How to Choose a Website Builder in New Zealand or Offshore

Often, you’ll be faced with many, many development options. Some of those options offer cheap custom templates. Others may be suggested by your graphics designer who has very limited understanding of how to place a website online. Some choices potentially bundle domain names in with the site, and at first glance – when you’re dealing with technology that you’re really struggling to understand or feeling out of your depth—that may sound like a very convenient option.

But at Net Branding, we’ve built hundreds of websites. In fact, we’ve been building websites since about 2008 (and before). Helping both Kiwi and international businesses move from some of those DIY platforms that weren’t serving them to professional, technology-focused, and results-driven websites delivering leads.

So, if you actually want to own your own website, you want to have the capability to create your own SEO – with the tech to be able to adapt to this environment as it changes and in addition, build that authority in your silo and in your industry i.e. to be found for the services and or products that you deliver.

Many website builders will offer you a website builder and a domain. And what does that truly mean? Some providers may advertise – choose a template, come and build your site, it’s an easy-to-build site, and your first year of your domain subscription is free. At the end of the day, that might sound good, but there’s often a catch with that approach.

Some of these platforms actually lock you into the technology. What does that really mean? That means you’re unable to move that website off that platform and into another platform. And in many cases, moving platforms might mean a website rebuild. Ultimately, that indicates you can’t move the website anywhere else. You don’t own the code. And you really can’t get into the back end to do some of the higher-valued elements that you need to be able to do to promote yourself more fully in the areas of search engine optimization and GEO. And sometimes that domain name may even be tied to the website services that they provide to you.

So, what have we seen with some of our clients? Many businesses have come to us after potentially trying Wix, or perhaps Squarespace or other similar platforms. Why? They want more control. They want better search engine optimization. And in some instances, they may want a faster site. I’ll always agree that Wix or the Squarespace has its place in the website build market space. And in fact, I’ve recommended that some clients stay in that environment because their niche is so specific, that visibility is almost guaranteed. However, when you’re in a very competitive industry, and you need the tech smarts behind you to be able to place your website into the Google infrastructure, and for Google to then shine upon your website and grant you back rankings and visibility, you need a better vehicle for that purpose.

It’s also important to note that often when you’re moving from one platform to another, it can be a little messy and may sometimes need a rebuild from scratch. In my opinion, if you’re serious about that visibility – potentially, as I’ve already said in that competitive industry, you may need a site that grows with your business.

From a Net Branding perspective, here are some of the key things to check before you make your decision:

1. Can you move the site easily?
   If you ever wanted to move your website to another host or developer, you should be able to do that.
2. Who actually owns your domain name?
   When a domain name is registered, it gets registered against an entity or a person. Make sure that that domain name is actually registered in your name. Why? Because the domain name is actually your digital asset, your digital real estate.
3. Is the builder SEO / GEO or AEO friendly?
   Some builders don’t let you update elements like a page title, a me description, or even add structured data elements into those web pages. Not having that level of flexibility can hurt your search rankings as you try and compete with some of your other competitors who do have those features in their website online.
4. As your website grows, will you be able to add custom features later?
   Perhaps adding advanced forms. Perhaps adding a downloadable resource database that your clients can get to.
5. Does the potential service provider offer support in New Zealand?
   Time zones can often be the difference between a fix and a delay. So, does your website provider account for the fact that we are one of the first countries to see the sun, and we operate often when the rest of the world is sleeping? In fact, I am currently waiting on a response for an AI tool that I’m testing, and I’ve been waiting for two days because when I’m operating, they’re not. And that really slows down our ability to use the tool and test the tool to its full capability.

As a quick comparison, some of the things you could look at:

• Does it include a domain?
• Is it ECO friendly?
• Can you move to another host or service provider to host your website?
• Are you able to get local support?
• Who owns the site at the end of the day?

Regardless of whether your website is on a .co.nz or a .com, it’s important to understand that the domain name represents your brand online. If it’s tied directly to that website builder, you may not be able to control your DNS settings. DNS are really some of the core elements of how you direct the operational features of a domain at the back end. Your domain may not be able to be transferred, or moving the domain may require a few extra technical hitches and input from the service provider to be able to do that. In doing that move, you may also lose some of the email options that you’ve set up.

What are the deal breakers when it comes to SEO? Website builders that offer you a cheap site may look OK, but often you won’t get access to the raw HTML code. They may be slower to load. They may skip some of that schema markup that is so important in today’s AI world. They may use scripts that search engines can’t use properly. Again, I’m not saying that all website builders will be like this, but we have seen some shaky website builders over the course of our time. If some of these elements exist or other elements exist, it may mean that you lose visibility without actually knowing it.

Yes, Net Branding builds sites with search engine optimisation from day one. We build sites that incorporate SEO capability at the onset. And yes, we also handle that GEO content and the needed GEO approach to support AI Search results as well.

What does GEO mean?
That stands for generative engine optimization to ensure that your site stays relevant as search evolves. And I don’t think there’s any question about how search is evolving in the current time.

Who We Help and How We Help
Who do we work with? Net Branding work with local trades. We work with other service providers. We work with medical clinics, real estate agents, businesses that are in the B2B space, professional service providers, and more… Essentially, we’re not limited to the industries that we perform in.  Geographically – with modern tech, we can work anywhere.  Our clients exist and we deliver digital services from Auckland to Queenstown, from Napier through to New Plymouth. We work as far afield as the UK, the USA, Asia, Australia and South Africa.

So, whether you are a business that is small and starting out, or a business that is rebranding and really want to take that next leap of visibility in the online space, Net Branding is here to help you get found.

A: The answer is yes, we can. We handle everything from that domain setup to your site design and your SEO, your technical content, and at the end of the day, everything that we do is focused on your digital assets.

A: Well, again, that’s no problem. We work with existing domain names and can help you link it properly to that new website that we build.

If you’re looking for any support to help you be seen, be heard, and be found online and want experience-driven advice to support you with some of the decisions that you’re making, feel free to give us a call.