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Website builders!!!

by Dizain
5 replies
Hello warriors,
I'm a part time website designer / developer. Every month I close 3-4 clients and I'm happy with that. I just moved to another city (bigger city than where I used to live) for my full time day job. My problem is most of the local businesses here already have a website and the majority is using website builders. For example, I can see at the bottom of their websites something like "Design by............." website builder software like Godaddy, google sites, vista print, wix etc.

I found some businesses with no websites and that's good but I'm just worry that most local businesses will start using such services and it will be hard for me to find new clients to work with in the future. Is this something I should worry about??

I know every website is different in term of functionality and design but most of the websites I design for my clients are 5-7 pages websites (home, about, contact, menu/services, coupons/deals, etc) which can be done with website builders. The design looks bad comparing to my custom design but for the business owner it serves the purpose of having a website. Plus they are way cheaper than what I charge to build a custom website. I have contacted many biz owners to re-design their website for them but they seems to be fine with the one they did using website builder software. It easier for me to close clients with no website than have them hire me to re-design the website for them.

What do you think about that??

Thank you in advance.
#builders #website
  • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
    Originally Posted by Dizain View Post

    Hello warriors,
    I'm a part time website designer / developer. Every month I close 3-4 clients and I'm happy with that. I just moved to another city (bigger city than where I used to live) for my full time day job. My problem is most of the local businesses here already have a website and the majority is using website builders. For example, I can see at the bottom of their websites something like "Design by............." website builder software like Godaddy, google sites, vista print, wix etc.

    I found some businesses with no websites and that's good but I'm just worry that most local businesses will start using such services and it will be hard for me to find new clients to work with in the future. Is this something I should worry about??

    I know every website is different in term of functionality and design but most of the websites I design for my clients are 5-7 pages websites (home, about, contact, menu/services, coupons/deals, etc) which can be done with website builders. The design looks bad comparing to my custom design but for the business owner it serves the purpose of having a website. Plus they are way cheaper than what I charge to build a custom website. I have contacted many biz owners to re-design their website for them but they seems to be fine with the one they did using website builder software. It easier for me to close clients with no website than have them hire me to re-design the website for them.

    What do you think about that??

    Thank you in advance.
    A lot of that comes from those seeking a lot of control. On the opposite end I have picked up lots of clients that used a webdesigner such as yourself and got frustrated that any time any minor change needed to be done they had to:
    • Call the designer and hope he would do it in a timely basis
    • Purchase some adobe package to make the updates themselves
    • Stick with out of date information

    So the appeal of these website builders, as bad as they are, is the ability for the client to go and do the updates they need without you including new pages, changing hours, services, prices, etc.

    You do not mention if you are using some type of content management system or if you are going old school and using dreamweaver or coding from scratch. Designing by hand/dreamweaver is (IMO) a dying business. The smart ones at least transition over to Drupal if they don't want to use wordpress.

    Remember, it is not just about design, it is also about control, ease of use, and what that website does for them, such as the SEO element which the Content Management Systems are much better at than the website builders.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      The best way to win is to not compete. Which means you need to position your sites as different/more than just sites somehow or position yourself as different source of website (has to have value to your prospects).

      I tell this story often, I might have told it here. Years ago, I was approached by a company that showed me beautiful websites and told me they could create me one just like those. For $3,000.

      I did not buy: I couldn't see the benefit to me.

      Shortly thereafter, I was approached by a guy who did not have beautiful images of beautiful sites. Instead, he asked me what I want my future site to do.

      I did not know at the time that sites could do anything. So he told me they could be my online brochure, or they could get people in my sales funnels, or make sales for me... Hew suggested that for a company like mine, I should focus on a site that gets prospects in my sales funnel.

      I thought the man was positively brilliant even though his sites were butt-ugly.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dizain
        Originally Posted by DABK View Post

        The best way to win is to not compete. Which means you need to position your sites as different/more than just sites somehow or position yourself as different source of website (has to have value to your prospects).

        I tell this story often, I might have told it here. Years ago, I was approached by a company that showed me beautiful websites and told me they could create me one just like those. For $3,000.

        I did not buy: I couldn't see the benefit to me.

        Shortly thereafter, I was approached by a guy who did not have beautiful images of beautiful sites. Instead, he asked me what I want my future site to do.

        I did not know at the time that sites could do anything. So he told me they could be my online brochure, or they could get people in my sales funnels, or make sales for me... Hew suggested that for a company like mine, I should focus on a site that gets prospects in my sales funnel.

        I thought the man was positively brilliant even though his sites were butt-ugly.
        Well said. Thank you!
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    • Profile picture of the author Dizain
      Originally Posted by OnlineStoreHelp View Post

      A lot of that comes from those seeking a lot of control. On the opposite end I have picked up lots of clients that used a webdesigner such as yourself and got frustrated that any time any minor change needed to be done they had to:
      • Call the designer and hope he would do it in a timely basis
      • Purchase some adobe package to make the updates themselves
      • Stick with out of date information

      So the appeal of these website builders, as bad as they are, is the ability for the client to go and do the updates they need without you including new pages, changing hours, services, prices, etc.
      I agree. Thank you! I never thought of it this way.
      You do not mention if you are using some type of content management system or if you are going old school and using dreamweaver or coding from scratch. Designing by hand/dreamweaver is (IMO) a dying business. The smart ones at least transition over to Drupal if they don't want to use wordpress.

      Remember, it is not just about design, it is also about control, ease of use, and what that website does for them, such as the SEO element which the Content Management Systems are much better at than the website builders.
      Yes, most of my work is coded from scratch. I use wordpress for some clients. However, I don't agree that this is "a dying business" because most of the big web design companies code from scratch based on the clients needs and requirements. They don't buy templates and edit them. The only down side of this is that the client has to contact the developer to make changes since there isn't a control panel like on wordpress. (Like you mentioned above). We can go around this by building the back end control panel for the client to make changes but then the price will increase. Thank you again.
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  • Profile picture of the author ATAC
    Do not throw in the towel..
    Those business that are using GoDaddy any other website builders come with a monthly subscription ..
    So pitch to them as a one time fee and get your feet in the door ...Give them a great deal to get in the door then set them up with a SMS free trial and make them your customer for life..
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