Good use of your time?
- You need a professional website but you don’t have the time or skills to create it
- You know exactly the look you want but you don’t know how to achieve it
- You need ‘website’ off your To Do list but you are wary of expensive marketing contracts
If this sounds like you, then we can help
Foot of the Hill
Foot of the Hill provides friendly, professional, affordable web services for individuals, small businesses, charities and volunteer groups. Based in Cheltenham, we can work with you wherever you are.
Website creation
We can create a completely new website for you including setting up a domain and hosting, design, creation and launch. We will work to understand your aims and you will be involved each step of the way.
Website maintenance
A website needs to be regularly maintained, technically and content-wise. Some clients like to do this themselves; others prefer an ongoing maintenance contract. We support both options.
Website development
If you wish to make significant changes to your website after launch, e.g. creating complete new pages, or adding a shop or booking system for the first time, we can do this for you.
DIY websites – pros and cons
The cheapest option is definitely to build your own website. At first sight this may seem like a good economy. However there are a number of factors to consider.
Many people who opt to build their own website are drawn to providers such as Wix or Squarespace because they manage all the technical stuff for you. All you have to do is create content using templates and ready-made ‘drag and drop’ features. Some providers offer free versions. All good, but there are some things to be aware of:
- A free version will have ads and your domain name will be branded by the supplier.
- With paid for versions you can have your own custom domain name and no ads. Often the custom domain is free for the first year only.
- At the lower price range only basic templates and features are available. You have to pay more to unlock premium features.
- Because they are template driven, sites built on these platforms can look very similar.
- Page loading speeds can be slow and you can’t control this.
Whatever platform you choose to use, it’s worth also asking yourself these questions:
What’s the best use of your time?
When you first start creating content it can seem pretty easy, especially using a template-driven platform. AI can produce a very convincing one-page website from a basic prompt. However, you will then need to edit it to reflect your business. This is where it can become more daunting and possibly lead to many frustrating hours of trial and error.
What impression will a DIY site give of your business?
Firstly, if you use a template-driven platform, your site may look very like many other websites created from the same templates. Secondly, depending on the skill of the content creator and the time invested, users of your site may stumble upon a series of ‘not quite right’ things, e.g. text not properly aligned to boxes, links that don’t go anywhere, contact replies that end up in the receiver’s junk folder, etc. If not set up properly there could also be weaknesses in terms of security, performance and stability.