Should I Build My Own Website or Hire a Designer?
It's one of the most common questions I get asked as a website designer and small business consultant:
"Should I build my own website or hire a professional?"
After building websites for the past 8 years, my answer might surprise you.
Sometimes, you should absolutely build your own website.
And sometimes, hiring a professional is one of the smartest investments you can make.
The right answer depends on where you are in your business, your budget, your goals, and perhaps most importantly, whether building a website is the best use of your time.
When Building Your Own Website Makes Sense
If you're just getting started, haven't fully refined your services or products, and don't have the budget to invest in a professional website, I think DIY can be a great option.
In fact, I would much rather see someone launch a simple website built from a template than spend months (or years) waiting for the "perfect" website.
Done is better than perfect.
A simple website that is live can still:
Build credibility
Help potential customers find you
Give people a place to learn more about your business
Generate inquiries and sales
Grow alongside your business
If you're barely bringing in revenue, it may make more sense to start with a quality template and focus your resources on growing your business.
Once you gain more clarity, attract more customers, and generate consistent income, that's often the time to consider investing in professional help.
The Hidden Cost of DIY Websites
The biggest issue I see isn't that business owners can't build a website.
It's that they spend months or years trying to do it themselves and never actually launch.
Over the years, I've worked with countless business owners who technically could have figured it out on their own. The problem wasn't capability.
The problem was time.
Every hour spent struggling through website tutorials, researching plugins, tweaking layouts, and second-guessing decisions is an hour you're not serving clients, generating revenue, creating products, networking, or focusing on the things only you can do as the business owner.
Meanwhile, potential customers are searching for your business and finding...nothing.
Or they're finding a website that feels incomplete, outdated, or abandoned.
A website doesn't have to be perfect to work.
But it does have to exist.
A Real Example of What Happens When a Website Finally Launches
One of my clients, Jeff from the Sean Hayhurst Memorial Foundation, came to me after struggling for months to launch a website for his nonprofit.
Here's what he shared after we launched:
"I struggled for months trying to launch a website for our Foundation, and finally gave up. I reached out to Emily, and was so pleased throughout the designing process and excited with the launching of our site. She literally brought our vision to life, and the results have been exceptional. Within 2 days of launching our site, the Foundation received unexpected donations totaling more than 20% of our annual revenue."
That story perfectly illustrates something I tell clients all the time:
The cost of a website isn't just what you spend.
It's also what you lose while your website sits unfinished.
Common DIY Website Mistakes I See
After reviewing and building hundreds of websites, there are a few mistakes that come up again and again.
Poor SEO Structure
Many business owners don't realize that website design and SEO go hand in hand.
For example:
Every page should only have one H1 heading
Header tags should follow a logical hierarchy
Meta titles and descriptions should be optimized for search engines
Images should be properly sized and compressed
Page structure should help both users and Google understand your content
Headers aren't just different font sizes.
They're signals that tell search engines how your content is organized.
I've seen beautiful websites struggle to rank simply because the foundational SEO structure wasn't set up properly.
No Clear Calls to Action
One of the biggest questions I ask during every website project is:
"What do we want visitors to do next?"
Just because you have a contact page doesn't mean people will automatically take action.
A good website guides visitors through a journey by:
Answering common questions
Building trust
Providing helpful information
Offering clear next steps
Every page should have a purpose and a clear call to action.
Choosing the Wrong Platform
Not every website platform is right for every business.
I've worked with more than a dozen platforms over the years, but I build the majority of my websites on Squarespace and Shopify.
For service-based businesses, nonprofits, consultants, coaches, creatives, and many small businesses, I love Squarespace because it's user-friendly, visually beautiful, and easy for clients to manage themselves after launch.
For more complex ecommerce businesses, Shopify is often the better choice because of its flexibility and extensive app ecosystem.
Before choosing a platform, consider:
Your long-term business goals
Whether you need ecommerce functionality
How much customization you need
Whether you'll be managing the website yourself
Whether ongoing developer support will be required
The right platform can save you thousands of dollars and countless headaches over time.
Unclear Messaging
This might be the most important one.
Many business owners are simply too close to their own businesses.
They know their work so well that it becomes difficult to explain it clearly to someone encountering it for the first time.
That's why I regularly partner with copywriter Stelly Marketing on website projects.
Great copy isn't about sounding professional.
It's about understanding your ideal client, communicating your value clearly, and helping visitors understand why they should choose you.
Unfortunately, I also see more and more websites filled with generic AI-generated content that sounds cheesy and says very little.
Your website should sound like you.
Not like a robot.
What You're Actually Paying For When You Hire a Website Designer
Many people think they're paying for a website.
In reality, they're often paying for much more than that.
Clients frequently come to me expecting website design and leave with:
Clarified services and offers
Refined messaging
Brand direction
SEO guidance
Email marketing integrations
Domain setup
Business email setup
Lead generation strategies
Landing pages and opt-ins
Workshop funnels
Google Business Profile setup
Third-party software integrations
Website training and support
Project management and accountability
Often, what starts as a website project becomes a business strategy project.
Sometimes You Need an Outside Perspective
One of the most valuable things a professional brings is perspective.
We're often too close to our own businesses.
We can't always see what customers see.
We can't always identify gaps in our messaging.
We can't always tell what's confusing because we already know too much.
An experienced website designer can ask questions, challenge assumptions, and help uncover opportunities you may have missed.
The Transformation Is Often Bigger Than the Website
One artist I worked with shared:
"As a creative person I tried a number of times to make a website on my own. I finally decided to go to a professional and hiring Emily was the best thing I could have done."
Another client, an interior designer, had hired someone else to build her website, but after a year the project still wasn't finished. Eventually, she turned the project over to me.
She later shared:
"Emily was amazing to work with! She made what I had viewed as a daunting task of building my website so easy, seamless and enjoyable."
And one of my longtime consulting and website clients, Sarah of Eastwood Terrace, said something that perfectly captures what many business owners experience:
"I was the poster child for 'I can do it myself' and 'I don't know if I have the budget for this.' You can't and you do—don't set yourself back like I did at first."
My Honest Advice
If we were sitting together over iced coffee and you asked me whether you should build your own website or hire a designer, I'd ask you one question:
What can you eliminate, automate, or delegate?
It's a concept from one of my favorite business books, Chill and Prosper by Denise Duffield-Thomas.
Most business owners can immediately think of at least one thing they're spending too much time on.
For some people, that's bookkeeping.
For others, it's social media.
And for many business owners, it's website design.
Your time is valuable.
Your energy is limited.
And sometimes the smartest business decision isn't learning how to do something yourself—it's hiring someone who already knows how.
One of the comments I hear most often from clients is:
"Wow, you're so fast. That would've taken me hours."
That's the value of experience.
You're not just paying for the final product.
You're paying for the years of knowledge, problem-solving, strategy, and expertise that make the process faster, easier, and more effective.
So, Should You Build Your Own Website or Hire a Designer?
If you're just starting out, have a limited budget, and need to get something online, build the website yourself and launch it.
Don't wait for perfection.
But if your business is growing, your time is stretched thin, and your website has become a project that's constantly sitting on your to-do list, it may be time to hand it off.
A great website doesn't just look good.
It helps you communicate clearly, build trust, attract the right customers, and support your business goals.
And sometimes, the fastest path forward is letting an expert help you get there.