a programmer or a graphic designer.

So how is it that we still sell so many websites, and why do our clients happily invest thousands in them?

Your website as a salesperson

Your website is a representation of your company. Something that presents your product or service to potential customers, exactly the way a salesperson would.

So if you are asking yourself whether to have a website built, ask yourself instead whether sales is an important part of your business. In most cases it is.

Not every business needs one built

Do you run a small bakery, a chip shop, a newsagent? Then you can perfectly well build your own site with a do-it-yourself tool.

Pick one, choose a template that fits your business, and keep the information relevant and concise. Put your opening hours online, your contact details, and perhaps a little about what makes your business special. Because people are not looking for much more than that on your site.

But what if your website has to do more than convey dry information?

Which companies are better off having one built

As I said, your website is a representation of your company, a tool for presenting your product in the most attractive way to potential customers. In that sense it works like a salesperson. And a good salesperson can sell ice to an Eskimo. A bad one drives customers away, so do not get too creative if you are building it yourself.

So how do you turn your website into a master salesperson?

A website that sells

A master salesperson does three things:

• forms a connection instantly
• responds to the customer’s needs and dreams
• acts with purpose

Let us look at how you apply those three to a website.

Forming an instant connection

When somebody from your audience lands on your website, they have to feel a click immediately. The visitor has to get the sense that they have arrived at the right place.

That click either happens within three seconds or never.

It is determined by your design, your layout, your images: the pre-verbal communication that shows what wavelength you are on. That does not mean you always want to be the most incredible company in the world. You want to be on the same wavelength as your customers.

Responding to needs and dreams

A potential customer lands on your website with certain hopes, thoughts, worries or needs in their head. And exactly as a salesperson would respond to those, a good site does too.

Because when you show your prospect that you understand them, and then genuinely want to help, that creates trust immediately. It shows them you know what you are doing. And that is when your prospect actually listens to what you say instead of merely hearing it.

Acting with purpose

A salesperson without a goal is not a salesperson. We cannot convince anyone without knowing what we want to convince them of, and we cannot know whether we convinced them unless they confirm it.

Which is why you always want calls to action on your website: actions your prospect can take. You can ask them to join your mailing list, download a file, request a quote. Whatever it is, every element on your site is designed to convince your prospect to take that action.

As a digital agency it is our job to get the percentage of visitors who take that action as high as possible.

Having a website built for conversions

That is the only reason to have a site built by professionals: to get something out of the investment.

“Your biggest expense is the money you could be earning but are not.”

If you want to grow your business, your website plays a part in that. Because a good site is an asset that works for your company, certainly if you advertise actively. It is like hiring a master salesperson. Yes, you have to pay for one. But they earn money for you.

So, build or buy?

If your customers only visit your site to check the opening hours, do not bother investing in a psychologically armed website.

But if you are a company with ambition, look at your site as an active part of the business, as a salesperson that:

• forms an instant connection with your visitor
• responds to your prospect’s needs and dreams
• acts with purpose and gets your prospect to take action

Because if you have a site that does that, it is not a purchase but an investment.

So now it is up to you to set your goals. Is my website a sales tool, or just an information card?

The answer decides whether you are better off having one built or quickly making one yourself. In the first case we would be glad to help. Get in touch.