Is it a Step Too Far to Rent a Website?

You can rent most things in the current market; houses, cars or furniture and now you can even rent a website. Is it just a reflection on a new technological age that even virtual products should come under the rental banner? And is there anything wrong with online ‘goods’ being treated this way?

There’s not much you couldn’t rent nowadays. Whatever your requirement is there’s bound to be a rentable solution available. It’s seen as a pretty normal and usually cost effective way of obtaining something out of reach if you were buying, or as a way of being a ‘have’ instead of a ‘have not’ without the big commitment of a purchase.

It’s clear why someone would want to rent a house or a car. It’s a big investment which usually requires a huge outlay if you’re going to buy, yet you can keep up with the Joneses by making a neat monthly payment. But would you want to, or need to, rent a website?

Are you really going to fall behind your competitors if you don’t have a website, or if you don’t have an effective website? Will you become a ‘have not’ if you don’t hit the front page of Google? Is the option to rent a website better than just creating something using one of the hundreds of ‘self build’ web packages?

The simple answer is yes to all three questions because the reality is; being able to rent a website is a perfect solution for anyone who wants to get noticed online. In fact when there’s the option to rent rather than build a website, the question may become, ‘is there any benefit of buying a costly new site?’ (This is the question usually asked when someone decides to get a new car, house or business premises).

People are coming to realise being online isn’t enough in a competitive and packed marketplace. You need to be discoverable; quickly and easily. It’s akin to making the decision to rent a high street shop in the most prominent position to attract the new clientele. When you decide to rent a website you’re essentially deciding to rent the shop-front in the best location, but without the price tag.

And there’s no doubt the price tag is another reason the move is shifting towards people choosing to rent a website rather than buy. There’s always been a big divide been the quality and usability of sites. The cheap, self build sites usually look just that; cheap and self built, yet if you want something bespoke and elegantly designed it comes with a hefty price tag, especially when you throw in hosting and maintenance.

This would all be fine if it guaranteed you would make an impression and recoup the investment by generating sales or hits. But it doesn’t. Many a lovely, beautifully crafted website will sit sadly on page 12, 32 or even 100+ in search engine results. Whereas if you choose to rent a website you’re guaranteed to beat all those expensive sites to the top search spots.

So, is there anything wrong with people deciding to rent a website? Not unless choosing the most successful, cost effective and innovate way to be discovered online is wrong.