There are a lot of people out there with degrees in graphic design, writing, interior design, and other creative arts that have graduated from college and are looking for employment. Many of those graduates need a quick, easy, inexpensive, and professional-looking website to show off what they can do to attract potential employers.
But after years of paying for tuition and fees, room and board, and books, not many graduates are keen on hiring someone to design a website. What many people might not know is that they can create a website that will fit their needs and help them land the job they covet, all on their own!
How can this be done, you ask?
With an easy to use website builder.
In today’s post, we highlight one of our customers’ experiences working with IM Creator. We also address some myths regarding website builders and offer up some insight about what you can accomplish by taking the bull by the horns and designing your own website.
Website Builder Success Story: Alice
We recently got some amazing feedback from a customer that highlights exactly what it is that we seek to do here at IM Creator – help individuals and businesses get a fantastic website up and running quickly, without spending a ton of money, in order to meet their business and career goals.
One such success story is Alice. After attending college, Alice needed a professional looking website fit for a budding graphic designer. Here is her experience, in her own words:
“Here’s my story I want to share with everyone at IM Creator, which may not be far off from many people out there.
Upon graduating with a BA in Graphic Design, I was faced with the task of building a website. What I struggled with was not owning the full versions of Dreamweaver, and not having 100% knowledge on what I was doing with it. When I took a class on it, it was Adobe CS2. By the time I was ready to start building this site, it had upgraded to CS4, and let’s say things change a lot in software.
I needed to build a site to showcase my portfolio. I needed to get an entry-level position. I thought to myself, ‘wow it’s the middle of the recession, how in the world am I going to compete with every other grad out there?!’
So, I thought, ‘okay I will look online for a service I can use to help me build a website.’ Let me tell you from the outside looking in, it is completely cumbersome to think it’s that easy.
Then I found IM Creator. I read and researched reviews as best as I could. I loved the fact that I could build the site, THEN decide if I wanted to put my money into it. It makes complete sense from a consumer standpoint.
The quality of support since day one from IM Creator has been awesome. They’ve helped me connect to Google analytics, and have responded to every email I’ve sent. Shortly thereafter setting up this site and monitoring Google analytics, I got a call. After 3 years post-graduation, I finally got my graphic design job. The torment of living with a tremendous amount of student loan debt and not having a job to show for it was over!
I want to thank IM Creator and their staff for helping me get a career in my field. Since then, I have referred your service to several other graphic designers, and I will continue to do so. Thanks again and keep up the good work!”
-Alice
What Alice’s story demonstrates is that people of all levels of web design ability, from the novice to the expert, can utilize a website builder to create a website that is truly impressive. Some people, like Alice, need a place to highlight their work. For that, there are a variety of templates specifically for portfolio usage, like this one:
Other people might need to build a website for their small business, that’s branded with their business name, and features multiple pages to highlight their company’s products, services, and people, like this template:
Point being, website builders aren’t big and scary! There are a ton of options for you to create an amazing website and do so without spending loads of money.
Don’t Be Afraid: How a Website Builder Can Help You
Alice makes several great points in her testimonial that highlight how anyone can utilize website builders to get a job or promote their business. Briefly, let’s review some common concerns that Alice was able to overcome during her website builder experience:
- Lack of Training – A lot of people are overwhelmed at the thought of designing and deploying a website on their own, but as Alice demonstrated, she was able to create a website that fit her needs and helped her achieve her career goals.
- Lack of Assets – Web design software goes out of style quickly, as Alice found out. But with website builders, users don’t need any design software because all design tasks are taken care of in the browser. That means you don’t have to worry about buying or downloading software, ever!
- Lack of Support – Tackling a website design without any training is one thing, but doing so without any support is another thing entirely. Fortunately, website builders offer excellent customer support, so if there is an issue, a resolution is only an email away.
Now that we’ve outlined how other people have learned how to design a website using a website builder, let’s debunk a few myths.
