A good website should be your best employee. It never sleeps, never takes a lunch break, and is eager to share its vast knowledge of your company's products with prospective customers any time of day. Your website should be an interactive extension of your business, not just a billboard.

Are you tensing up at the thought of spending money to have your website developed or redesigned?

Are you considering having a neighbor, friend, or even your teenager build your website?

DIY free website will not only cost your business - it could potentially hurt your business, too.

Top reasons why do-it-yourself websites fail:

Fail #1: Reputation

Loss of credibility. Do-it-yourself websites tend to have an amateur look. To succeed online you need a highly recognizable, relatable, and authentic website that sets you apart from your competition. A professional website shows that you are serious about your business, and your customers.

Fail #2: Brand Awareness

Most customers are tech-savvy and rely on a company's online presence as a test of their market credibility. If you are strategizing toward branding and establishing credibility, it's nearly impossible with a cookie-cutter site. Plus, you'll end up with a generic website that looks the same as thousands of others.

Fail #3: Search Rankings

Low number of visitors.

Lack of trust from search engines.

Poor SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Inefficient coding, title and meta tag creation. From my experience, many of these types of sites have coding errors and broken links.

Content does not match keywords.

(Free websites say they put in keywords, but it's only on the homepage, or they use the same keywords on every page).

This is not Search Engine Optimization. You will not generate top traffic to your site, nor will you be competitive in your industry.

There's a greater likelihood of a Google algorithm penalty hitting your website.

A good website should be your best employee. It never sleeps, never takes a lunch break, and is eager to share its vast knowledge of your company's products with prospective customers any time of day. Your website should be an interactive extension of your business, not just a billboard.

WSI Coeur d'Alene has a straightforward three-step approach to turning your website into a valuable tool for your business:

1. We analyze your website to understand how it currently appears to Google and determine what potential improvements we can make to your overall SEO strategy.

2. We design a website that is aesthetically pleasing, efficient to navigate, and built to facilitate the presentation of outstanding content to your potential customers.

3. We put your website to work for your business, turning it into a 24/7 employee that is able to provide potential customers with the information they seek, any time they need it.

We have affordable starter packages for new-to-market business owners. Plus, we will train you how to use it.

If you want a more robust website solution, call your WSI Coeur d'Alene Team at (208) 416-5159, or email Jadenn Clauson: [email protected].