Does your company pay for web development services? If so, what are you getting for your money? Some service providers go the extra mile while others do just enough to get by. One thing is for certain: professional web development services should go beyond basic CMS management.
A CMS (content management system) is a package like WordPress or Joomla!, a package that allows website owners to build and maintain professional looking websites without having to know any code. CMSs are more or less the modern equivalent of the older what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) website builders of the late 1990s and early 2000’s.
CMS’s Play a Vital Role
There is no doubt that CMS platforms play a vital role in the modern web. There are plenty of individuals and small businesses that cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars on professional web development services. Taking the time to learn a popular CMS gives them the opportunity to maintain an online presence without pushing the budget to its limit.
The main advantage of using a CMS is this: if you can use a commercial office suite, a CMS will not present too much of a challenge. CMS interfaces are generally designed as drag-and-drop environments or environments similar to word processors.
Unfortunately, CMS’s have their downsides. A big one is the lack of features. The typical CMS must be simple enough for anyone to use off-the-shelf. Therefore, advanced features are lacking. You still need to know some code if you want to add things to a website that your CMS cannot handle natively.
Web Development Services Go Beyond
You could set up and maintain your own website with a CMS. Millions of website owners do, using WordPress as their platform. But if you want to go above and beyond limited CMS function, you either need to learn how to code or pay for professional web development services.
Webtek Digital Marketing is a Salt Lake City company that offers web development services along with SEO, digital marketing, and more. They would be the first to explain that the services they offer go beyond mere CMS management.
For instance, CMS platforms rely on templates. Most CMS templates are minimally SEO-friendly. They have some built-in SEO tools, but those tools are not capable of achieving the same results a professional SEO provider could achieve.
What does this have to do with web development services? Agencies like Webtek don’t just build websites and forget about them. They build the sites with SEO in mind. And once a site is up and running, they continue to optimize it for SEO purposes.
Websites Should Serve a Purpose
If you are wondering whether it’s worth paying for website development services, ask yourself why you have a website to begin with. All websites serve a purpose. If you intend for yours to be little more than an internet calling card, you can probably get by with basic CMS maintenance. But if you want your site to perform well in organic searches and convert casual visitors into paying customers, you need to dig deeper.
Most companies want their websites to be an effective part of the overall marketing strategy. They want their websites to inform, engage, and support their brands. That being the case, it is really hard to accomplish all the major goals without professional web development.
Web development services can indeed be expensive. If your company cannot afford them, then you need to make do. But if the money is in the budget, then paying for services is almost always worth the investment.
