DIY Website vs. Hiring a Web Designer: Which Is Right for Your Business?
- Yariela Ceballos Bailey
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
DIY Website vs. Hiring a Web Designer
Should you build your business website yourself or hire a professional? It’s a question many small business owners face. Website builders have made it easier than ever to create a website yourself, especially with AI tools and the wealth of content available online to help you learn about websites and web design.
As a business owner and someone who loves to DIY just about everything to save money, learn new things, and have total control, I often choose the DIY route myself. But I’ve learned that just because you can build something yourself doesn’t always mean it’s the best option. Sometimes, investing in your business in the right areas can save you time, help you grow, and be well worth the investment.
If you’re deciding between building your website yourself or hiring a web designer, there are a few important things to consider beyond the price tag.
The question isn't necessarily “Can I build my own website?” — it's “Is building my own website the best use of my time and resources?” |
The Reality of Building a DIY Website
Although I’ve always been naturally creative and tech-savvy among my peers, when I first started offering website creation services, I realized how much I had overestimated my understanding of what goes into creating a successful website. I had to learn design principles, technical skills, and marketing strategy to create websites that actually worked for my clients and for their businesses. And that’s a skill that takes time and experience to get right.
I’ve definitely had moments where I thought, “This should only take me a few minutes,” only to realize an hour later that I had fallen down a rabbit hole trying to figure out one small website issue. When you’re learning as you go, a seemingly simple task can quickly turn into hours of research, testing, and troubleshooting.
A lot of people think DIY website design means choosing a template, changing the text, adding some photos, and hitting “publish.” And while website builders have made the process much more accessible, there’s a lot more that goes into creating a website that actually works for your business.
Some of these things may not become obvious until after you’ve already paid for a website platform and committed the time to building it yourself. If you want your website to be more than just a place for your business to exist online, you’ll need to think about both the technical details and the strategy behind the site.
That can include:
Choosing the right website platform
Selecting a template or creating your own layout
Creating and organizing your website content
Choosing fonts, colors, and other visual elements
Making sure your website works well on mobile devices
Creating clear and easy-to-use navigation
Strategically placing calls-to-action
Setting up contact forms and other features
Connecting your domain
Implementing basic SEO
Optimizing images for your website
Testing links, forms, and other features
Maintaining and updating your website after launch
So, here’s an important question to ask yourself: Am I willing to invest the time to learn and manage all of this? |
Here are a few questions to consider honestly:
How many hours will you spend building it?
How long will it take you to learn the platform?
How much time will you spend troubleshooting?
Could that time be spent serving customers or growing your business?
Will you know how to optimize it for mobile?
Will you know how to structure it for SEO?
Will visitors know what to do when they land on the site?
You can absolutely build a website yourself without having professional web design experience. A DIY website can be a great starting point for a new business, especially if you enjoy the process, have the time to learn, or are comfortable starting small.
But as your business grows, your website may need to do more than simply exist online. It may need to build trust, attract the right audience, generate leads, support your marketing, and make it easy for customers to take the next step. At that point, it’s worth considering whether continuing to DIY your website is still the best use of your time and resources.
One of the first decisions you'll need to make when building a website is figuring out what pages you actually need. You don't necessarily need a dozen pages to have an effective website, but you do need to make sure you're giving visitors the information they're looking for.
Not Sure What Your Website Actually Needs?
If you're building your website yourself, figuring out which pages you actually need can be challenging.
My free guide, 5 Must-Have Pages Every Small Business Website Needs, breaks down the essential pages and what to include on each one.
When DIY Might Be the Right Choice
DIY isn't automatically the wrong choice. In fact, there are plenty of situations where building your own website can make sense. The key is knowing whether it fits your business, your current goals, and the amount of time you're willing to invest.
01 / You're Just Getting Started
If you're launching a new business and working with a limited budget, a DIY website can be a practical way to establish an online presence without making a large upfront investment. You can always improve or redesign your website as your business grows.
02 / Your Website Needs Are Simple
If you only need a few pages with basic information about your business, services, hours, and contact information, you may not need a highly customized website right away. A well-organized, simple website can be enough to get started.
03 / You Enjoy Learning and Creating
Some people genuinely enjoy the process of building things themselves. If you like experimenting with design, learning new platforms, and figuring out how things work, creating your own website can be an enjoyable project rather than a chore.
04 / You Have the Time to Invest
DIY doesn't necessarily mean free. While you may save money on professional design, you'll be investing your own time. If you have the time to learn the platform, write your content, make design decisions, troubleshoot problems, and maintain your site, DIY may be a good fit.
05 / You're Still Testing Your Business
If you're testing a new business idea or figuring out what direction you want to take your business, starting with a simple DIY website can make sense. You may not need to invest heavily in a website before you know exactly what your business will look like long-term.
However, as your business grows, your website may need to grow with it. If your website becomes an important part of generating leads, building credibility, selling products or services, or supporting your marketing, you may eventually reach a point where professional help makes more sense.
When Hiring a Web Designer Might Be the Right Choice
On the other side of the DIY Website vs. Hiring a Web Designer decision, there are situations where bringing in a professional can be the better investment.
