The importance of owning your own platform

The benefits of having your own platform can't be understated. At Wingtip, we always advocate ownership when it comes to your data and your platform.

Here are some of the top reasons we think you should have your own, dedicated website:

It makes you more credible

It might sound like an exercise in vanity, but having your own website makes you appear more credible in the eyes of most consumers. A lot of people like to research and take time to digest at their own pace, and having your own platform that's rich with content gives them the information they need while establishing your authority in your particular market.

You have freedom of direction

With your own website, you an dictate the direction and velocity of travel of your own business, on your own terms. You aren't beholden to a platforms continual policy changes or anything like that. You can, at a moment's notice, decide to begin selling products direct, or adding features that would have otherwise been impossible on a shared platform. In a similar fashion, it's the equivalent of owning your own house vs renting: You are free to make changes as you please rather than being limited by what the owner of the property sets out.

We've all seen the success stories of businesses who've made a crucial pivot in order to save or take their business to the next level. By owning your own platform, you're able to move unconstrained and make these changes on your own terms.

Search engines love it

Search engines like Google absolutely love it when they see a unique URL with great content. It's much easier for them to gauge content relevancy and other ranking factors on a dedicated site, and serve those results to their users.

Having a standalone search engine optimised site can work wonders for your business and put you ahead of your competition.

You own your content

Certain platforms like Checkatrade offer an incredible service platform for new and emerging businesses, but the problems begin when you try to leave. For example, as a trader on their platform, any reviews you obtain for work won through the platform belongs to them. When you end your membership, you lose access to all of those reviews and ratings, and legally aren't able to use them outside of their platform.

What this creates is a situation where you're forced to stay with them (and their ever-rising costs) in order to not lose all of the acquired reviews and ratings. We think this is nothing short of a hostage situation, and as a result we'd absolutely advocate platform ownership with transferrable reviews from platform-agnostic providers like Google or TrustPilot.

In conclusion

At the end of the day, which platform you choose is up to you. There are so many successful methods that it isn't possible to pick a definitive 'right answer'. Many businesses start off on shared platforms in order to build momentum and a solid client-base before flying the nest and creating their own platform, this is a successful approach in its own right and can work for many.

Whichever path you choose, feel free to get in touch with us for some free advice and good luck with your venture, whatever that may be!