Online Site Builders… an Honest Review |

Travis McAshanMarketing
Mar 2010

The Lowdown

Templates and template driven site builders are the newest trend in web design. There are numerous sites that business owners can go to and download a template or go through an easy step by step process which will put them online in a matter of minutes. There are some good, bad, and ugly things about this and I just wanted to share my honest opinions.

The GOOD

Price – it’s a very cheap monthly payment
Availability – you can get started anytime online
Convenience – you can use it and access it from any computer with internet
Support – someone will always answer the phone or email
Reliable – godaddy is the world’s largest hosting provider
Transparent – it’s easy to see what you’re getting
Choice – they offer 1000s of available templates
Bundles – you can usually get hosting and email included
Access – you have instant and direct access to make changes on your site

The BAD

Process – while easy it’s not the easiest to get a great looking website
Features – beyond the standard features you’re usually out of luck
Choice – although they give many templates they are just 100s of small variations
Quality – the overall quality of design and layout is VERY poor
Ownership – you never actually own your website
Flexibility – if you want something they don’t offer you’re out of luck
Location – they are not local and odds are you’re speaking to a call center in India
Interaction – setup requires too much interaction (by phone and email)
Results – generally the sites are not good enough to produce quality results
Marketing – they don’t offer any internet marketing services (seo, ppc, etc…)
Responsibility – you are completely responsible for your website and it’s success
Visibility – the websites are NOT optimized for search engines
Changes – if you don’t have time to make the changes they can’t help you
Difficult – no matter how easy it will still be “hard” for some people
Upgradeability – if you are ready for a bigger/better site they can’t help you

The UGLY

Expertise – there is VERY little help with marketing strategy
Dedication – they created a $$$ maker (for them) not a business builder (for you)
Hosting – the quality of hosting is worst in the industry
Relationship – the longer you stay does not build ANY more of a relationship
Unique – literally millions of people are using your exact website
Usability – most template sites are simple but not created for ease of use
Recognition – each time you call you receive a new person to speak to
Value – although the price is very cheap the value you receive is also cheap
Content – you’re completely on your own for creating website content

Final Verdict

Overall, going with an online site builder is an extremely cheap way to get online quickly. However, it’s my personal opinion from years of helping clients in the aftermath of a online sitebuilder gone bad that the quality is terrible and there is no-one vested in your online success. It’s up to you to determine how much you invest versus how much you plan to make in return for your investment. Choose well!

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