Motorsport Website Development

Do It Yourself website builders

The Pros

• You can download a website builder to allow you to build your own website. Popular examples of these include WordPress, Wix and Squarespace.
• You don't need to know any code.
• They can be great if you want a cheap website, and if you are prepared to put in the time to learn how to use them, and then commit the ongoing time to maintain your website.

The Cons

• Many website builders tend to produce websites which are very slow to load due to the huge data files they use. This can especially be a problem when viewing websites on a mobile, even over a good network connection.
• I explain these concerns in more detail on my article on Website Builders.
• You will need to figure out your own SEO strategy if you want your website to appear in search results. This may include working with Google Search Console and Google Analytics, for which you'll need to provide DNS verification, and implement an ID into your pages.
• You will need to register your domain name and set up your hosting space.

Worth knowing

• Although you don't need to know any code, some knowledge can help, especially if you hit a snag as you may need to try and explain it to someone to help get you back on track. It can be easy to dig yourself into a hole which you might not be able to get out of without professional help.
• Whilst some website builders are free to download, many offer just a free trial with either limited functionality or for a limited period of time (ie 14 days for Squarespace). To progress beyond the trial versions there are monthly subscription plans which vary in cost depending on what you want. So you'll still be building your own website, but paying for the tools to build it and run it.
• As website builders generate the code in the background in response to where you place, move and resize images, content, borders and buttons, the code can become pretty heavy. When things stop working, disappear or suddenly start to display out of position, they can be tricky to fix, and therefore many website begin life as DIY projects, but then end up in the hands of an experienced web designer.
• How professional do you want your website to be? This is a key question to ask when you need a platform to build your brand and attract sponsors to enable you to compete in motorsport.
• Your sponsors are likely to want a return on their investment, so cutting corners on your online presence could show a lack of professionalism needed to secure and maintain sponsorship.
• If you're thinking about using a website builder to produce your website, before you commit to it I would advise spending a couple of minutes looking through this brief article on website builders. More details and real life examples can also be found in my article on Page Speed and Website Builders.

Cost?

• They range from free to ongoing monthly subscrition based agreements, depending on the platform, features and level of service and support you need.
• Cost of domain name and hosting.
• Possible development or consultation costs to fix problems

Agency produced website using website builders

The Pros

• You won't need to worry about learning the skills you would need if you were to build a website yourself, as in Option 1.
• You can leave the work to someone else, whilst you spend your time and efforts more productively elsewhere.
• The agency should be able to register your domain name and set up your hosting space.

The Cons

• Even when designed by an agency or a freelance web designer using a website builder tool, the code and images could still end up being vastly excessive, depending on the skills and knowledge of the web designer, and their attention to detail.
• Even though the website may be built by a professional, some are certainly better than others when it comes to not only the styling, but also in their attempts to fix problems or overcome the large code-bloated nature of some website builders.

Worth knowing

• As with Option 1, you should ask yourself How professional do I want my website to be?
• The growth in the number of people offering to build websites cheaply is largely due to website builders such as WordPress, Wix and Squarespace. Many people jumped on the bandwagon as, despite knowing very little about how web code, they could quickly call themselves web designers and bypass the years of knowledge and experience most web experienced web designers have acquired.
• In many cases their skills and knowledge are limited to drag and drop, copy and paste, and inserting images. But this lack of knowledge can lead to problems (some costly) further down the line.
• You should look for a web designer who has a sufficient understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. PHP is the coding language that WordPress is written in, and what I built this website and the parent Targaweb.com website from scratch in. This will be to your advantage as you should end up with a quicker loading better quality website, and the designer should have the ability to evolve your website and overcome problems when they happen.
• Before you commit to having an agency produce your site with a website builder, I would advise spending a few minutes looking through my article on Page Speed and Website Builders and then decide.

Cost?

