Can I Build My Own Website or Should I Hire Someone?
The honest answer: it depends. Not on whether you're "tech-savvy" (the most overused qualifier in this discussion), but on a more specific set of factors: what your website needs to do, how much time you can invest, what your budget looks like, and how critical the website is to your revenue.
There's no universal right answer. We've seen business owners build perfectly good DIY sites that serve them well for years. We've also seen business owners waste six months wrestling with a website builder before hiring a professional and wishing they'd done it from the start. Both outcomes are common, and which one you'll experience depends on your situation.
This guide gives you the honest framework to decide. No agenda. Just the information you need.
Skills You Actually Need to Build Your Own Website
Let's be specific. "Building a website" requires four distinct skill sets, and most people only think about one of them.
Design Sense
You don't need to be a graphic designer, but you need basic visual judgment. Can you tell when something looks off? Do you understand that a page needs visual hierarchy, consistent spacing, and readable typography? Can you look at your own work critically?
The learning curve: If you have a natural eye for design, you can produce decent results with a good template. If you don't, no template will save you. Design sense can be developed, but it takes time and exposure. Browse 50 professional websites in your industry. You'll start recognizing patterns.
Basic Technical Literacy
You need to be comfortable figuring out new software. Website builders aren't difficult, but they do require patience with unfamiliar interfaces. You'll need to understand concepts like domains, hosting, DNS, SSL, and basic file management.
The learning curve: If you can navigate smartphone settings, manage spreadsheets, and troubleshoot minor tech issues without panicking, you'll be fine. If technology generally frustrates you, building a website will be a particularly frustrating version of that experience.
Copywriting
This is the skill most people underestimate. The words on your website matter more than the design. You need to be able to write clearly about your services, articulate your value proposition, and create content that speaks to your customers' needs rather than just listing your capabilities.
The learning curve: If you can write a clear email, you can learn to write decent web copy. Read our guide on creating a high-converting service page for a framework. But writing well for the web is a learned skill. Most DIY sites have mediocre copy, and mediocre copy produces mediocre results.
SEO Basics
Your website needs to be findable. That means understanding title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, image alt text, URL structure, and how Google indexes content. None of this is rocket science, but all of it requires learning.
The learning curve: You can learn the basics in a few hours. Implementing them correctly takes practice. The risk isn't that you'll do it terribly wrong -- it's that you'll do it partially, miss important elements, and wonder why your site doesn't show up in search results.
Time Investment: Realistic Hours for Different Site Types
This is where most DIY estimates go wrong. Tutorials say you can "build a website in an afternoon." Technically true, if you count a single page with placeholder content as a website. Here's what it actually takes to build something that's genuinely ready for customers:
Simple Informational Site (5-7 pages)
Home, About, Services, Contact, maybe a gallery or FAQ.
- Learning the platform: 10-20 hours
- Design and layout: 10-15 hours
- Content writing: 10-20 hours
- Images and media: 5-10 hours
- Testing and fixes: 5-10 hours
- Total: 40-80 hours
Mid-Complexity Site (10-20 pages)
Multiple service pages, blog, portfolio, booking integration, contact forms.
- Learning the platform: 15-25 hours
- Design and layout: 20-35 hours
- Content writing: 25-40 hours
- Images and media: 10-15 hours
- SEO setup: 5-15 hours
- Integrations and testing: 10-20 hours
- Total: 80-150 hours
Complex Site (20+ pages, custom functionality)
E-commerce, client portals, custom calculators, multi-location, advanced forms.
- Total: 150+ hours (and this is where DIY usually breaks down)
Be honest about where those hours come from. If you're a business owner working 50 hours a week, a "simple" website built in evenings and weekends takes 4-8 weeks minimum. A mid-complexity site could take 2-4 months. That's 2-4 months where your business either has no website or has a half-finished one.
The DIY Path: Best Platforms and Costs
If you decide to build it yourself, here are your best options in 2026:
Squarespace ($16-$49/month) Best templates out of the box. Hardest to mess up visually. Limited flexibility but produces consistently decent results. Best for creative professionals, restaurants, and businesses that prioritize aesthetics.
Wix ($17-$159/month) Most flexible drag-and-drop builder. Easy to start, easy to create a mess. AI tools can generate a starting point. Best for hands-on owners who want maximum control.
Webflow ($14-$39/month) Most professional results of any builder. Steeper learning curve, but closest to a custom site. Best for tech-comfortable owners who want near-professional quality.
WordPress.com ($4-$45/month) or Self-Hosted WordPress Maximum long-term flexibility. Requires more technical knowledge. Huge plugin ecosystem. Best for businesses planning to grow their site significantly over time.
True first-year costs (not just the subscription):
- Platform subscription: $200-$600
- Domain name: $12-$20
- Premium template (if applicable): $50-$200
- Stock photos: $50-$200
- Premium plugins/apps: $50-$300
- Your time (at your hourly rate): This is the big one
For a detailed comparison of these platforms, read our Wix vs Squarespace vs Custom breakdown.
The Professional Path: What Hiring Gets You (and Costs)
Hiring a professional web designer or agency gets you more than a finished website. You're paying for:
- Strategy. They analyze your business, competitors, and customers before designing anything.
- Design expertise. Layouts optimized for conversion, not just aesthetics.
- Technical execution. Clean code, fast loading, proper SEO implementation.
- Content guidance. They'll tell you what to write and often help structure it.
- Testing. Cross-browser, cross-device, performance, and accessibility testing.
- Ongoing support. Someone to call when things break or need updating.
