In order for you to create your own website, you’ll need to have knowledge and expertise in key areas, or be willing to devote time to learning these skills.

Areas of expertise include domain name registration, setting up nameservers (DNS), mail exchange records (MX), web hosting service, file transfer protocol (FTP), content management system such as WordPress (CMS), user interface (UI), user experience (UX) and more.

The nice thing about using a DIY website builder is that they come populated with a stock website template. They give you a template that you can then modify. There is a definite element of skill involved here. It always seems easier than it actually is. Keep in mind that you’ll need to set up each different page of you website builder.

Customer service is often limited to email and they’ll respond in 24-48 hours. That can be a frustrating experience if you’re right in the middle of trying to understand how something works. Clients often express this exact frustration. One client said, “I knew enough to be dangerous, but not enough to get what I wanted.”

A website built from a custom template can be useful as a placeholder while you wait for your web designer to complete a fully-functional digital representation of your business (entrepreneur.com)

We’ve found that quote to be true. A template is a beginner stage website. If your business does not have revenue and you have time, take the DIY approach, commit a week or two of evenings and see if you can come up with something you’re OK with for now. You won’t be able to accept a credit card, it may not look great on a mobile device, and your search engine optimization (SEO) will be lacking. But, you will have a website online.

DIY editors can often lead to messy and confusing back-end coding (something you won’t see when using a DIY builder, unless you dig deep into the more advanced coding elements, which are often too advanced for users who don’t code professionally). (entrepreneur.com)

When you become the website designer and use a DIY website builder, you are responsible for updates, changes, security, stability and anything that may negatively impact your website. We have one client who did his own website design and was frustrated that nobody ever contacted him. When we looked at his site, we found that he had typed his phone number wrong. He didn’t realize and lost two years of clients because of one simple error that we immediately found and fixed while we were building him a new website.

A website builder isn’t just about saving money, it’s about adding revenue. If you’re the web designer, you also need to be the SEO expert. That’s another deep pit of knowledge that you’ll need to consider.

The internet has made the world a small place. We have traded full time staff for a gig economy where you can hire someone for a single job. You can jump online and pay someone overseas to craft a business plan, set up your social media accounts and even handle inventory management, customer support, technical support all while you do what only you can do.

The benefits of outsourcing work overseas can be cost savings, you won’t always save money, but it is possible. One problem with outsourcing overseas is accountability, your new worker may do what he says he can do, or maybe not. He may complete the job or he may not.

Having a language barrier can be difficult. If your new outsourcer doesn’t speak English as his first language, your will have difficultly communicating what exactly you’re looking for in a website. He may not understand everything you say and your business is at the mercy of someone who you can’t understand and can’t understand you well.

Another potential difficulty is the difference in time zones. While you’re asleep, your web designer is awake and working. If he has a question, he will email you at 3 a.m. your time. When you get up and respond at 7 a.m., he’s already asleep. By the time he responds to your email, it’s the middle of the night for you. This drastically increases the amount of time it takes to get an affordable website created. If time is money, this removes the idea of trying to create an affordable web design.

Finding a reputable company who will do what they say is difficult. Unfortunately, there are companies who will try to trick you with long term contracts that are difficult to get out of. They will register your website domain name at their domain name registrar and hold it hostage if you try to cancel. They claim a money back guarantee, but it was worded by a crafty lawyer who never plans to give you any money back.

With CalTech Web, we only build websites for small businesses. We don’t have a contract, you can cancel anytime, you don’t even need to give a 30 day notice. You can register your domain name, or let us pay the cost. Either way, we don’t hold you domain name hostage, you own it, it’s yours.

We use a Content Management System called WordPress.

WordPress is used by 63.5% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 37.8% of all websites. (w3techs.com)

WordPress is a well developed and robust platform. It’s secure and highly extensible. If you need something specific, we can do that.

Our customer support team can be reached by phone ((800)-781-7146 x2) or by email (support@caltechweb.com) 24/7.

We offer free updates and changes to your website any time you need them.

We are also experts in SEO. One of our co-founders built and sold an SEO company before starting CalTech Web, we know SEO and we know how to make affordable websites for small businesses!

A high-quality website can attract customers and give them a positive experience with your company. (business.com)