As your business grows, there may come a point when your website needs to do more than you have the time or expertise to handle yourself. Hiring a web designer isn't just about having someone make your website look good. A good designer can help you create a website that reflects your brand, supports your goals, and gives your customers a better experience.
01 / You Don't Have the Time
As a small business owner, I know how easy it is to look at a task and think, “I'll just do it myself.” But eventually, you have to look at everything on your plate and decide where your time is best spent. Learning how to build a website might be a valuable skill, but if it's taking you away from serving your customers or working on the parts of your business that only you can do, that time has a cost.
This is one of the biggest reasons a business owner may choose to hire a professional. Building a website can take significantly longer than expected when you're learning as you go. If you're already busy serving customers, managing your business, marketing, and handling everything else that comes with running a business, handing the website over to someone else can free up valuable time.
Sometimes the biggest cost of DIY isn't money, it's the time spent trying to figure everything out. |
02 / You Don't Know Where to Start
Some business owners know they need a website but have no idea:
What pages they need
What information to include
How to organize it
What should go on the homepage
What calls-to-action to use
How to guide visitors toward contacting them
A web designer can help turn all those scattered ideas into a clear website structure and guide you through what your website actually needs.
03 / Your Website Needs to Generate Leads or Sales
A business website shouldn't just look good. If your website is an important part of attracting potential customers, it needs to be designed with those customers in mind.
A strategic website can help with things like:
Clear calls-to-action
Easy navigation
Strategic page layouts
Contact forms
Service or product pages
Trust-building content
Booking or purchasing functionality
The goal isn't just to have visitors. It's to help visitors take the next step.
04 / Your Business Has Outgrown Your Current Website
Maybe your business started with three services and now offers ten. Maybe you've added new locations, team members, products, or services. Maybe your original website was built when you were just getting started and no longer represents where your business is today.
Your website should grow alongside your business. When your business changes, your website may need to change with it.
05 / You Want Help With Strategy, Not Just Design
I love making my clients' websites look beautiful, and that is absolutely one of my priorities. But the highest priority is making sure the website is strategically designed to align with your goals and serve your site visitors.
A good web designer shouldn't just ask, “What colors do you want?”
They should also be thinking about:
Who is visiting the website?
What are they looking for?
What questions do they have?
What action do you want them to take?
How should the pages be organized?
How can the website support your larger business goals?
There’s a difference between building a website and building a website strategically.
And hiring a web designer doesn't mean handing over control of your business. You are still the expert on your business. You provide the knowledge, brand, goals, services, preferences, and feedback. The designer brings their expertise in design, organization, technology, and website strategy to help turn those pieces into a cohesive website.
It should be a collaborative process: you know your business, and your web designer knows websites. Together, you can create something that represents your business and gives your customers a better experience.
06 / You Need Features You Don't Know How to Build
Even as a web designer, I still run into features or technical issues that make me stop and think, “Okay… how am I going to make this work?” Sometimes the answer is straightforward. Other times, it means researching, testing different solutions, and troubleshooting until I find one that works.
For example, I once spent way too many hours building a custom CMS feature that combined a music playlist, song-purchasing functionality, and a blog, all within the same system. Getting all three pieces to work together seamlessly required a lot of testing, problem-solving, and tweaking. What sounded like a fairly simple idea on the surface ended up taking much longer than I expected. Even though I had experience building websites, it still took time to figure everything out and get it working the way I wanted.
If you're completely new to websites, those same kinds of challenges can be even more time-consuming. A feature that seems like it should take 30 minutes could turn into several hours of research and troubleshooting when you're learning as you go.
Some of the features a business may need include:
Online booking
E-commerce
Membership areas
Event registration
Advanced forms
Email marketing integrations
Custom functionality
Blogs
Advanced SEO
Third-party integrations
You don't necessarily need to know how everything works behind the scenes when you hire someone who does. A professional can help determine what functionality you need and make sure it works as part of the overall website experience.
What Does Your Business Need Right Now?
After looking at both options, take a moment to consider where your business is right now.
If this sounds like you… | DIY might be a good fit | Hiring a web designer might be a better fit |
Your business | You're just getting started | Your business is growing or established |
Your website needs | You need a simple website with basic information | You need a more strategic or customized website |
Your Time | You have time to learn and build | You'd rather focus your time on running your business |
Your comfort level | You enjoy learning new tools and figuring things out | Design and technology aren't your strengths |
Your website's role | Your website is mainly there to establish an online presence | Your website is important for generating leads or sales |
Your goals | You're testing an idea or starting small | You have specific goals you want your website to help accomplish |
Features | You don't need much beyond basic pages and contact information | You need booking, e-commerce, integrations, or other functionality |
Strategy | You're comfortable making your own design and website decisions | You want professional guidance on design, organization, and strategy |
Whether you decide to build your website yourself or hire a professional, the goal should be the same: to have a website that supports your business and serves your customers well.
At the end of the day, the question isn't simply “Can I build this myself?” It's “Is building this myself the best use of my time and resources right now?”
If you're still unsure which route is right for you, take a look at your current website and ask yourself:
Is it simply online, or is it actively helping my business?
If you're ready to explore what a professionally designed website could look like for your business, I'd be happy to help.
Ready To Take Your Website To The Next Level?
Check out my service packages designed specifically for growing businesses like yours.
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