BUILDING A DIY WEBSITE In association with Fireball Media

Orla O'Leary Sales & Marketing Director, Fireball Media

There are many packages on the market should someone wish to build their own company website. If you are thinking about going down this route there are a few questions you should ask yourself, writes Orla O’Leary

Are you computer literate? Do you know how to code you site or how to register it with the search engines? Do you know about page headers, Alt tags or how to upload images in the correct format. Do you need a database behind my website and if so, do you know how to build one? Do I have the appropriate coding skills needed for PHP, ASP, JSP etc? For an Ecommerce website do I know how to install a secure cert and test it? If you know all of the above and know how implement them – then great! Now calculate the time you will need to spend building your website, this is time that you will be taking from in your primary business role.

Unless you know what you are doing, a DIY website can have a negative effect on your company image. Websites designed by people that don’t have the correct skills tend to be unprofessional websites, which in turn, gives your company a bad image. If you’re really lucky people won’t be able to find your unprofessional website. If you think that by doing it yourself could be cost effective then you need to look at how much your time and your company image is worth.

Seek Professional Advice

If you wanted business cards would you sit down and make them yourself? If you wanted a company car would you buy a kit and try and build one yourself? I’m betting that your answer is no to the above questions. Why? Because you know that it makes sense to leave it to the professionals. Designing a website is the same, so don’t try it at home unless you know what you’re doing. I’m sure many people have heard the term “Oh that’s so-and-so’s pet project”, but a website is a marketing tool for your business it shouldn’t be anyone’s “pet project”. If they want a pet direct them to a pet store, your website is a business tool. I’m sure that if I thought long and hard about it I could find a more elegant way of expressing what I’ve just written, but in doing so the people that need to get the point will miss it and sometimes you need to be blunt.

The Way Forward

If you have a DIY website and you are the only one visiting the site don’t blame the internet look at the site. The statistics are there to prove that the internet is the way forward for businesses; online sales are going up in this country and worldwide every year. More and more people do their research on a product, company, or service online before they buy because it saves them time, and time is their money too.

Best For Business

A professional web design company will build you a professional website and give you pointers on how to get the best from it. How to market your website online; explain the search engines and why you need to have your website registered, what keywords or page headers etc are. A professional web design company will guide you on how to make your website interactive which will create repeat visits, which format will be best for your business, if you want an E-commerce site they will make sure that your website is secure and has a secure certificate.