Building a website should be left to the professionals, not your grandkid or nephew. A website is an important function of your business, especially in the age of the internet. It is the online presence of your business, an important piece of your brand that should be handled with the proper knowledge and care.

A professional website builder will understand the importance of a variety of different aspects and functions of a strong website that an average relative will have very limited knowledge of. A few of these aspects include:

 - Keywords: Placing specific keywords that relate to your product or offering into your website helps organically rank your website on search engines. This will ensure more traffic to your site.

 - Search Optimization: Understanding Search Engine Optimization means that you can build your website so that it is better ranked when your potential customers search for your product or service. The better ranked you are, the more visitors you will have to your site. 

 - Mobile Responsiveness: An aspect of website building that is heavily overlooked is how your site appears on mobile devices. A website on a desktop versus on a mobile device are two very different beasts. Sites on mobile devices should focus on being simpler and easier to interact with, which can be difficult to accomplish if you only focus on building your site for desktop viewing. Making sure your website is properly optimized for viewing on both is becoming ever more important.

 - Forms and Conversions: It is important to track the conversion rate of your site to understand how well the site is doing. Having viewers fill out forms is beneficial to see the success of the site and for gathering information from the viewer. Both of these aspects are tricky to manage, as you want your site to be appealing, but not demanding or obnoxious in a way that deters your visitor.

 - Outbound Links: Outbound links are links on your site that sends users to an outside website. These links are important because they create credibility for your site, while also building trust and facilitating relationships with other websites. By linking to high-quality external sources, you improve your organic Search Optimization.

 - Structure of the Site or Blog: How you visually structure your site greatly determines how long a visitor remains on it. You should make sure the site:

• Is not cluttered. Clutter discourages visitors from reading or exploring if they believe there is too much content. 
• Has a “Back to Top” button, which allows easy navigation through the site.
• Has images related to your topics if you choose to place pictures. 
• Provides links to your social media accounts.

Like many other products or services, you get what you pay for! And websites are no exception. Websites are powerful professional statements that act as the foundation of your business’s presence on the internet. This is not something you want to be done quickly and cheaply. You should consider this before asking a relative to build your site for free at the next family reunion.

 While loved ones are just that, loved, building a website should be handled by someone who has an in-depth understanding of how to build an efficient and beautiful website.