So You Want to Build Your Own Website.

Great. Awesome. Cool. Cool cool cool. But should you?

There’s no shortage of website-building tools promising you a DIY but professional-looking site in a weekend — many offer templates, drag-and-drop layouts, mix-and-match sections, content prompts, and more. Add built-in AI, and suddenly the platform becomes a set of hands — a website designer and a content creator.

The appeal of a DIY website and AI-generated content — I get it.

No contracts.
No design brief.
No back-and-forth.

Plus…

No upfront costs for design or development.
No waiting on someone else’s timeline.

Pick a template. Pay for hosting. Start publishing. Complete control.

To be fair, many designers use these same website-building tools. The difference isn’t the platform — it’s the experience behind it. Knowing what to choose, what to ignore, and what actually matters before, during, and after the build.

Because the tools don’t remove the responsibility — they just shift it.

The site will still need something real to say.
Structure will still matter.
And AI doesn’t always get it right.

Before you decide whether to build it yourself or hire someone to build it for you, it’s worth slowing down and making a few considerations first — about the tools, yes, but also about the skills required to use them well.

The Ground Check

What’s your actual skill level — and are you willing to learn, adapt, and stay current once the site is live?

Is your time better spent on your product or service instead of building the site itself?

What’s the site’s purpose and goal — and do you know how to get there?

What’s the opportunity cost when “I’ll just set this up real quick” quietly turns into an endless project with no visitors and no conversions?

The Salty

Do you know your options for platforms, integrations, tools, and how they actually connect?

Website content is a tricky bastard. Conversion is its finicky, temperamental cousin. Writing words is one thing. Getting them to work together — clearly, intentionally, and convincingly — is another.

Do you have a real plan — and do you actually know what you’ll need?
Styles. Copy that holds up. Visuals that don’t feel generic. Policies and disclaimers. Local SEO basics. A sitemap that makes sense. A flow that doesn’t lose people halfway through.

How are your HTML and CSS skills?
Not just “can you tweak a font,” but structure. Semantics. Mobile and responsive realities.

Do you know what schema markup is — and are you ready to set it up if needed?

What’s the plan once someone lands on the site?
Engagement. Conversion. Communication. A clear next step that doesn’t feel like guesswork.

And forms — are you collecting anything?
Contact requests. Quotes. Bookings. Mailing lists. Where does the data go? Who owns it? What happens when it breaks?

Most small business owners don’t know what they don’t know about digital experiences and tools. That’s not an insult — it’s normal. We all have blind spots, especially outside our usual sphere of knowledge.

The Sweet

There’s a wide range of platforms available for building and hosting websites, and getting started has never been easier. Squarespace. Webflow. Framer. Wix. Pick your flavor.

A pinch of salt, though — none of them are perfect. Every platform comes with limitations, caveats, bugs, and moments that make you question your life choices.

Still, you’re not alone in DIY-ing your website. Plenty of people do it — successfully.

Templates are better than they used to be.
Design systems are more forgiving.
AI can help you get unstuck when the blank page hits.

You can publish quickly.
You can iterate in public.
You can learn as you go.

And for many projects, that’s enough.

A DIY site can absolutely be the right call — especially when controlling costs is the priority and you’re willing to trade time, polish, and certainty for savings.

Where It Lands

On the other hand, a professional designer or developer brings something different to the table — a process for getting the foundational work done, the design decisions made, and the site built with intention, not guesswork.

They’ve already made the mistakes you’re about to make.
They know where things tend to break.
They can help you avoid the long, quiet detours.

Hiring a pro can be the right call too — especially when time matters, when the site needs to attract the right people and guide them to act, or when you’d rather focus on the work only you can do.

The point isn’t that one path is better than the other.
It’s that each path comes with costs — of time, money, clarity, and risk.

Go in with your eyes open. Know the trade-offs. Pick the path that fits where you are right now, not where you think you’re supposed to be.

Alright — now go choose.