Should you DIY your website or hire a web developer?
Building your website: should you DIY or go pro?
Google ‘should I hire a website developer or do it myself?’ and you’ll get a long list of search results – with lots of articles by web developers that are really just thinly veiled ‘Here’s why you need a web developer’ posts.
None of that here. As with everything, this question isn’t a straightforward one. Everybody and biz is unique.
Personally, we don’t think it’s as simple as: can you afford a developer? No? Then do it yourself. Yes? Then go pro. Because there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Creating your website is one of the most exciting parts of setting up your biz. It can also be one of the scariest – and most confusing. There are so many decisions to make! So many variables.
One of the first big decisions you have to make is whether you should create your website yourself or hire a developer or designer.
The simple answer: it depends. (Annoying, right?)
It depends on several things, including your business, your budget and your priorities. So we’re going to talk through some of the pros and cons and what each option means.
But let’s say this right now: if you’re wondering whether you can create your own website, the answer is yes.
First things first: website basics
Right now, as a baby business, here’s what you must have whether you DIY or go pro:
A domain name (that’s your web address), which you buy from a domain provider (also called a domain name registrar). Popular ones include GoDaddy, Hover, CrazyDomains, Google Domains and Namecheap. Some website-building platforms (like Squarespace, for example) also include a domain name when you sign up.
And consider if you want to buy more than one. For example, our URL is bizlaunchlab.com, but we also own bizlaunchlab.com.au so we can connect with a global audience but also protect our brand here in Australia.
A mobile-responsive template. These days most online searches are done on a mobile device (rather than a laptop or desktop computer). A mobile-responsive template means that when your website is viewed on a mobile device, it looks good and is easy to use. If it doesn’t, you’ll probably lose people. These days all the major website platforms do mobile-responsive sites pretty well.
Creating your website: think big but start small
If we had a dollar for every person who spent thousands of dollars on a bells-and-whistles website, only to realise they don’t need half of what they’ve paid for, well, we’d be sipping margaritas in the Maldives right now! (But to be real, that is one of our long-term goals…) In fact, we’ve done it ourselves. The truth is, fancy websites don’t sell things. Words do.
That’s super important, so really let it sink in.
Fancy websites don’t sell things. Words do.
It’s always better to start small and lean and build from there. There are businesses who simply launch with a landing page – a single web page. That can definitely work for some people, and you might choose to do that initially so that you can launch and get things moving. Progress over perfection, right?
But in an age of Google and SEO and content marketing, we think it’s important to have a bit more stuff on your website, even if you build that up after you launch. (That’s what we did.) It’s also going to increase the chances of visitors sticking around on your site longer because you’ve got handy information for them.
Website DIY vs developer: the pros and cons
When you’re setting up your website, you’ve got 3 main options:
Photo by Oliver Sjöström from ollivves.com
1. Getting a custom-made website created by a web developer
2. Getting a template-based website created by a web designer
3. Doing it yourself
1. Get a custom-made website
Let’s start with the pros. A custom-made website can be anything you want it to be. Pretty much anything you can imagine for your website, you can make happen. You can offload your vision and goals to an expert developer and they’ll do the hard work for you.
Sounds amazing, right? Until you realise you’ll probably need a starting budget of around $5,000 to $10,000 for a fully customised website. Yep! And when you’re just starting out in business, that’s often unrealistic. Keep in mind, that generally doesn’t include copywriting either, so you’d need to do that yourself or pay someone to do it for you.
A web developer will also charge you for making changes to your site. If you’re like us, it might take more than a few tweaks (and even total reworks) to get it the way you want it – especially in the early stages of your biz.
It’s also a big risk to take, investing that much upfront. It’s entirely up to you, of course, but if you’re just starting out as a business, it might be best to cross this option off your list for now.
2. Get a template-based website designed
This involves working with a web designer to create a tailored website based on a template from a platform like Wordpress, Wix, Joomla or Squarespace. You’ll have some restrictions based on the template you choose, though a good web designer who knows the platform will be able to give you more flexibility.
The big pro here is that you don’t have to worry about the technical side of things (great if you’re not very tech savvy and don’t want to put in the time to learn) and it’s a more affordable option than a fully customised website. A web designer can do everything from simply setting up the template so you can enter your content, to creating everything for you (including finding a copywriter to write your content).
It’s also going to save you some time, so you can spend more hours building your business.
Another potential pro is that a web designer probably knows more than you about SEO, and can make sure your website is fully optimised.
