Should You Build Your Own Website? Here's What It Really Costs You to DIY
Squarespace markets itself as an easy way to build a website. In fairness, building a basic website on Squarespace is easy - in principle. The tools are intuitive, you can use templates if you find they suit your purpose, and you can manage without knowing how to code.
So why does it take me several days to several weeks to build a website, when I have hundreds of hours of hands-on experience building and working with Squarespace websites?
Easy in Principle, Not So Easy in Practice
Because while building a basic website on Squarespace is easy in principle - in practice, it's a different story. The platform gives you templates, but if you need to make changes to that template, your text doesn’t fit right or you want to change colours…now you’re getting into the muddy stuff. Making your website look and function the way you want it to can be extremely frustrating and time consuming for those with little to no experience.
Squarespace also doesn’t tell you how to structure your pages so Google can find them and thus get your website in competition with the others for rankings. Or why your image is blurry on a mobile phone but looks fine on your laptop. One learns an enormous amount over hundreds of hours working with Squarespace websites - most importantly, the things that separate a site that looks fine from a site that helps your business get found by potential customers and clients.
The Real Cost of DIY
I could write an entire blog post on all the different things that can drive an inexperienced Squarespace user absolutely crazy. Maybe even an entire book. My favourite is the fact that the page builder likes to line things like images and paragraphs up for you. It assumes how you want it done and does it that way. If you want it done differently, unless you know how to trick it into letting you do what you want to do, you’ll end up in an epic battle of tug-of-war that may very well see you heading off to the pub early that day!
That's the real cost of DIY - it’s not about the money you can save by building a website by yourself, but the time you’ll most likely spend. Or worse yet, waste. Even if you manage to get a website builtin a single day that you can call “good enough,” that's still a full day you weren't working on running or growing your business. Doing the things that actually make you money. Multiply that by however many days or weeks it actually takes, and suddenly the cost of my services looks like an absolute bargain!
What You're Actually Paying For
Hiring a website designer isn't just about the finished product. It's about money well spent protecting your precious time and knowing the job is being done properly without you having to worry about anything. A website built by someone who has experience perfecting the product that Squarespace gives you the ability to produce…isn't going to underperform. It's going to outperform the vast majority of websites built by those with less experience.
No, hiring an exceptional website designer is not free. Not by any means. Especially depending on the size of website your business needs. But it's money you spend once on an asset that’s built to deliver results from day one and every day going forward for years to come.
If you're weighing up trying to build your own website against hiring a professional web designer, ask yourself honestly: is trying to build a proper website the best use of your time right now? Or is it better spent growing your business? For most small business owners, the answer is obvious.
I offer fully-functioning, brand new website builds from just £195, so your business can have a home on the internet and give potential customers and clients the confidence to trust you.
Contact me today so we can make a plan that suits your needs and get your business growing!