Why Build your own Website?

by | Nov 4, 2022 | Resources | 0 comments

There are so many reasons why I would recommend having you own website. First one being that you get to have all the control and there’s minimal overhead charges; unlike Etsy that charges you per listing and extra fees after the payment has been processed. That never sat right with me, why should I have to pay someone else for all the work that I have put into my own business? Guess what? You don’t have to.

            I have done extensive research, trials, and many errors. The stigma that comes along with websites is that they are expensive to build, this is yet another false statement. The most monthly I have paid for any of my sites was $17! That’s almost half the monthly price for Shopify, which I loved by the way, I just didn’t like the monthly charge and extra fees I had to pay for PayPal payments instead of stripe (who holds the payment up to several days).

            As a small business owner and I mean small, you don’t always know when your next order will happen, and you must make sure that you can cover those bills even when the business isn’t bringing in what it may have the previous month. All these factors brought me to my very first site – ToF has had its own site since 2016, where I learned all about WordPress and WooCommerce. Those are my go-to platforms, I recommend them to everyone and will continue to do so. Here are a few more reasons why you should make the jump into the world wide web:

 

  1. Lower Costs – There is only monthly fee for your hosting unless paid annually, and you can have unlimited products! As for your domain name that Is an annual fee, usually under $20.

 

  1. Customizing – Every website is unique, and as it should be, this is the way you represent yourself/business to the world, and you want to give off a good impression. When I show someone one of my websites, what I love hearing the most is the ‘wow’ that my site caused. That’s the impression you want to give. Therefore, you need a way to be able to customize your site to represent YOU, and most ecommerce platforms don’t let you do that.

 

  1. Control – This was ideal for me, because if something went wrong on the technical side with my site; I could fix it myself instead of having to wait for tech support who may or may not get back to me promptly. That was too much of an unknown for my liking, I want to be able to guarantee a functioning website for my customers. Not to mention this brings me back to being able to customize the appearance to my liking and the ability to add features that most e-commerce sites don’t!

 

  1. Professionalism – having your own site is a huge sign of professionalism, would you want to buy from a website that has a URL ‘storename.someonelsessite.com’? Not to mention how is anyone going to remember your URL to share with their friend, or to reference later? They won’t. So, you must make sure your URL is easy to remember and straight to the point. It is true that sites like Esty and shopify you can pay extra to use your own domain name, but that is just another fee that you will need to pay, which isn’t ideal. Finally, when customers ask me “do you sell on Esty?” and I return with “No, I built my own website.” It not only changes the customers opinion of me and my business, but it also shows, I mean business and I take this seriously.

 

 

Now these are only a few of the wonderful reasons why I love having my own site, it may seem like a big commitment and a lot of work but trust me it is worth it. The pride I feel for my business is worth every struggle I had to face; including but not limited to all the migraines it took for me to learn how to do all of this.

My biggest piece of advice to fellow entrepreneurs who are thinking of making this plunge, don’t overwhelm yourself, it is a process – make sure to do your research and plan out what suits your business needs. If you need assistance setting it up, check out the resources I have put together for you, and contact me if you need more help!

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