Self Builds Save Money, and Other Common Myths

We’ve worked in the web development industry for almost a decade, and there are certainly a few myths that float around. Anything from the cost of a website to what should or shouldn’t be included.

We’ve decided to look at a small handful of the more common myths, so we can explain why they are wrong and what you can and should expect from website development services.

Building Your Own Website Saves Money

There are 2 ‘answers’ to this statement, depending on the time frame used. If you’re thinking about the cost in the short term, then website builders such as Wix or Squarespace are cheaper. However, longer-term they are not as cheap as first set out.

Many online builders will charge extra for certain modules or functionality, plus any help or support they may or may not give. It can also take up a lot more of your own personal time, which equals money if you’re the one running the business.

These types of ‘quick and easy’ websites are not there to be a long term solution. They’re great for those who work by themselves or have low incomes, but ultimately they cannot compare to professional website development services.

You Don’t Have to Optimise For Mobile

In this day and age it seems mad to have this frame of mind, especially when mobile users are more common than desktop users in 2020. But unfortunately, there are still some individuals out there who believe that optimising for mobile isn’t necessary.

There are 2 main reasons why you should: for search engine optimisation and user experience. SEO (search engine optimisation) is important to ensure your website is seen in search engines, such as Google and Bing. Both actively encourage mobile optimised websites, with Google even providing their own Mobile-Friendly Test.

In terms of user experience, you want to make sure that the experience is the same (or better) on a mobile device as on a desktop. If they’re presented with something that’s broken, they’re likely to walk away.

Your Website Should Be Overflowing With Effects

You may see a website that has certain moving or animated elements and think “I want that on my website!”, but the more of these elements you have the slower your website will load, which can have a negative impact on user experience and search engine optimisation.

It’s nice to be able to showcase your knowledge of jQuery and JavaScript, but overdoing it can leave users waiting up to 20 seconds or more for your website to load. The average load for a website should be no more than 2 seconds, less if possible. You can test the page load speed of your website using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. It will also highlight which elements of the page are taking the most time to load.

Fun effects may look cool and pretty, but they need to be used in smaller doses to ensure the user gets to actually see them in action before they bounce off the website. It’s like trying to enjoy a fine wine by drinking the entire bottle – it needs to be savoured!

Design First, Then Think About The Content

Something we very much pride ourselves on here at This is Fever is our approach to our website development services. Unlike many, we build our websites from a ‘content first’ perspective.

The reason for this is that the content on the website is what is going to be presented to the user and be the reason for that user to interact with the website and ultimately invest. If you design the website first, you then restrict the content you can use and potentially miss out on essential messaging or skew the messaging in order for it to fit.

Content and messaging should always be first, followed by design and then development. This has been a winning formula for us and many other award-winning agencies across the UK.

Bespoke Websites Are Too Expensive

Possibly one of the most commonly spoken about myths is that bespoke websites are just too expensive. Once again, this really depends on your matter of perspective. In the short term, this may seem like a large sum of money, but longer-term it’s a very worthy investment.

Think about it, your website is your biggest advert you have as a business, one you have full control over and that you’ll have for many years. You may spend thousands of pounds each year on advertising platforms such as PPC or social media, but you are ultimately sending all of those people to your website.

In short, your website is almost always your point of conversion for users. It’s also where you will have your biggest ROI, so it’s important to provide the best possible experience to users. You don’t even need to update your website every year, unless it needs to be updated or requires new functionality. On average a website, when built in the right way, can serve your business well for 3-5 years.

If you would like to learn more about our own website development services, simply visit our web design or website development page or speak to a member of our development team today. You can call us on 01206 364 674, email directly on hello@thisisfever.co.uk, or submit a contact form.