Even though WordPress is often said to be so easy anyone can put together a website, it’s not as easy as it’s made out to be. It’s certainly easier than building an entire html website, but for someone that has never built a website, it can be quite challenging and time consuming.
As to whether or not to hire a professional to build your WordPress website, consider that your website may be the first thing that people see of you or your business. If you want to be seen as a professional, your website needs to look professional, regardless of what industry your business is in.
So for most business owners, the answer to the business decision of whether to hire a professional WordPress developer or attempt to built it yourself, is yes. You should hire a professional.
It’s often said that the most successful small business owners are the ones that realize that they cannot achieve success if they wear all the hats. Why waste time learning how to build a website when it’s likely not the best use of your time?
The only exception that would warrant trying to do it yourself is if you are seriously cash-strapped and/or have lots of free time to learn all you need to know and be able to put that new knowledge to use in building and customizing your website. You can expect it to take as much as 1-2 weeks, maybe more if you’re particularly technologically challenged, to build your website if you have no prior experience.
Most small business owners soon realize that their requirements are not easily met by their limited knowledge when they try to do it on their own. For instance, you don’t want to spend an entire eight hour day just trying to figure out how to edit the footer (many themes will not let you edit the footer to add your own copyright. A WordPress developer can easily customize the footer for you.)
There are free WordPress forums and the WordPress Codex to help, but first timers are still likely to get stuck. The forums can be very helpful, but it helps to know at least a little bit of code to understand the suggestions in the forums. Some people turn to books in order to learn WordPress, but often end up feeling like the book is too advanced for them.
Another issue is SEO, which is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. You want to make sure that your website is optimized for search. The reason for this is that an optimized website will show up better in local search results, meaning potential customers are more likely to find you. Many first timers leave this step out, but it’s a very important step that also takes time to learn and could increase the time you have to spend building your website.
Make sure that if you do hire a WordPress web developer that they have up-to-date and in-depth knowledge of SEO techniques. Find out how long they’ve been building websites and/or been involved in SEO activities. Ask for examples of past WordPress websites, results they’ve achieved with SEO, and the difference between SEO now compared with SEO five or more years ago.
You don’t want to be charged 100’s or even 1000’s of dollars for a website by a person who is able to build them but has no knowledge of SEO or who uses outdated SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing and hidden text.
If you do decide to build your own website, at least start by mapping out your website first. Know what pages and features you want so that you can start with a theme that is most likely to meet your needs.
A professional WordPress web designer can assist in the planning of your website. They’ll have knowledge of which plug-ins are the best and how to use widgets. They should also know how to customize your WordPress theme with CSS or HTML code to get the desired results.
Many small business owners are surprised at how cost-effective it is to pay a professional for a custom WordPress website.
Expeditions’ pricing starts at just $399 for a custom WordPress website with easy payment options. For non-web hosting clients, payment is broken down into 3rds. The first payment is due before work begins, the second payment is due when the website is ready for the client’s viewing and approval, and the third payment is due when the website is considered complete.
Client’s who also choose to use Delphinium’s Web Hosting Services can break the payments up into equal payments for up to one year.
Contact Delphinium today at 304-207-0795 to have a professional build you a fully optimized, custom WordPress website at a price that is affordable to most small to mid-size businesses in WV, including Charleston, Beckley, Dunbar, Hurricane, and Nitro, WV.