Since the first of the year I’ve been fielding requests following a suspicious pattern.
“We built our own website using the XYZ builder and we need to add a tool that our customers expect.”
SquareSpace, WordPress and Wix are all excellent tools to get your business online: but none of them will turn a small business owner into a web developer without a major learning curve.
Some of this week’s requests include:
“Can you tell me how to add an IDX feed to my SquareSpace website?”
“Can you walk me through adding a Reservations & Booking form to my VistaPrint website? We’ll need a calendar and a payment system.”
“What will it take to get my VRBO listing to the top of a Google Search?”
Wellllll – the answers are simply:
No.
No.
Time and money.
Running a one-woman web studio it’s not surprising that people think I can do everything. If it is about an online presence, I do do everything. That doesn’t mean you can.
Getting it Done
I’m not against do-it-yourself websites. They can be wonderful ways to get online. Templates aren’t always bad! Just make sure you know what you are getting before you commit to anything.
Step One – Figure out what your website is supposed to do.
Step Two – Who is it supposed to do it for?
Step three – Can the website building tool achieve Step One and Step Two?
Finally – consider hiring someone to help you with the first two steps. Planning ahead is always more cost effective than guessing. Once you’ve invested in a failed product, you’ll find you haven’t saved a dime.
