You can build your own website if your requirements are simple, your budget is limited and you have enough time to learn the platform properly. Hiring a web designer is usually the better choice when the website needs to represent an established business, generate enquiries or include more complicated features.
Neither option is automatically right or wrong. The best choice depends on your budget, available time, technical confidence and how important the finished website will be to your business.
Is it realistic to build your own business website?
Yes. Website-building platforms have made it possible to create a basic website without knowing how to code.
Most provide templates, drag-and-drop editing and built-in features for common requirements such as contact forms, image galleries and online payments.
The difficult part is rarely getting some words and pictures onto a page. It is turning those pieces into a website that:
- Clearly explains the business
- Looks professional on every screen size
- Is easy to navigate
- Loads quickly
- Appears in relevant searches
- Encourages visitors to take action
- Can be maintained without constantly breaking
Building a website is more accessible than it used to be, but producing an effective business website still requires planning, design decisions and technical work.
When does building your own website make sense?
A DIY website may be a sensible option if:
- You are testing a new business idea
- You only need a very simple online presence
- Your budget is extremely limited
- The website will not be a major source of enquiries
- You enjoy learning new software
- You have time to work through the inevitable problems
- You are happy to begin with something basic
A new business does not always need a large or complicated website immediately. Starting with a simple, well-planned site can be better than waiting indefinitely until you can afford something bigger.
The key is being realistic about what you can produce, how long it will take and what the business actually needs at this stage.
What are the advantages of building your own website?
Lower upfront cost
The most obvious advantage is that you won’t need to pay someone for the design and build work.
You will still need to budget for essentials such as a domain, hosting, platform subscription or premium features, but the initial cost can be lower.
Complete control
You can make changes whenever you want without contacting anybody else.
This can be useful for businesses that regularly update prices, services, events or availability.
A better understanding of your website
Building the site yourself forces you to learn how it works. That knowledge can make everyday updates easier later.
However, control is only useful if you have the time and confidence to use it. Having access to every setting can become overwhelming when you don’t know which changes might affect the rest of the website.
What are the disadvantages of building your own website?
It usually takes longer than expected
DIY website builders are often advertised as quick and easy. Creating the first page may be quick. Planning the structure, preparing content, sourcing images, formatting every device size and dealing with technical settings can take considerably longer.
It is easy to spend entire evenings moving sections around without feeling any closer to a finished website.
Your own time has value too. If those hours could have been spent serving customers or developing the business, the cheapest option on paper may not be the cheapest overall.
Templates still need design decisions
A template gives you a starting layout, but it doesn’t make decisions for you.
You still need to choose:
- Which pages to include
- What information belongs on each page
- Which sections should appear first
- How to use colours and fonts consistently
- Where to place calls to action
- How much text is enough
- Which images support the message
- How the mobile version should work
Replacing the template’s sample text and photographs without adapting its structure often produces a website that looks acceptable but doesn’t properly fit the business.
Mobile formatting can be difficult
A page that looks good on a laptop may look completely different on a phone.
Text can become too large, images may crop badly and carefully arranged columns can turn into an awkward stack. Headers, menus, buttons and spacing all need to be checked across different screen sizes.
Mobile formatting is one of the areas where a supposedly finished DIY website often begins to unravel.
Search optimisation is more than adding keywords
A website builder may provide boxes for an SEO title and description, but filling those in is only one part of search optimisation.
The website also needs a clear structure, useful content, sensible internal links, descriptive headings, crawlable pages and good technical performance.
Adding the same list of keywords throughout every page won’t make a website more helpful or more likely to appear in useful searches.
What does a professional web designer actually do?
A web designer should do much more than make a page look attractive.
The work normally includes:
- Understanding the business and its customers
- Planning the pages and navigation
- Organising the content
- Creating a clear visual structure
- Designing around the existing brand
- Building desktop, tablet and mobile layouts
- Setting up forms and other functionality
- Checking links, buttons and user journeys
- Preparing the basic search settings
- Testing the finished website
- Helping with launch and handover
A good designer also knows which features are worth including and which will make the project unnecessarily complicated.
That outside perspective can be particularly useful when you are too close to your own business to know what needs explaining.
When should you hire a web designer?
Hiring a designer is usually worthwhile when:
- The website needs to generate leads or sales
- Your current website looks outdated or unreliable
- You are too busy to build it properly
- The business offers several services
- You need bookings, payments, memberships or other functionality
- You have attempted a DIY build and become stuck
- Your credibility depends heavily on the website
- The site needs to be launched by a particular date
If potential customers are comparing your business with established competitors, the website is part of that comparison.
It doesn’t need to be enormous or filled with flashy effects. It does need to feel clear, trustworthy and intentional.
Will hiring a web designer mean losing control?
It shouldn’t.
You should still own your domain, website content and relevant accounts. You should also know where the website is hosted and how to access it.
If you want to make everyday changes yourself, ask whether the website will include an easy-to-use editor and whether training is provided after launch.
At Genvi Media, we build WordPress websites that clients can update themselves if they want to. We can also take care of updates and maintenance for clients who would rather not touch anything technical.
The level of ongoing involvement should suit the way you want to run your business.
Can I start the website myself and hire somebody later?
Yes, but it may not always save money.
A designer can sometimes improve an existing DIY website. In other cases, fixing the structure, responsiveness and technical problems takes longer than rebuilding it properly.
If you know you will eventually need professional help, it can be useful to speak to a designer before committing to a particular platform or subscription.
Even if you are not ready for a full build, early advice may prevent you from choosing a setup that cannot support what the business needs later.
What if I don’t have all of the content ready?
You don’t necessarily need to.
Some clients approach a designer with completed text, professional photographs and a detailed list of requirements. Others have a logo, a few notes and a general idea of what they want.
A good website process should help you identify what is missing and organise what you already have.
Waiting for everything to be perfect often means the website never gets started.
Is a professional website worth the cost?
A professionally built website is worth the cost when it saves you time, strengthens the credibility of the business and helps turn more visitors into enquiries or customers.
That doesn’t mean every small business needs an expensive bespoke build. The cost and complexity should be appropriate for the business.
A straightforward five-page website may be all you need. Another business might require detailed service pages, online payments or a secure customer area.
The value comes from building the right website, not simply the biggest one.
Should you build it yourself or hire a web designer?
Build it yourself if you need something simple, have more available time than budget and are comfortable learning as you go.
Hire a web designer if the website will play an important role in winning work, needs to look established from launch or requires more than a basic online presence.
There is also a middle ground. You might begin with the content and business information yourself, then bring in a designer to organise, build and polish the finished site.
Need help deciding?
Tell us what you want the website to do, what you already have and roughly what you would like to spend.
If a simple DIY option genuinely makes more sense for where your business is now, we’ll tell you. If you need something more substantial, we can help you plan and build it without making the process unnecessarily complicated.