Fact vs. Fiction: What Website Builders REALLY Do
In some circles, website builders get a bad wrap. Some say that the sites created with website builders look cheap, have no features, aren’t customizable, and are expensive. That may be true for some website builders, but it is not the case for all of them!
Lookin’ Good: Websites Made With a Website Builder Look Great!
Myth: Website builder websites look cheap and unprofessional.
Fact: To be sure, some website builders do, in fact, give customers a product that looks terrible. However, other website builders, like IM Creator, offer all kinds of professionally designed templates from which customers can choose.
Have a look at the template below, which is currently available on IM Creator. Does it look cheap and unprofessional?!
The above template is just one of many available for a wide variety of needs, including:
- Fashion and talents
- Business, consulting, and services
- Weddings and events
- Real estate and architecture
There are even one-page and five-minute site templates for a person in a hurry to get their site published, but who also want something that looks slick and has a lot of features.
The Bottom Line: Website builders are not all built the same. Choosing one that offers clean, modern, and feature-rich templates will give you a website that you can be proud of, and that you can build yourself!
This is No Bargain Bin: Website Builders Offer Tons of Features
Myth: Website builders give customers little in the way of features or benefits.
Fact: Website builders provide a wide range of features and benefits that not only make creating websites easy, it allows for creating a good-looking website that will provide a strong foundation upon which you can build your business or get a job.
Look at a few features offered by IM Creator:
- Dozens of vivid template designs created by top web designers
- Real drag-and-drop editing – no need to know HTML, CSS, or any other coding
- Simple, straightforward editing interface
What’s more, website builders include supplementary features like SEO built right in, standards compliant templates, unlimited hosting, bandwidth, and storage, and custom domain names and email. Top-notch customer support is a hallmark of website builders as well, with how-to forums, online communities, phone and email support, and printable manuals to help you get your site off the ground without any headaches.
The Bottom Line: Just because website builders make creating your own website easy, doesn’t mean corners are cut. There are features galore that help make your website beautiful and functional.
Custom Built: Website Builder Templates are Highly Customizable to Meet Your Needs
Myth: Website builders only offer canned templates without much ability to make a custom website.
Fact: Part of the beauty of website builders is that they offer pre-made templates for a variety of applications. Often, these templates meet the needs of customers as they are. However, sometimes users of website builders want to put their own stamp on a template and make it more reflective of who they are as a person or as a business. For those individuals, website builders offer full branding and white label options. This means that you have a website with your name, your branding, your URL, and your email.
The Bottom Line: Website builders like IM Creator allow users to fully customize any pre-made template. Users also have the ability to create brand new designs from scratch. Both options can result in a completely customized website just for you.
Get Instant Bang for the Buck: Website Builders are Cost Effective
Myth: Website builders are expensive for what you get.
Fact: While some website builders might charge an arm and a leg for their services, IM Creator allows you to create your website for free. Find a template or create a new one, explore the easy-to-use editing tools, and place your text, photos, and videos wherever you please, all without paying a dime. Only when you decide it’s time to launch your website do you have to pay anything.
The Bottom Line: Website builders like IM Creator allow you to fully design your website without paying any money up front. You can take as long as you like to perfect your design and work without the worry of paying for design services, hosting, and the like.
Final Thoughts
Building a website on your own sounds scary, particularly if you don’t have any training as a web designer. But website builders are built just for people like you – that want a professional online presence without dealing with all the fuss of designing and coding from scratch.
By taking advantage of all the features we’ve highlighted above, anyone can create a custom website. Whether you create a website to show off your portfolio in the hopes of getting hired by a company or you make a website to promote your freelance web design business, website builders like IM Creator can make your career and business dreams a reality.
With easy-to-use editing tools, excellent customer support, and a wide variety of services like hosting and email, you can get a professional-looking, feature rich, highly customized website for a fraction of the price. That’s not a bad deal at all, and definitely not something to be scared of!
What is your favorite website builder feature? How have you used a website builder to meet your website needs? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
