Should I DIY my small business website?
So you are thinking of DIYing your site? Maybe your budget is tight. Maybe you need a site to start generating revenue as fast as possible. And maybe you’ve heard that sites like Squarespace and Wix make it easy to get a professional-looking site up and running quickly so DIYing seems like a no-brainer.
I realise asking a web designer if I should DIY my site seems like a loaded question. Why trust what I have to say?
Two reasons.
One… I’ve been in your position and made the decision to DIY my site - in fact, on the back of building a personal site I decided to launch a web design business.
And two… it’s not in my interest to persuade people to work with me who are not ready and/or feel what I have to offer doesn’t match their needs and budget.
Whatever route you go - do it yourself or have someone do it for you - it’s important to properly understand the pros and cons of each option so you can make the best decision possible for you and for your business.
In this post, I’ll walk through the things you need to consider and the steps involved in getting a site live to help you make the right decision.
Things to consider when thinking about DYI-ing your website
Budget
A DIY site is not free but it is definitely cheaper than outsourcing. On the tech side, you’ll need to purchase a domain, pay for hosting and security if not included in your website package. You might also need to pay for plugins and third-party extensions if extra functionality is required.
On the content creation side, some funds should be allocated to create a simple logo or wordmark, hire a copywriter and purchase imagery. If the budget can stretch a little further, brand photography is a good investment. Even when you add all this up - the biggest cost when DIY’ing your site is going to be your time. More on that below.Requirements of your site
Be clear about the purpose of your site and what you need it to do. Think about your business goals and objectives. And think about the nitty-gritty requirements of your site - from enquiry forms to e-commerce functionality. Do you need a simple site or a more complex one? This will help you decide which route to take.
For example, maybe you’re a newly trained coach and want a “brochure” site to tell people who you are (e.g. background, qualifications, awards etc), what you do (help mid-level professionals change careers) and how to get in touch (email form). What you need is a professional-looking site that communicates basic information and gives people confidence that you are credible and trustworthy. In this example, a DIY site is a good option and your priority should be to invest in high-quality photography, copywriting and content marketing to build your audience.
On the other hand, if you need your visitors to do more than email you and sign up for a weekly newsletter you might consider hiring a professional web designer. For example, maybe you’ve turned your Cotswold farm into a yoga and meditation retreat and you need a site to promote your services, manage reservations and take payment for individual and group bookings. In this instance, you need an e-commerce site with an integrated booking and CRM system.
In general, the more functionality and customisation your site requires, the more complex the site will be to design and build and the greater the need for outside help.
Starting simple is always an option. Having a good-looking basic site that is easy to navigate is always better than having a bad site or no site at all.
To help you flush you can download our free Website Brief Template.Design and Strategy
If design is not your thing, then you can start with an off-the-shelf template. Companies like Squarespace and Wix offer free basic templates. Premium templates are available to purchase online - expect to pay between £25 to £250 for one.Templates give you a good foundation to build on but they do need to be customised to make your business to stand out and ensure it doesn’t look like every other business that started with the same template. Website builders like Squarespace offer a range of tools to help you to do this.
Remember, good design is more than something looking pretty. It’s about strategy and designing with your end user in mind. So if you plan to DIY your site - read up on UX design basics.
Will and Skill
How do you feel about technology and what is your expertise level? Be honest with yourself.Low-skill and high-will means that you will be on a steep learning curve but if you are someone with a curious mind who loves to learn new things then teaching yourself what you need to know is possible and might even be fun!
If you are high-skill and high-will then DYI should be a breeze for you.
And if you are no-skill and no-will then you probably not reading this because you’ve already hired an expert to build your site!!
Time
I’ve talked about this before but one of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not valuing their time properly and as a result, spending too much time working in the business and not enough time working on it.The web builder platforms all talk about the ease of their sites but they downplay the learning curve and it can be a steep one if this is your first site!
At the end of the post, we take you through the key steps from researching the right platform to planning the structure, creating the content, building the actual site, testing, and launching to help you decide if you have the time and the motivation to build your own site.
Building a site is more than simply loading the information into a template. Photos need to be optimised, meta-descriptions and alt-tags added plus some coding to get your site looking and functioning as it should.
The good news is that Google and YouTube are definitely your friends.
The bad news is that it is easy to fall down a rabbit hole when looking for a simple solution and find that 3 hours later you are still watching a How-To-Videos.
All this being said, if you plan to regularly update your site - then building your site might help you get comfortable with the platform and make future updates less of a faff.
Five Steps to Building and Launching your site
Researching and selecting the right platform.
Look for a platform that offers the right level of functionality, customisation and customer support. And think about future needs as well as you want something that will grow you into the medium term.
Time 1 to 2 hours.Planning
You need to be clear about your website goals and the goals of your ideal clients.
If your business goal is to generate enquiries for your interior design business and your ideal’s clients goal is to create a short list of designers for their house renovation then you need to think about how you align your goals.
As a business, you want to differentiate yourself, present your credentials and display your expertise. For your ideal clients, you want to make it easy for them to understand what problem you solve, find the information they need to answer any questions they might have and take the next action.
It’s a good idea to make a little sketch of the website layout to help you visualise the final site. This allows you to map out your customer journey from the moment your ideal client lands on your (think about a catchy and meaningful headline and hero image) to the final call to action.
If you need some help our Anatomy of a Homepage is an excellent resource to get you thinking about all the things you need to do to make a great first impression and win new clients.
Time: a few hours to a few days.Content Creation
Be warned this takes longer than you think.
You need to write the content and gather the imagery you want to use. Write it with the end site in mind - people don’t read and will skim so you need to make sure people can quickly understand what you offer from the headlines and imagery and then hope they read further. When developing the content don’t forget SEO One to two weeks to do well. I recommend you spend £2.49 and buy ‘How to Write Seductive Web Copy: An Easy Guide to Picking Up More Customers’ by Henneke Duistermaat.
Time: 2 weeks.Design:
Time to start building - if you have all your information ready and the photos optimised this can go quickly.
Having a simple sketch of the layout is also recommended to avoid trying to design on the fly. Moving elements around once you get started is definitely possible but it can be fiddly and have annoying knock-on affects that are frustrating to fix. Finally, don’t forget about the backend side of the build.
The design stage can take anywhere from a few days to a week, depending on the complexity of the design and the number of revisions you want to make.
Time: a day to a week depending on revisions.Testing and launch
A good idea is to send a password-protected site link to friends and family and ask them to review and test the site for any quirks. Consider giving them a list of questions to consider - from how easy is it to navigate, readability and general impression.
Be sure to test on different devices and browsers and make sure it works well on mobile!
And when the site is finally launched you’ll want to read our post Launched Now What to help you drive traffic to your site and make your site work even harder to achieve your business goals.
Time: a day to a week
I would say you need a minimum of a week of focused effort - this means parking all the other activities and giving your site your complete attention. For most small business owners trying to get their business off the ground and running, this is not possible. Meaning despite their best intentions, launching their site gets repeatedly pushed back.
Still not sure or somewhere in between?
It’s not an easy decision. Time, money, expertise and motivation play a big factor. If you fall somewhere in-between we offer a 4-week DIY with Confidence programme that guides you through the process and provides weekly check-in so that you can DIY your site without trepidation.
