It is no secret that online presence has never been as important as it is now in the pandemic and post-pandemic world. If you are starting a new business and need a website or feel it is time for an upgrade, you might be wondering what your options are. You keep seeing ads for online website builders that claim to get you going within hours for almost no upfront investment and you are intrigued. Will this work for your business? 

While we at AG Marketing Solutions specialize in custom websites built from scratch, we also have experience with most online builders. Keep reading for some insight on the pros and cons of both online builders and custom websites. 

Website Builders

Pros:

  • Low Setup Cost
    It will cost less money up front to set up a website using a builder since you could do it yourself, and you only have to pay a monthly subscription fee that will instantly give you access to all the tools you need (depending on your plan/tier). 
  • Intuitive Interface
    You do not need to have a web development degree to set up a nice-looking, basic website. You will have a choice of templates, layouts, and color schemes available out of the box.  
  • Fast Turnaround
    If you are in a pinch for time, a website builder might be a good option. All templates are already developed, and all you need to do is add your content and images. 
  • Built-in Services
    Everything you need to publish your website will be provided for you, including hosting, security certificate, and possibly even your domain name (some of these services will have a separate price tag though). 
  • Easy to Maintain
    If you notice a typo or would like to update your business hours, it is easy to log in and make the changes yourself. Most web builders have an easytouse drag and drop interface that feels natural to use.  

Cons: 

  • Ineffective Search Engine Optimization
    While you can edit your text, you don’t usually have access to important SEO tags and image meta tags. This will hurt your website’s ranking as you cannot control how search engines index your website. 
  • Subscription Fees Adds Up
    While the setup cost is low, you will have to keep paying that subscription fee for as long as your website is live.  
  • Poor Page Load Time
    The second you initiate your new website, it is already bloated with code. Since it is a one-size-fits-all solution, it includes a lot of built-in functionality that you don’t even need, but your website will be carrying the load, nonetheless. Every time a user refreshes their browser, all that unnecessary code gets loaded up, hence your website’s load speed is suffering.  
  • You Do Not Own Your Website’s Code and Design
    Say you created a beautiful website in a drag-and-drop editor and spent hours crafting content and choosing the perfect images. Now you are ready to move your creation to a different hosting in hopes of improving page load speed, adding some custom functionality, or improving SEO. Unfortunately, you will be unable to do so as you are not the owner of the website. Even if you were able to import the code, it would not work outside of the builder’s framework. So, if you decided to switch providers, you would need to start from scratch. 
  • CookieCutter Design
    Using templates is easy, but that is a good way to end up looking exactly like your competitor. Good web design should help you stand out from the crowd and bring personality to your brand. As well-thought and visually appealing a template might be, at some point you might want more customization and that simply cannot be accomplished. 
  • No Custom Functionality
    If you need to add custom functionality that the template does not support, you are out of luck. 

Custom Websites

Pros:

  • Professional, Unique Design That is Tailored to Your Needs
    Your website will be a one-of-a-kind creation, carefully thought through and planned out. It will be designed to complement your branding and appeal to your target audience. Professional designers have years and years of experience. They can identify what would work in your specific industry, what design trends should be taken into consideration, etc. 
  • Great Search Engine Optimization
    Not only will your website look good, but it will also rank high in Google searches. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that comes with building a custom website. Before your website goes live, the team will make sure that all page headings are optimized with relevant keywords, page meta tags are entered, and the sitemap is created and prepared for submitting to search engines.  
  • Fast Page Load Speed
    Because your website was built from scratch, every single line of code in the codebase is relevant. You will have the best page load speed possible, which also helps to get great search engine rankings. 
  • Unlimited Customization Possibilities
    When a website is custom built to your own specifications, you will be able to alter any minuscule detail if your heart so desires (as long as it is supported by web browsers). You will always have a web coordinator/support person to discuss your ideas with. We will also advise you on additions and changes you might want to consider to keep your online presence competitive. 
  • Scalability
    Custom websites can almost always be scaled up to grow with your business. If you don’t have a large budget, it might be a good idea to use it for building a one-page website that could become a base for your future full-fledged custom website with all the bells and whistles. 
  • You Own Your Website
    Once you have paid for the final product, your website belongs to you, including the design and codebase. 
  • You Get a Team of Professionals to Build Your Website
    This is probably the most important point of all. When you are opting to build a custom website through an agency, you get an entire team of professionals who use their specific expertise to build you the best product possible. A designer works on a unique, eye-catching, modern color scheme and layout; a content writer creates compelling headlines and keyword-rich copy; and a developer translates all the assets into a responsive, fast, appealing web medium that adapts to any device and looks great. Before all that, the entire team spends many hours brainstorming, planning, creating a storyboard and wireframe, doing research, checking on your competitors, coming up with suggestions, and getting your input, all while slowly forming all the snippets into a final product.  
  • Real Person Support
    With an agency, you receive a support person to talk to and discuss your needs with. Who knows, maybe one day, lunch business meetings will be back on the table! 

Cons:

  • Longer Setup Time
    This probably goes without saying, but since there is so much planning and strategizing involved in building a custom website, it takes time. Total time will depend on how many pages your website will have, how much custom functionality will be included, etc. It also depends on how responsive you are. Even though your development team will be doing all the heavy lifting, you will still be included in the process because nobody knows your business as well as you do.  
  • Higher Setup Cost
    Your upfront cost will be significantly higher than a subscription fee from an online builder. However, the good news here is that it’s a one-and-done thing, and aside from hosting and domain name, you won’t have any mandatory recurring fees. 
  • Higher Maintenance Cost
    Unless you have experience with coding, you will need help with updating your website, which can lead to support costs. On the bright side, that means that at least a couple of people will be proofing your content and doing quality assurance testing, so you can concentrate on your business. If you are anticipating regular updates, you have the option of getting on a cost-effective maintenance plan. 

Conclusion 

When it comes to building websites, it’s not only about making them look good. There are so many pieces to the puzzle that only professionals know about. Whether or not to use online builders instead of hiring an agency to develop a custom website tailored to your business is up to you.  

At AG Marketing Solutions, we can help you with either option. We LOVE building custom websites because we love delivering products that make a difference, but sometimes online builders might be a viable option. Need help making a choice? Contact our support team to get started! 

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About the Author

Katya Robinson

Katya is one of our web developers. She immigrated from Russia in 2008 and followed her passion for programming to eventually make it a career in web development. She calls Philadelphia her home now, where she lives with her husband, sons, and assorted pets. Katya loves reading, crafts, traveling, and simply spending time with her family.

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