One of the most important decisions business owners will make in 2025 and beyond, is building their company website. When customers are looking for new products or services, they look online first before any other option. So if they are not finding you there, or not liking what they see when they do, your business could take a major hit.
Once upon a time, companies relied on more traditional advertising methods to promote their business. This could include the Yellow Pages, newspaper ads, radio, print mailouts, or networking events. All of these still exist today with various levels of effectiveness. If you’re still relying on them in 2025 however, there’s a good chance a good chunk of your marketing budget is flying right out the window.
Even veteran business owners know they must jump into the digital era to experience success. The problem is however, doing so can be a very intimidating experience. It will force you out of your comfort zone, and there’s a learning curve involved. People often hate going to a mechanic due to the lack of trust and unpredictable pricing. Approaching a web design company can feel the exact same way, which prompts you to explore other options.
That leads you to the very important decision of whether or not you should build the website yourself? After all, you are not forced to rely on anyone else, and it will be far cheaper in the beginning. Honestly speaking, how hard could it be anyway?
We live in an era of Wix, Weebly, Shopify and Squarespace, all telling you know that building a website is easy. With a few quick steps, you’ll be online in no time. Why hire an expert when it’s simply no longer necessary? Even million-dollar companies go this route nowadays right?
Ummm…..sadly no….maybe one in many thousands, but even that’s being generous. This is a lesson many business owners have to learn the hard way first, and then seek help later when things go awry. If this sounds like you, or once upon a time was you, don’t feel bad, it’s a pretty common occurrence.
Although building a website yourself does not mean automatic failure, we’ll go over 15 most important reasons why it’s often NOT a good idea. Yes you will be tempted anyway, but you’ll probably want to consider the following first….
- It’s usually not as easy as you think: When building a website yourself, you’ve probably seen and heard all the advertisements. An attractive individual signs up for a do-it-yourself web service, and they build a professional website within minutes. That paid actor then smiles gleefully as they watch their business instantly thrive. What is easy or not however, is truly a matter of perspective. If you are a non-technical person, don’t expect a simple road ahead. You’ll have to understand basic things such as domain name registration, website hosting, email setup, and familiarizing yourself with a builder interface. You’ll have to be comfortable following instructions, or in some cases, learning by yourself with no help provided. Make no mistake this can get complicated, and if you’re not up for the challenge, things can drag on quickly. If you’re fully willing to embrace this adventure, proceed on. If the thought of it already makes you feel tired, then that’s a red flag you want to be aware of.
- Many who build a website themselves don’t end up finishing: When I’m approached by website clients who built their websites themselves, over 50% didn’t make it to the finish line. This doesn’t mean they launched a poor or incomplete website, it means their site never made it online at all. It was stuck in mid-production limbo, where they were paying monthly fees for a website not even being used. Worse yet, they were not entirely sure how to cancel their subscription afterwards. This is often when I get the rescue call, sometimes having to bear the bad news that what they’ve done so far may not even be usable. Suffice it to say, a lot of time and effort was needlessly wasted.
- Additional features and future customization may not be possible: When you build your first website, it will likely be simple to start. A standard brochure site with text, pictures, and your contact information. You didn’t have grander ambitions at the time, thinking that more complex features could be added later. Then that moment finally comes where you think to yourself “I’d love to add a blog, or an online store, or a booking calendar”. You talk to your friendly customer support agent, who politely tells you your website is simply not capable. You think to yourself, why not? I’ve seen many websites that do these exact same things regularly. Unfortunately do-it-yourself templates are mostly bare bones, created for shorter-term needs. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but they don’t go out of their way to let you know this either. They know your commitment is non-refundable, and there’s not much you can do about it later if unsatisfied.
- Extra charges and unexpected fees – When using a do-it-yourself website service, you might think you’re fully aware of the costs to start. In most cases, any reputable company should be relatively transparent about its pricing. The goal of these companies however, is to upsell constantly and make extra money. This can take on several different meanings. It could be suggesting add-ons that you don’t really need, although they make it feel necessary. Or they will verbally talk you into a new feature, which you may think is free, until you get a larger bill later. Of course this could be due to miscommunication, but some agents aren’t shy about misleading customers if it means a commission. There is also the possibility that your monthly rates could go up, and you often aren’t notified in advance, if at all. You are constantly on the lookout for extra charges, which can be stressful and frustrating.
- Build-it-yourself websites are often not SEO friendly – Do it yourself websites aren’t built for SEO performance first, they are made for ease of use by beginners. For that reason, priority number one is not including more robust features designed for search engine rankings. Sure you may be able to add some simple keywords or meta tags, but these alone don’t equal a top Google ranking. As a matter of fact, these are more of a roadmap of what you want your website to rank for only. Many other factors determine your overall SEO ranking, several of which you won’t have access to with a pre-made template. This could be speed optimization, image optimization, data analytics tools, website caching, and on-page SEO tools. Do-it-yourself websites are more like a cheap car without much under the hood. If you want to kick it into high gear, they often won’t be capable.
- Do it yourself websites are not designed with sales in mind – Say you use a build-it-yourself website service, and the process went smoothly. Your website is more or less doing what you thought it would, with no major issues. You’re happy for a few short weeks, until the enthusiasm starts to slowly fade. You haven’t got a single phone call or lead, and you’re wondering what’s wrong. You contact tech support, who kindly tells you they help build your website, not promote it. They might suggest one of their not-so-affordable marketing packages, which usually yields very underwhelming results. It’s at this point when your heart starts to sink, knowing you’ve been had. This is often when we get the rescue call also, with customers telling us they have a website but want it to “do more”. Unfortunately, the cost of the “more” doesn’t carry over from their previous service provider, and they need to re-budget in order to make the switch.
