A web site builder can be a real life saver to someone without advanced HTML knowledge or tools. Web site builders allow a relative newbie to the internet create a professional website in very little time. How can you know if using a web site builder will meet your needs? Here are some things to consider...

Do you need a unique, one of a kind website?

Almost all web site builders restrict you to their premade templates. Because of this, there is a risk that your website will look like other websites on the internet. For many businesses, this is not important. With millions of websites out there and billions of potential eyeballs visiting your site, the only way a template is a real risk is if your competitor is using the very same web site builder system and chooses the very same template as yours. Still, for some business owners, a unique template is important. If a unqiue template is very important to you, you may need to consider the services of a web designer instead.

Do you plan to make lots of changes to your web site?

One of the strengths to a good web site builder is the fact that you can make changes to your website yourself without needing a web designer's help. For instance, if you own a retail store and your stock changes regularly, you may want to change your stock online to reflect what's new in store. With a web site builder, this is easy to do. Without a web site builder or a good content management system, making changes will usually involve website maintenance costs for your web designer to go in and make the necessary changes. At so much per hour, and lots of changes, this can add up to a significant expense at the end of the year.

Is access to a web site builder worth the extra monthly or yearly cost?

When you know that you want to be making lots of little or not so little changes to the text and images on your website, a site builder is well worth the expense. Consider what it would cost for you to hire a professional web designer to first create the web site, than to make regular changes to the site. These costs can easily run into the thousands per year. A good web site builder costs much less than that.

Need a quick, no nonsense approach to building your website? A web site builder may be just the things you're looking for.

Joe Duchesne is a partner in a web hosting company called Yowling.com. Yowling offers a web site builder for $25 per month that is really easy to use yet very powerful. Reprint freely as long as you keep the keyword rich link in this resource box.