There are so many times over the years where we’ve heard from a potential client that they don’t see the point in spending more money than is necessary with a web design agency such as ours when they could go and ‘do a website’ themselves with Wix or get Yell to make one for free (or a small sum of money). Yes, if money is your only concern, it is true that you can go and ‘do your own website’ with one of these large, soulless companies, but where does it leave you in the grand scheme of things?
The growth of Yell.com seemed like an inevitable progression for the thousands and thousands of businesses who had relied on the Yellow Pages for decades to promote their business. It might be an ‘easy’ option to sign up with Yell.com and have a company website that you haven’t had to put much effort in, but there are drawbacks.
The drawbacks of Yell.com
Yell can still be expensive
We’ve heard from business owners who are constantly pestered by Yell salespeople. They ring up multiple times a year and can often charge a lot more than a web design agency will cost, but you’ll end up with a vastly inferior product if you choose Yell without the individual personality of your brand shining through.
You are only ever one of many
Every single Yell customer is just one of many that a single account manager has to deal with. It is all about numbers, upselling existing clients and thinking about the bottom line in these types of roles. A marketer will talk to you about improving your search results, but they’ll be doing the same with your direct competitors, so how realistic is it to expect success?
You don’t own your website
When you sign up to a Yell website, they retain the ownership of the domain name and website. What this means is, that if you ever want to upgrade to a different web design agency in the future, you’ll have to start from scratch and find a new domain name, email addresses, signage and other advertising that includes your URL. On top of this, you’ll have to start from the bottom with Google search rankings too.
You don’t have flexibility
We know that Google loves fresh content that is updated regularly and promotes your business as an authority on certain industry topics. With a Yell website, you never really get the chance to make these types of changes or to add new content. It can be done, but the process is cumbersome and sometimes doesn’t happen at all.
The sad success of Wix and similar services
Services such as Wix and Squarespace have gained in popularity in recent years as a middle ground between the basic nature of Yell and the perceived budget requirements of using a proper web design agency. They’ve spent millions on marketing campaigns and give the impression that the customer has complete control over the website design process, using intuitive, simple web design controls.
Whilst in theory this is true, it doesn’t exactly paint an accurate picture of what you can expect should you sign up to Wix or a similar service. These services are designed to ‘help’ those who are complete beginners in this world and that have no coding experience at all. You pay a subscription to the service and when ‘designing’ your website you can drag and drop images, graphic elements, add text where you want to and put together what you deem to be a good-looking website.
The problem with a service like this, is that you don’t have that expertise as a website designer and that is completely fine. A website made on Wix or Yell will never look exactly right and won’t be the all-singing and all-dancing website that really makes you stand out from your competitors.
Yell.com was once seen as a popular choice for small businesses looking for a quick and easy solution to have a web presence of some kind, but it has been left behind by Wix, Squarespace and similar services that offer a bit more control over what you can do with your business website. They are still templates, so not ideal for most businesses, but there is a lot more flexibility and versatility within the designs on offer as a base for your brand. Overall though, you are better thinking about the bigger picture and getting more bang for your buck, especially when it comes to SEO and your visibility online. This is where a professional web agency will make all the difference to your digital presence and future success.
Think about the importance of Google
The way that Google’s search algorithm works is constantly changing and evolving. There are updates every year that point in the direction of where your digital presence needs to be in 6 months to a year’s time and what you should definitely not be doing now. Whatever decision you make about the style and functionality of your website, it has to be completed in a way that leads to a better chance of success with Google. The days of just putting a template ‘business card’ style website on the Internet and leaving it there are long gone. If your website looks ok but can’t be found by anyone in a search engine, what is the point?
You get what you pay for – reasons to choose a web design agency
Template web design services such as Wix and Yell do have a place in the market, and for many start-up businesses with little financial capital to get started, or one person operations who just need a presence online, these are a great place to start but it should never be looked at as the long-term answer. For any growing business however, looking for a specialist website design agency is definitely the way to go.
A great website helps you to grow your brand in an effective way and with expert designers and website development professionals, you’ll know that you are gaining the insight and skill from those who have worked years to get to where they are now. The Candy team understands user experience design, bringing the best of style, art and functionality together in a way that wows the user when they first click onto your website but then naturally guides them to where they will find the answers they are looking for and where you want them to be.
We take care with the fonts and images that we use on our client websites. Your project is too important and too unique to use stock images and overused Google fonts that just place you alongside every other website that Yell and Wix put out there. All this would do is slow your website down and make it more likely to suffer penalties from Google in terms of search results. SEO is vital to our approach at every stage of a project, and we take the design, functionality, fonts and imagery, and content and make them all a central and conjoined plan as far as SEO is concerned.
Alongside the clear advantages of design and web development expertise, with an agency the level of customer service you’ll receive far outstrips what you can expect from a large company such as Wix or Yell. Those companies are so big that you’ll never get the access to a personal contact that is with you at every step of the journey.
At Candy, you’ll have the same team with you from the first call, right the way through the design and build phase and through to launch and beyond. We care about our clients and will always be on hand to guide you through the process and to answer any questions that you may have. With a bigger company there will always be that delay to finding the answers because they won’t know who you are. We’ll always know who you are and can instantly plug into the project and have an honest and fruitful conversation that provides a genuine positive outcome.
If you would like to find out more about Candy and how our web design agency is the best service for your growing business, please feel free to give us a call today. We have experts in user experience design and website development, combining the best of stunning web design and functionality to bring your brand to a wider audience in the most effective way. You can reach us on 0161 826 0123 or hello@candymarketing.co.uk and we’ll be very happy to discuss your project.
