Social media is great and certainly has its place – but your website is your little space of the Internet, where you can promote your interests business or ideas to the world.

Websites are brilliant for building authority, or for showcasing your products and services. You can reach more people, and you have full control over the content.

Is it easy to create a website?

It’s much easier these days to create a website than it was in the past, but equally, it’s also very easy to create a website that doesn’t really reflect what you want from it and doesn’t serve you as well as it possibly could.

It’s like with anything – when it comes to designing and developing a website, you tend to get what you pay for. If you try to take the cheap route, chances are you’ll end up needing to revisit it in the near future, as it won’t quite match up to what you want.

I’ve worked with lots of clients in Preston and beyond who have tried to create a free website, or paid for a low-cost template site. Inevitably there is a catch, and they then need to try and play catch up. In most cases, it’s easier to just give up and start again doing things properly.

A good website needs to look great and be snappy and responsive. It can’t have adverts taking up space, or be slow to load and display. Otherwise, Google will penalise it in search listings, and users will quickly hit the back button.

There are many free and cheap ways to create a website, and depending on what you need these can do the job just fine. But if you want something that looks attractive, helps you to impress visitors, and is easy to edit and update, then chances are you want to work with a web designer and developer.

Do I need a web developer or a designer?

Just a note here – web design and web development are two completely different disciplines, which require totally different skills. In most cases, you will need to hire a freelancer or web agency who can do the design, and one who can do the technical side, the web development.

The other option is to hire somebody like me who is able to handle both sides of the project.

I have an extensive history in graphic design and web design, but I have also built my development skills so I can create custom websites on WordPress and other platforms – with the aim of providing my clients with a simple and effective way to create a full website package.

I hear all the time how difficult it is to create and implement a new website, so I’ve been working hard on making this process as simple as possible for clients. I’ve worked with people from all around Lancashire to help them make websites in a smooth and simple way – because I can complete the entire process and handle the project without these people having to engage with multiple providers.

Simply put this makes it so much easier for you, and you’re guaranteed a fantastic product at the end.

So whether you need a simple or a complex website, get in touch if you’re interested and we can chat through how I can help you bring your vision to life.