When you first launch your brand, it can be tempting to try and save money by designing your website. However, if you have little experience in web design, this can lead to a site that doesn’t effectively communicate your brand identity or message. You want potential customers to feel the same passion for your brand when you think about it – not be confused by what they see online. Here are five reasons to hire a professional website designer over DIY.

1. You Want a Site That Converts Visitors to Customers

If you roll up your sleeves and try to build your website yourself, you risk ending up with a site that looks cheap and unprofessional. This can make potential customers feel like you don’t care enough about your products or services to fork out for a high-quality site. Visitors may click away without buying anything or search for a competitor with a more professional-looking site. Hiring a professional web designer gives you a site you can be proud of and one that converts visitors to customers.

2. You Care about Quality and Usability

Asking a designer to create a site for you from scratch costs more than buying a pre-made design, but it’s worth it. Pre-made sites are almost always built on templates, and you could end up with something unoriginal and uninspiring. By hiring a professional, you’ll get a site that looks unique and has been designed from the ground up to suit your unique needs and brand. Professional designers are trained to create usable, functional websites. They’ll consider all the elements that go into a successful website, including your marketing strategy, the content, and the user experience.

3. Professional Designers Can Help You Understand Your Audience

If you’re designing your website, you might be tempted to show them all the bells and whistles that are technically possible. However, you must keep your site on-brand and avoid confusing potential customers with much information they don’t need. A designer can help you navigate this tricky balancing act by asking questions. They’ll ask you who your target audience is, your goals for the site, and what content you have to work with.

4. It’ll Cost You Less in the Long Run

You might be able to find a freelancer who charges significantly less than an agency or full-time employee. However, you’ll likely find that DIY websites often take longer to create than planned, and you may need to make a few revisions as you go. A professional designer has worked on hundreds of websites. They’ve encountered every possible issue and solved dozens of similar problems.

5. There are Legal Requirements for Hiring a Pro

You may think the only thing required when hiring a contractor is a good faith estimate and a signed contract. However, there are several legal requirements when hiring a contractor, including a contractor’s license in your state and workers’ compensation insurance. Professional website designers will have these things because they’re required by law.

Building your website yourself may be cost-effective, but it’s rarely fast or efficient. You could spend weeks or even months learning how to properly build a website, only to come away with something that doesn’t adequately represent your brand. If you hire a professional web designer, they’ll create something that represents you accurately and effectively.