How is Web321 different from DIY Builders like Wix, Weebly & Squarespace?
With DIY web building tools like Wix, Weebly and Squarespace, you’re given a pre-designed template that’s ready to have your content “dragged and dropped” into it. You can build your business a decently functioning website, with a standard look, for a low cost.
This sounds great, but be mindful: there are some limitations that come with using a DIY website builder. They are able to offer you such a low monthly price by keeping features to a minimum, offering limited design choices, and leaving all the labour up to you.
Basically, all that is included in these packages is your website template and instructions on how to use it. Many of the tools you need to keep your website safe and well-maintained, and to grow your business, are missing when you opt-in for a DIY website building platform.
Design Consistency
Web321’s designers know that a consistent “look” throughout your marketing material is key to a professional appearance, which is why we pay attention to detail on every page of your site.
When you customize your theme yourself with a DIY builder, there is room for inconsistencies in your font style, colour and sizing. This can have a negative effect on customers’ impression of your business.
Customization Options
Web321’s design team can customize every pixel of your site to make sure it matches the look and character of your brand. Tell us what you have in your brain, and we’ll make it happen.
DIY sites limit the regions you can customize and will provide you with a preset list of fonts, colours or images. If you want something outside those options, you’re out of luck!
Functionality
WordPress, the open-source technology behind all Web321’s websites, has thousands of available plugins for added functions with more being added every day.
DIY website builders give you a limited suite of functions you can choose from for your site. If you run up against a gap that leaves your site without a needed function, you can either petition your provider to add the function, or you can leave and build your site again on a different platform.
Design Change Options
If you want a whole new look for your Web321 website, we can make that happen for you while keeping all your existing content in place.
Some DIY sites such as Wix don’t allow you to change your site template (basic look and feel) without rebuilding your whole site and re-adding all the content.
Site Ownership
With Web321, once you have paid for your site, it’s 100% your property.
With a DIY website builder, you are at the mercy of your provider’s arbitrary and changing Terms of Service. If you don’t agree with the limitations placed on your website by these Terms of Service, you’re out of luck. Either change your site, rebuild it elsewhere, or you could find your site deleted for not following the rules.
Site Portability
Once you have paid off your Web321 website, you can do as you please with it. We hope you will love our maintenance service enough to stay (and take advantage of our free site design refreshes) but if you do decide to leave to a different web host or maintenance provider, your site can go with you exactly as it is. That’s because we use WordPress, the web’s most popular website software – and it’s supported everywhere.
A website from Wix or Weebly is built on proprietary software. If you ever decide you want to move your website to a different platform, you’ll discover there is no option to just pick up your site and plunk it down somewhere else. This lack of site portability is designed to keep you from going anywhere – and it means if you do leave, you’ll find yourself building the whole site again from scratch.
Delegation
Web321 is here for business folks who need to improve their web presence but just can’t find the time. With our “done-for-you” approach, we take care of everything from domain registration & hosting setup, to web design and content writing, to maintenance and unlimited content updates. That task you’ve been putting off will finally be in good hands, and you’ll be free to grow your business and serve your customers with your full attention.
Web321 isn’t for everyone. We know that some people love to do everything they can themselves – and more power to them! A DIY platform will save you some money and can give you the opportunity to learn a new skill and express your creativity. You’ll just need to assess that value against the time it will take you and the hourly rate you’d be charging for paying work and decide if that’s a trade-off your business can afford to make.