- The quality will usually be underwhelming whether you want to admit it or not – A major problem with do-it-yourself websites are that they are created with the non-technical person in mind. So even if you have no web design experience, you’ll be given access to just enough features to get by. Most of the framework is locked in prior, where you build around a pre-set template and fill in the blanks where necessary. That doesn’t mean there’s no customisation at all, it just means you’ll be severely limited in creating a more complex and professional design. Worse yet, when someone builds their own website, they often lack the objectivity of what the finished product looks like. You may be proud you got your website up and running (and you should be), but others viewing it besides your friends and family may not be so enthusiastic with the end result.
- Tech support can be difficult and frustrating to work with: We touched on this in point number three already, but let’s elaborate a little bit further. Contacting tech support for any website-related issues is probably the number one most frustrating part of the do-it-yourself method. The wait times can be long (sometimes very long), and what you hope is a simple problem turns into a much longer-term headache. Although you are praying your tech support agent is fully qualified to answer your concerns, this isn’t always the case. You’re often talking to a regular employee, some of whom have limited training or knowledge or language barriers. Worse yet, their goal is to get you off the call or chat as soon as possible so they can move on to the next customer. Tech support performance is evaluated by how many people they can serve per day. So if you ever get the feeling you’re not getting their undivided time and attention, often your are correct.
- It can be hard or impossible to switch your website over to another service provider – Expanding on point number four, if you built your website but it’s not doing what you need it to, what’s next? You call your local web design company who reviews your site and tells you its strengths and limitations. In all likelihood, the limitations are the non-robust editing capabilities, lack of advanced features, and the inability to rank for SEO. The client will ask “is there anything you can do to help” and the answer will probably be no. You accept the fact that moving to another platform is now necessary. The problem is you’ve dumped a whole bunch of money into your existing website, and are hoping to take whatever is salvagable with you. Unfortunately, build-it-yourself websites are not transferable and can’t be saved outside of your current host server. Bottom line if you decide to move on, you will be starting again from scratch, with no compensation for your prior investment.
- All future responsibility falls on your shoulders – Once a website is complete, it’s never really finished. It’s an ongoing commitment that will always fall on your shoulders, well after the fun factor wears off. You have to update and maintain your website, add future content, and worst-case scenario deal with any technical isses. If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed when building a website yourself, it’s that technical problems will occur. You could experience a glitch, page errors, slow load times, or even your website going down completely. This is another classic scenario where I get an emergency phone call, with the client is in full panic mode. Although your web hosting company may be able to assist you, they are not fully obligated to. If you get a support agent who doesn’t feel like going the extra mile for you that day, they sometimes won’t. Or not at least without trying to talk you into another paid service first.
- It’s another time consuming task mong many: If you’re one of the lucky ones who’s web building experience was relatively hassle free, that’s great. Even in the best of times however, it’s another time consuming task you’ll have to juggle among many. Adding more fuel to the fire can sometimes be more than your ready for. That may mean keeping your services up to date, adding new blog posts, updating your portfolio, or anything else your customers want to see. You may be fortunate enough to have a friend, spouse, or colleague handle this for you. Unfortunately, when they are working for free however, the sense of urgency could be lacking. You know the old saying “time is money”. Hiring a web professional will actually save you money long term, and that’s not even including the sales your website will generate.
- There’s a very good chance you’ll be doing it again – You’ve also heard the saying “do it right the first time” which has never been truer when it comes to web design. If you’re not at the stage of your business yet where you’re hyper-focused on sales, that’s fine. If you’re relying on your new website however to bring you new business quickly, that’s another story. When you first build a website yourself, you probably knew it was temporary. You’ll do the best job you can and you’ll upgrade later once more revenue is coming in. Sadly that day doesn’t come, and sooner or later, you’re back to square one. When your website is done professionally the first time, you could be months or years ahead of the game. If not, there’s a lot of valuable time wasted you won’t get back. Once you know you’ll have to start again, taking the cheaper route to start has more negative long term consequences.
- Long-term damage to your business and reputation – In theory if a great website helps your business succeed, then by comparison, a poor website should do the exact opposite. Your website is usually your first point of contact with new customers, and you’ll either make a great first impression or a bad long-lasting one. If visitors don’t trust you because your website doesn’t warrant that reaction, they likely won’t be back again later. Your website should always put your best foot forward in showcasing your business customers. A good website will instantly convince customers “why they should choose you” over your competition. A bad website will tell them your either unsuccessful or uninterested in having a professional online presence.
- Lack of meaningful long-term results – Although it’s been touched on already, it bears repeating. Why building a website yourself isn’t a wise idea ISN’T because the experience is all bad. In some cases, it can be quite productive, because you have the chance to learn a new skill you wouldn’t have otherwise. The biggest problem is that business owners can become attached to a website they built, and strongly resist the urge for change. Even if that means getting minimal customers, and spending very unnecessary amounts of money. Once you’re in full control of your situation, it can be hard to pass the reigns to someone else. That being said if it means the difference between making sales or losing sales, the choice should be obvious.
- Because it’s too good to be true if often is – If something sounds too good to be true, 99% of the that’s probable the case. If someone said to you “ don’t hire a dentist to do a root canal, you can do itself” you might be sceptical. Or if someone says “don’t go to law school, you can learn everything by watching cop shows on TV” it wouldn’t be good advice. Why these same rules don’t apply to web design is baffling, but it is a reality nonetheless. Something of value will cost money, and may have to become a bigger part of your yearly business expenses. Your website however will be one of the biggest business investment you make. If you don’t invest wisely, you can’t expect good results to follow.
If you have any questions about web design, feel free to reach out and let us know. Whether it’s building a website yourself, or getting help from a professional, we’re happy to give you our best advice free of charge.
Call or text us at 403-374-2727 or email us at info@advancewebsolutions.ca for more information. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
