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Over the years, the popularity of website builders has skyrocketed. According to BuiltWith, over 16.7 million sites on the entire internet have been developed using a web builder. While the ability to create a professional-looking website with minimal effort and skill level is appealing to business owners and bloggers, using a website builder can also be a game-changing revenue driver for marketing and creative agencies that spend time and resources on churning out multiple a month.

There are a myriad of low-code solutions on the market that enable agencies to onboard more clients and deliver striking websites at an increased rate for a fraction of the cost. However, not all web builders are equal. Features that will help one agency drive productivity are not going to benefit agencies that want to scale and drive revenue. It's important for agencies to be aware of the low-code/no-code builder features that will boost their bottom line.

Agencies that want to grow their business by utilizing a website builder need to make sure that the majority of their teams can use the software, especially the team members who aren't web professionals or developers. Agency owners should ask themselves: "Will my employees find this low-code/no-code easy to use?" In other words, can the account managers, graphic designers and copywriters input their portion of a project easily and quickly? One of the main reasons agencies use website builders is to save costs by eliminating the need to hire developers. Therefore, it makes no sense to use a product that makes it difficult for people on the team to implement changes or for them to wait for a designer or developer to make the changes.

User-friendly interfaces with engaging and punchy training resources are important features, as they will ultimately allow agencies to push out more websites at an increased rate. More websites produced at a faster rate for clients means agencies will see an upturn in their profits. Another benefit of web builders that are easy to use is that clients can make changes to their sites after the agency has handed over the final product, further increasing the agency's profitability, especially if the client is on a retainer. While some agencies prefer to manage all changes on behalf of their customers, there are others that would prefer their clients to be more self-sufficient. Having a website builder with a user-friendly interface is a major benefit for agencies that want to lower the dependency of their clients on them to make every single change.

The last thing any agency wants is to receive bad feedback from clients about a website's performance. Requiring a digital marketing specialist or designer on your agency's team to optimize the performance of every client's website will significantly hamper productivity and profits. For this reason, agencies must choose a website builder that automatically optimizes every site. With a website builder that has automated SEO and Core Web Vitals functionality, a web design agency can charge a premium for each website it produces, adding these performance enhancements as additional line items.

For marketing agencies whose core focus includes SEO and Core Web Vitals, website builders that automate these optimizations can significantly reduce the workload for the team members working on these elements. As a result, the agency can use these human resources for other elements of the project, while still collecting a fee from clients for these specialized services. In addition, these types of agencies can offer robust packages to clients that include a professional website and optimizations. Agencies that use web builders without this feature will impede their growth and ability to generate more revenue.

Related: The 5 Best Website Builders for Entrepreneurs -- and Which to Use When

Picture this: a client whose website your agency is managing is asking to change their telephone number, which appears in many places on the website. With a website builder that does not have the connected data capabilities, you will typically need to manually input this updated information on every relevant page.

When a no-code/low-code provider has connected data capabilities, the agency is able to input the details once and the update will populate all relevant pages throughout the entire website. This simple feature ensures that agency clients receive fast website management support and allows the agency to save time while continuing to receive a retainer fee.

Another client management feature agencies should prioritize when selecting a web builder is the ability to change client permissions. There are times, especially if the client is on a web management retainer, when an agency would like to restrict the activities that the client is able to execute on their own. When clients who pay a management fee miss a payment, a client permissions feature allows the agency to suspend the client's access to their website and return access to them once they've paid. This feature can greatly help agencies when chasing up on payments.

It's evident that website builders can give agencies a huge upper hand, boosting their bottom line. There are lots of website builders on the market, all with different features. Therefore, it's important for agencies to exercise discernment when selecting one. Agencies should choose a website builder that is easy to use, boosts productivity and reduces costs. The key is to try multiple website builders to find the one that's best suited to delivering a professional product at a faster rate in order to boost revenue.

Related: Searching for the Perfect Website Builder? Here's What Matters.

Source: Entrepreneur

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