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How do most people find businesses in today’s world? They google it.
So, if you want more people to visit your business, you need to show up on Google when they search for your business.
And you really need to rank at the top of Google search results. The way to do that? Make Google happy. So, what makes Google happy?
Google absolutely loooooves websites that are expertly hand-coded for the internet. It doesn’t show that same amount of love for slow website builders like WordPress, Wix, etc.
So, why does Google love expertly hand-coded websites more than website builders? If you look at how they rank websites on their search results, you can easily see why.
So, let’s look at the top two Google Search ranking factors according to WordStream.
These top two factors are:
Page Loading Speed (how fast a website loads for the average user) is the first factor.
Your website needs to load in less than 3 seconds. Why? Google tells us that 53% of website visits are abandoned if a website takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Over half of your potential customers will leave your website if it is slow!
You need a fast business website.
Hand-coded websites like the ones we do are literally built for speed. WordPress, Wix, and other website builders by their nature are not optimized for speed. So, what’s the difference?
The websites we build are static websites. This means that our websites are built with just the main building blocks of web development: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There are no servers, databases, or fancy data manipulation. Your browser (like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) simply reads the code and instantly displays the website as it was created. Nice and speedy. Google loves this, and so they rank fast websites higher on Google search results.
A dynamic website (like WordPress, Wix, etc.) uses additional server-side languages like PHP and other server-side technologies to take HTML documents, CSS documents, and other assets from a database. Once it has everything, it then stitches it together on the server, and after all of that, it then gets sent to the browser. So, instead of the browser compiling the code, a server does the compiling and then sends it to the browser. This makes loading times slower, and it also opens your website up to potential security problems. (Problems like hackers interrupting this server-side process through database attacks or security flaws in website plugins. Which also is why WordPress plugins must frequently be updated for security reasons.) These website builders make it simple and cheap for you to create your own website, but there are huge disadvantages when compared to static websites like the ones we build, primarily speed and security. And this affects how high you rank on Google which in turn affects how many customers you see coming through your door.
Over 50% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. In addition to this, 50% of smartphone users are more likely to use a company’s mobile website on their smartphone, because they don’t want to download an app.
A mobile-friendly website is an absolute must in today’s world. And even more so with how Google ranks mobile websites.
Because most people use Google on their smartphones, Google uses the mobile version of your website to determine how high it ranks. This is called mobile-first indexing.
So, keeping this in mind, we create our websites with mobile devices first in mind, also called mobile first programming. So, when creating the website, we put our code for mobile devices at the top of our files, so that your browser reads that first. This speeds up how fast your website appears for mobile devices, which Google likes a lot.
Mobile first programming simply cannot be done by a website builder. It’s a design pattern that only web developers working on custom websites or web applications can use. So, website builders like WordPress and Wix cannot take advantage of this amazingly quick and useful web design pattern. They typically just try to shrink your content down into a mobile view which wastes time and resources.
Making static websites with mobile first design results in insanely fast websites! It can blow some people’s minds how speedy it is when they are used to having to wait on slow websites made with website builders.
Our static custom-coded websites (and most hand-made websites in general) will ALWAYS beat website builders like WordPress and Wix. Static custom-coded websites load in milliseconds in comparison to the multiple seconds (over that 3 second marker more than likely) that it takes for a WordPress or Wix website to load.
Website builders can’t do mobile-first programming, and so they cannot take advantage of all its conveniences. Most of them don’t do a tablet version, so if you try to resize the website, text will often wrap weird at those sizes and the content will go off the edge of the screen! Not a good look at all. You simply don’t get the level of control, speed, or optimization you get with a custom-coded static website. In addition, you must deal with the headache of trying to fix bugs, security problems, and other issues that you don’t have to worry about when you have someone doing the hard work for you. You can rest easy when we’re working for you.