Typical costs:
- Freelance designer: $1,500-$5,000
- Small agency: $3,000-$15,000
- Mid-size agency: $10,000-$30,000
- Enterprise agency: $30,000+
Most small businesses fall in the $3,000-$10,000 range for a professional site that's custom-designed, properly optimized, and built to last 3-5 years. For a full cost breakdown, see our guide on how much a website costs.
Before hiring anyone, read our post on questions to ask a web designer so you know what to look for and what red flags to avoid.
7 Questions to Determine Your Best Path
Answer these honestly:
1. How critical is your website to generating revenue? If your website is your primary lead generation tool (service businesses, consultants, agencies), invest in professional quality. If it's supplementary to word-of-mouth referrals, DIY may be fine.
2. What's your realistic time availability? If you can dedicate 10+ hours per week for a month, DIY is feasible. If you can barely carve out 3 hours a week, you'll be building for 6 months and lose momentum.
3. What's your annual revenue? Businesses under $50K/year: DIY usually makes sense. $50K-$200K: either path works depending on how much you rely on the website. Over $200K: a professional site almost certainly pays for itself in additional leads.
4. How competitive is your market? If your competitors have professional websites and you show up with a template, that gap is visible to every potential customer comparing options. Check your top 5 competitors' sites before deciding.
5. How comfortable are you with technology? Not "are you good with computers" but specifically: can you spend hours troubleshooting why something doesn't look right and stay patient? Website building involves a lot of that.
6. Do you have design and writing skills? Be brutally honest. If you can't write a compelling paragraph about your business or tell whether a layout looks balanced, the DIY ceiling is lower for you.
7. What's your timeline? Need a site live in 2 weeks? A professional can do it. DIY will produce something half-finished in that timeframe. Need it in 3 months? Either path works.
Industry-Specific Recommendations
Not all businesses have the same website needs. Here's a rough guide:
DIY is usually fine for:
- Solo consultants and coaches (if your network drives business)
- Artists and photographers (Squarespace excels here)
- Small retail shops (with minimal e-commerce)
- Event venues and spaces (primarily informational)
- Hobby businesses and side projects
Hire a professional for:
- Service businesses that depend on leads (plumbers, lawyers, dentists, contractors)
- Businesses in competitive local markets
- E-commerce stores with more than 20 products
- Businesses targeting multiple locations
- Companies where the website IS the product (SaaS, online services)
- Businesses in trust-dependent industries (financial services, healthcare, legal)
The distinction often comes down to: how much does a visitor's first impression of your website influence whether they become a customer? For a plumber, it's significant. For an artist selling prints to an existing Instagram following, it's less critical.
The Phased Approach: Start DIY, Then Upgrade
This is the path we recommend most often for businesses in the early stages. It goes like this:
Phase 1: Launch fast with DIY ($300-$500) Pick Squarespace or Wix. Use a clean template. Get your basic pages up: Home, About, Services, Contact. Focus on clear messaging and accurate information. Don't aim for perfect. Aim for functional and professional enough.
Phase 2: Validate and learn (3-6 months) Use the site. See what questions customers ask that your site doesn't answer. Track which pages get traffic. Identify what's working and what isn't. This real-world data is invaluable when you eventually brief a professional.
Phase 3: Invest in professional (when revenue justifies it) When your business is generating enough revenue that a $3,000-$10,000 investment makes financial sense, hire a professional armed with 6 months of data about what your customers actually need from your website. You'll get a dramatically better result than if you'd hired someone on day one with no data.
This approach costs more in total than going straight to professional, but it reduces the risk of investing thousands in a website for a business that's still finding its footing. For a deeper comparison of these paths, read our DIY vs professional design breakdown.
What to Do If You Can't Afford Professional Right Now
If hiring a professional isn't in the budget but you know DIY won't cut it, here are some middle-ground options:
Hire for specific pieces. Can't afford a full custom site? Hire a designer for just the homepage and a template for the rest. Or hire a copywriter for the content and build the site yourself. Targeted professional help on the highest-impact elements can stretch a small budget.
Use a premium template and customize. Platforms like Webflow and WordPress have premium templates ($50-$300) that look significantly better than free ones. Pair a good template with professional photography and strong copywriting, and you can get 80% of the way to a custom site at 20% of the cost.
Find a newer freelancer. Junior designers and developers often do excellent work at lower rates while building their portfolios. Check portfolios carefully, but don't dismiss someone just because they have fewer years of experience.
Negotiate payment plans. Many designers and agencies offer payment plans. $5,000 over 6 months is more manageable than $5,000 upfront, and many professionals are willing to accommodate this if asked.
Next Steps for Either Direction
If you're going DIY:
- Choose your platform based on the comparison above
- Study 10 competitor websites to understand what "good" looks like in your industry
- Write your content before you touch the builder (trust us on this)
- Read our guides on essential pages every business website needs and high-converting service pages
- Set a hard deadline and stick to it -- DIY projects expand to fill all available time
If you're hiring a professional:
- Read our guide on how to choose a web designer
- Review the questions to ask a web designer before your first call
- Get quotes from at least 3 providers
- Ask for references and check them
- Understand what's included in the quote and what costs extra
If you're still not sure: Start with the 7 questions above. If you answered most of them in favor of DIY, try it for 30 days. Set a checkpoint: if you don't have a site you're proud of after 30 days and 40+ hours of work, that's your answer. Cut your losses and hire someone.
The worst outcome isn't choosing wrong. It's spending months unable to decide while your business operates without a proper website. Pick a path, commit to a timeline, and move forward.