The downside is that it will still cost you a decent chunk of your hard-earned. A realistic budget to have a full website set up is around $1,500 to $6,000 and potentially more if you need to buy stock images or hire a copywriter.
You also won’t have as much control as if you do it yourself, and you really have to trust that your web designer gets your vision and has the skills to make it happen. (If you go down this route do plenty of research and try to get a personal recommendation.)
3. Create your own website
This involves doing everything yourself – from buying your domain name to deciding on a website platform such as Squarespace, WordPress, Wix or Joomla, to choosing your template and populating it with content.
If you’ve got some time and a bit of tech knowledge (or at least the willingness to learn), it’s entirely possible to create a fantastic website, even if you’ve never done it before.
The platforms we’ve listed above are all great places to start – and there are many others too. They all have step-by-step instructions for setting up the website as well as relevant integrations (for doing things like sending marketing emails, connecting social media accounts, and setting up SEO and analytics).
The most obvious pro here is that it’s by far the most affordable option. It’s not free – you need to pay for your domain name and hosting for your website and emails. And of course there’s the time investment you’ll spend on it. But it won’t cost you much and you’ll minimise your financial risk. (There’s a sexy sentence if ever we’ve heard one!)
The downsides are that it’ll obviously take you more time to do and require more effort and brain juice. And, depending on the template you choose and your tech and design skills, it may not look as polished as a professionally designed website.
But if we may be so bold as to tell you what we really think, if you’re just starting your business (as a solopreneur or tiny team) and you’re not 100% sure how things are going to play out in your biz, we recommend seriously considering DIY-ing your website.
It’s what we did for Biz Launch Lab. And we’re super glad we did.
It may take a bit longer, but that’s not always a bad thing. You’ll have total control over your site and you can make as many changes as you like – at any time. For free. You don’t have to rely on someone else and their availability.
A word of advice though – keep your site simple. Don’t try to recreate the websites of big, established businesses. And don’t make too many changes to the template; it’s been professionally designed to look great and provide a good user experience so take advantage of that!
So should I create my own website or go pro? Just tell me what to do!
Let’s summarise. (Or maybe you just scrolled right down to the juicy bits.)
Should you get a fully customised website straight up? Probably not.
Should you hire a web designer to create a template-based website for you? Maybe – if you have the budget and don’t want to spend time dealing with the tech side of things when you can spend that time writing your copy and expanding your network.
Should you create your own website? Probably – if you’re willing to spend some time setting it all up (and teaching yourself the bits you don’t know). And if you want to have 100% control over your site (which was a big plus for us). And if you promise to use this guide we made for writing great website content!
And a little bonus info: website must-haves
At Biz Launch Lab, we believe in paying for clever tools and services that help your business grow. But when it comes to websites, it’s the quality of the content that matters most. Not how much you spend on it. The most important thing is having content that speaks directly to your target clients, helps solves their problems and gives them clear info on the next steps they need to take.
Before you start your website (whether you DIY or go pro), you should have a clear sense of your brand, your target clients (who you’re selling to) and what you’re selling. Knowing these things will help you know what sort of website to create and how to write your copy.
Whatever your business, here are 2 things your website must do:
Make it easy for your clients to find what they’re looking for. That’s generally the info that will help solve their problem. Whether that’s a free download or details about your packages and pricing, the more time and energy they have to spend looking, the less likely they’ll stick around.
That means they’re less likely to buy from you and it also negatively affects your SEO. (How quickly people leave your page is called the ‘bounce rate’. Google watches this. If it’s high, Google decides the info on your page isn’t relevant to the people you’re attracting, and your site will rank lower.)
Make it clear what action they should take next. On every page. Think about what you want people to do on each page and make that clear. Do you want them to download something? Read something? Go to another page? Watch a video? Spell it out. People are overwhelmed with info online so make it really easy for them.
Make sense?
Whatever path you take in creating your website, remember to make it all about your target clients.
Need help creating your website content? Check out this blog post on the 7 steps to writing website content you love.
Join us in the comments – what do you struggle with most when it comes to creating your website? Have you had any amazing or traumatic experiences DIY-ing a website or working with a pro? We’d love to hear!
Need more help?
Need help creating your website – or with another part of your marketing and copywriting? (Let’s face it, who doesn’t?) We made LaunchKit for you. It contains guidance on how to create your website and what webpages you need, website writing templates, SEO 101 and so much more, including a simple marketing plan, a social media guide, real-world examples and handy tools.
It steps you through everything – from building a rock-solid brand foundation to sharing your biz with the world.