This is a pretty common question I hear these these days – with basic websites often starting at $5,000 from a website designer and multiple drop and drag builders available on the market like Squarespace, Weebly, WP, and Wix, it’s a good question.
There are pros and cons to both. With a pro, the biggest con is the price. Few people can afford to drop thousands of bucks on a website, especially when they are trying to build an efficient business empire on a shoestring budget!
However, if you have a unique vision that requires a custom design, that extra money can go a long way to help realize your vision and make it actually appear. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with trying to recreate it on a builder… but trust me, it’s not that easy!
Which brings up the issue of time. With a designer, you save all that time of yours to do 1001 other things. Do it yourself? Well, it’s one thing to just use a template. That’s great, you’ve saved a ton of money and time and you’re almost ready to go.
Or are you? Just a few things you’ll need before it’s ready to go: are your photos good and do you have the license? Is the copy fresh, SEO optimized and ready to go? Does your logo look good? How do you figure out the right colors, and how do I make sure my email address is private with my domain – should I use that on the page or not? I want people to contact me, but I don’t want to be spammed. Is this page showing up nicely on devices of weird shapes and sizes? What about Google Analytics, or Facebook Pixels?
Trust me, the list is endless. So, the question really should be: do I value my money or my time more?
Well, that’s $64,000 question, and there’s really no right answer to it that fits everyone, because we’re all different. But one good way to frame that question is not to focus on your time or your money – but instead how OTHERS will see it.
As you know, first impressions are a big deal, and if you take a look at a lot of websites, even done with site builders, they’re just not all that hot or good. Missing tags, wonky formatting, bad SEO, music that starts playing on opening, non-responsive content that looks awful on a mobile device, keyword stuffing…
The list just goes on and on and on, and if you value your money more than your time, just remember that you’re going to need a LOT of tie to make sure everything’s up to scratch. Sometimes, that means taking a few hours to learn something new just for one task. Other times, that means doing something with needless complications that a pro could do in a few minutes with the tools.
Another thing to remember is that once your site is done, you’re not done paying. Forget the minimal cost of hosting and domain names for a moment: let’s talk about the ongoing expense of these DIY platforms.
$20 a month every month adds up, and if you’re up there long enough, it will become more expensive than your designer site – only there’s no guarantee that the sites will be around anymore because companies can and do disappear on the internet.
Now you’re down both time and money… and back to square one with nothing to show for it. A horrifying thought – and one with quite possibly the worst ROI of all time. Sure, it’s a very unlikely situation, but not an impossible one.
By outlaying the $5k cash to a professional, you’re not just saving time on your side. You’re also buying yourself the time you need to grow your business, rather than figure out why your logo won’t shrink or it’s just 1 pixel to far to the left and nothing you do makes it shift just that little bit to the right.
Just a fantastic site that you can use right out of the box – with the support of the pro who made it for quite some time after. Any problems? You’re not calling a call center thousands of miles away, you’re calling someone who knows every inch of your site.
More than that, you’re getting the benefit of years of professional experience in what works, and the latest knowledge in best practice in multiple domains: graphics, style, formatting, SEO, marketing, content, even logos.
The call center? Well, they have a script and they will try to help you, but the personalization and knowledge is gone, and your time is ticking down along with that.
While the choice is yours, and you may not have the budget to yet afford a professional web designer, I urge you to carefully consider hiring one when you are ready. Professional web design is something that takes years to learn, and while a site like Wix can help you to mimic the look of one, it cannot give you the full weight of that knowledge and experience.
When it comes to that $5000 bucks, you’re paying for their time and their experience – and, if you’re honest… how much time would you waste on DIY doing this if you billed yourself hourly? My bet – a lot more than $5k.
The choice is yours!
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