• They can be cheap considering the drag and drop nature of the tools the agencies use to build the websites.
• You won't know until you ask, but you might be surprised at how cost effective a custom built motorsport websites designed by Targa can be. See Option 3 below.
• Be aware of any add-ons, up-sells or ongoing costs, such as domain name and hosting, updates, ongoing development, maintenance and SEO costs.

Be sure to ask what will be included in the price.

For example:

• Will you get a contact form?
• Will your website be secure (SSL)?
• Will there be a privacy Policy page?
• Will you get an option to take feeds from social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram?
• Will you get a long single page* which the user has to be scroll up and down to find different sections, or will you get pages dedicated to specific subject matter?
• Will you get an XML sitemap which would be submitted to Google through the Google Search Console?
• Will you get Open Graph (OG) Tags to make your website look more professional when your web address is entered in emails or social media posts?
• Will you get 404 redirects to handle any instances in the future when a page on your website cannot be reached.
• Will you get a Favicon which is a little customised symbol to make your web pages more easily identifiable in web browser tabs?
• Will the web design agency handle search engine submissions and provide any level of SEO monitoring and analytics service?

* If your web pages are long, my advice would be to have navigation built into the pages to allow users to easily find individual sections of the page. This is not only important from within the same page, but also when linking to a specific section on another page which is half way down the page.

Agency designed custom and bespoke motorsports websites

The Pros

• If designed and built correctly, a custom or bespoke website can be much faster and more flexible than those built with a website builder.
• Page load speeds can be much faster as the designer has more control over the code and how images are prepared and implemented.
• The design, the sizes, positioning, colours, borders, backgrounds, buttons, transitions, etc., can be made with greater flexibility. This applies to all screen sizes, as it may be necessary to use a selection of styles, images, sizes and layouts for different devices and orientations.
• The agency should be able to register your domain name and set up your hosting space, including registering an SSL certificate so that your website is secure.
• The agency should be able to provide you with a cost effective (maybe even free) method of getting content added or updated. Examples could typically include pre and post race reports and news items.
• You can leave the work to someone else, whilst you spend your time and efforts more productively elsewhere.
• A professional, sleek, fast loading and attractive website will help boost your profile and attract sponsors far better than a slow and clunky website.

The Cons

• A bespoke website can be expected to cost more than a website built by an agency which uses website builders such as WordPress or Wix. But I have compared pricing, and in many cases they're no cheaper than services we at Targa offer, especially when taking into account all of the additional features, benefits and services provide.

Worth knowing

• At Targa we have already spent months developing a platform which is flexible enough to allow custom motorsport websites to be built efficiently, and optimised to avoid the excessive code and images sizes typical of website builders.
• Many web designers and website builders will use the same code and images for all screen sizes. The downside is that even a mobile phone will need to download far more data than it needs to display a page. It can sometimes cause the website to stop working completely.
• All of our motorsport websites are responsive which means that they are designed to display correctly on all screen sizes and devices. We even go to great lengths to ensure that only the code and images required for a specific screen size are used for each web page.
• Motorsport websites built by Targa are designed to be efficient and quick loading, without compromising on style and visual appeal.
• Here are some useful articles providing more information on:
  • The importance of page speed
  • Responsive websites

Cost?

• It is true that bespoke websites can be expensive, but because Targa focus on specific market segments such as motorsport, and have developed an efficient flexible platform to build with, our costs are comparable to those agencies who use website builders especially when taking into account the benefits of having a streamlined fast loading website.
• Cost of domain name and hosting is included, as will the SSL certificate to make your website secure.
• As it is important to keep fresh content coming through to your motorsports website, we can also take care of some of the regular content updates you'll have, such as results, news, dates, etc.

Why Targa?

• 26 years experience in web design.
• A passion for motorsport, and reflecting that passion in your website.
• Responsive websites designed and optimised to work on all platforms, without just being scaled down.
• Graphic design skills which can make the best use of any images you provide, or any which I can take on your behalf during race meetings, testing, launches, etc.
• An efficient and friendly service.
• Ongoing support.