Website builders like WordPress or Wix advertise that anyone can make a website for free. This is no doubt tempting for many small businesses that don’t have the money to hire a web design company that will typically charge anywhere from $2,000 - $5,000 to just set the website up, not even including monthly fees on top of that. And sometimes these web design companies just use WordPress and Wix to make your website instead of custom-coding it themselves! And so, it’s very tempting to use these website builders, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
I’m also not saying that WordPress is always a bad solution. If you need a database to connect to your website which serves up different content for every user that comes to your website, it can be quite useful. If you want to set up an online store, create web applications on the cheap, or basically do anything that actually requires a database, it’s great for that.
However, if you have concerns like page speed, security, loading times, custom web design, getting more customers, and Google Search ranking, I would highly advise getting a static website created for your business. It will take your business to a whole new level and allow you to stand out from all your competitors.
Static websites, like the ones we make, are static. They are static which means “unchanging.” They don’t serve up different content or generate new content for every single user that visits the website. They show information quickly and elegantly, which is what most small businesses need. Using WordPress to create your informational small business website is like using a grenade to dig a hole when a shovel will do. It might still be a hole, but you can’t make it with the level of control and optimization like you can with a shovel.
Consider it in this light as well, anyone can just buy a bucket of paint and paint their own house. However, not everyone will be able to do it with same quality and the finesse as a true painting professional. In many cases, the house will suffer from quality and appearance issues if not painted right. In the same way, web design is a trade and can get a bit expensive. So, it’s natural to consider doing it yourself.
By using us though, you get a web developer with 24/7 customer service that will make a custom-coded static website for your small business. And there’s no upfront fee of $2,000 - $5,000 like most web design companies. Just a small monthly fee of $159 that covers all your needs from website creation to hosting to many other things like Search Engine Optimization. You’ll have a website that performs miles better than anything WordPress or Wix could hope to do, and you’ll have an enormous leg up on your competitors who are likely using website builders.
We give small business the big business treatment at a fantastic price.
Many people see websites as an expense rather than as an investment. They just see it as a necessary evil that they must pay for at some point. However, a website should be seen as one of the most valuable investments a business can ever make.
Before most people walk through the physical door of your business, they’ll walk through your virtual door, your website. If you bought a static custom-coded website from a web design company for $3,500, that may seem like a lot, but if all the sudden you’re getting a lot more customers who were leaving your previous website that was slow, looked out of date, and gave off the impression that your business couldn’t be trusted, isn’t that worth it? We’ve all been to websites that gave off a sketchy vibe and felt shady. So, you spent $3,500 for a new website, but now you’re making an extra $10,000 every year because of it, I would consider that an extremely valuable investment.
Websites are like laptops. You get what you pay for. You wouldn’t buy a $100 laptop and expect it to perform, play games, and run apps like a $1,000 laptop would. When I look to buy a new computer, I do my research and find one that will fulfill my needs, not simply the cheapest one. Like a great laptop, a great website will never cost $100. If someone promises you the world for only a few dollars, you should probably think twice. It should deter you to see that low of a price. If I wanted to get wisdom teeth surgery done, I wouldn’t trust a doctor I found online who claims he can do it for $200 when everyone else is asking for $3,000 everywhere else.
If you want a cheap website, expect cheap results. If you want to invest into your business and have it done right, that’s where web developer like me comes into the picture
In the end, whether you want a custom-coded static website or a dynamic website comes down to your budget and your priorities. If you’re just starting out and don’t have much to spend on a website, it’s okay to use WordPress or a website builder. But if you have little more money to get a website that’s extremely fast, well-designed, and optimized, having a custom-coded static website can be one of the best investments that you’ll ever make into your business.
With my business model, you really don’t have to pick between doing it yourself to save money or having a web design company do it with a really high price tag. Instead of charging businesses upfront $2,500+ and a monthly fee, I offer mine at $0 down and only $159 a month. I want to see small businesses not only get a fantastic website that can dominate their competitors, but also a business partner that continuously handles all things web for their business. I can charge this little as I work from home, and so I have only a small amount of operating costs. I want to build you a website that lasts for years and that helps you grow your business, and if you ever want me to change something on your website or need to ask a question, I’ll be right here when you need me.