5 Reasons why you need to hire a web agency instead of Wix/Squarespace

The rise of website builders like Wix and Squarespace has made it easier than ever for small businesses and individuals to create a website on their own, without having to hire a web development agency. These services offer drag-and-drop interfaces, pre-made templates, and other tools that make it simple to build a website without any technical expertise.

While website builders may seem like a cost-effective solution, they often come with several drawbacks that can negatively impact your website’s success. In this article, we’ll explore why working with a web development agency (like Websites Made With Love) is a much better choice for your business, even if it may require a higher upfront investment.

1 – More Customization Options

One of the main limitations of website builders is that they offer limited customization options. While you can add text, images, and other elements to your site, you’ll typically be working within the confines of a pre-made template that has a set layout and design. You may be able to make some minor changes to the design, but you’ll usually be limited in what you can do.

This means that your website will likely look similar to many other websites that were created using the same builder. This can make it difficult to differentiate yourself from your competitors and create a unique online presence that represents your brand. When your site looks too similar to everyone else’s, it risks looking like a cheap job.

On the other hand, our web development agency can create a completely custom website that’s tailored to your needs and brand identity. We can help you develop a unique design, choose the right features, and ensure that your website stands out from the competition. At Websites Made With Love (WMWL), we work closely with our clients to fully understand their brand, vision, and ways to set them apart from the competition. Our portfolio has a nice spread that shows several custom layouts at a glance, check it out!

2 – Better Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Secondly, Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any website as it helps your site to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can make it easier for your target audience to find your website and can drive more traffic to your site.

However, many website builders have poor SEO capabilities. They may not provide the tools you need to optimize your website for search engines, or they may have technical limitations that prevent you from making the changes you need.

We, on the other hand, can help you create a website that’s optimized for search engines. We can ensure that your website is technically sound, implement best practices for SEO, and help you create content that’s optimized for search engines.

This is different than a service like Wix or Squarespace because much of this work is done off the website, like keyword research, setting up Google Analytics, and taking a closer look at your competitors and what they are doing right (or wrong!). Once the data is gathered, it is implemented on your website so you can reap the benefits. If you want to pour out heaps of money buying keywords and having high advertising costs, that’s your choice. But, there is a better (organic) way through SEO that works just fine.

3 – Wix and Squarespace have limited scalability

Furthermore, as your business grows you may need to expand your website to accommodate new products, services, or features. Website builders can be limited in terms of scalability, which means that you may need to start from scratch or switch to a different platform if you outgrow the builder. This can mean a lot of time and money wasted if you don’t immediately know what your business will look like in a few years.

We can help you create a website that scales with your business. We ensure that your site is built on a platform that’s capable of handling growth and will help you add new features and functionality as you need them.

4 – Premium Support

Website builders may offer limited support, which can make it difficult to get help when you need it. You may be left to rely on online forums or documentation, which can be time-consuming and frustrating. Generally, people that choose to use platforms like Wix or Squarespace do so because they aren’t web developers – they are business owners that need something online. When problems arise (as they inevitably do), it can be very time-consuming reading through other people’s similar problems to gain clues on how to fix your website problems. Wouldn’t it be a much better use of time to spend those hours improving your business plan, not fixing a broken site?

Fear not, as our maintenance plans provide you with dedicated support and resources. We troubleshoot any problems that arise, answer questions, and provide guidance as we work together (or solo) to build and maintain your website.

Some client-favourite features of our maintenance plans include:

1. Technical support
2. Regular backups
3. Backup restoration
4. 24/7 Uptime Monitoring
5. Email encoding
6. Comments Cleanup
7. Live form testing

As a bonus, we will even walk through the website with our clients until they feel confident to do some updates on their own.  Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post about that!

5 – Lower costs over time (save your money!)

While website builders may seem like a cost-effective solution upfront, they can be more expensive over time.

👎🏻 Ways website builders end up costing you more:

1. Free trials for essentials that run out after a limited time, making you pay way more than necessary to maintain what you have
2. Paying extra for premium templates
3. Forcing you to pay extra for more storage than you need
4. Limiting custom features, making you spend more time trying to achieve something the builder just can’t do
5. Sneaky annoyances like blocky advertisements covering most of the page unless you have a “premium” paid account to hide them.
6. The custom content that you’ve already paid for (like branding, logos, etc) may not fit in the confines of the template you’ve chosen. The way it should look doesn’t always translate to how it actually looks on the site.

👍🏻 Ways a web agency like us can help you save money:

1. Our optional (but strongly recommended) maintenance plan helps keep your website secure and running, so it is less likely to break and be rebuilt. This is a small investment compared to completely overhauling your website in only a few years because your builder is inadequate.
2. Popular with Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), we do the heavy lifting to get the site up and running, then make tutorials to help the NPO do their updates.
3. Our toolkit contains many unique features that page builders either don’t have or charge an additional fee to implement. Custom contact forms and cool parallax (scrolling animation) features are a couple of examples.
4. Aside from displaying our logo at the bottom of your page, there aren’t any advertisements covering your page content. Let’s face it, ads look tacky and can immediately turn off visitors. Our discreet design makes everything feel more professional, which is what you want, right?
5. Bundle your new website with custom graphic design for your brand and a digital marketing ad strategy to really drive more traffic. These features are not usually included in Wix/Squarespace and can cost an arm and leg.  With us, these are optional, cost-saving features available for your business.

Save time and money by working with our web agency

Although it may be tempting to use a platform like Wix or Squarespace to quickly get your site up and running, it usually isn’t worthwhile in the long run. Limited customization, scalability, support, SEO, and hidden costs all work against these platforms.

Websites Made With Love (and agricultural subset AgriBytes) are happy to help clients of all budgets create and maintain a website for their business or non-profit organization. We work with clients, not for them. This approach sets us apart from generic builders that are limited, expensive, and produce a cheap-looking website. We do all the heavy lifting and technical stuff behind the scenes while you maintain full control over your website.

Interested in learning more? View our assortment of services and contact us for a free, no-obligation chat about your website goals.