When it comes to your website, should you DIY or hire a professional? In this episode of Website Success, Chrissy Rey thoughtfully examines the pros and cons of both paths, considering factors like time availability, skill level, and budget constraints. She offers practical advice on assessing your situation, and the value of professional expertise. She also explores hybrid approaches that combine DIY with professional guidance. This episode is an essential listen for business owners grappling with the digital aspects of their business, providing clear guidance to help them make an informed decision about managing their online presence.
Listen to the Episode
Show Notes
Chrissy Rey explores a decision many business owners face: whether to DIY their website or hire a professional. This episode is perfect for business owners juggling the demands of running their business with establishing an online presence.
Timestamps
- [00:00:00] Introduction to the Episode
- [00:00:35] The Importance of Budgeting for Your Website
- [00:01:19] Understanding the Concept of Owned Media
- [00:01:43] Assessing Your Current Situation for DIY vs Professional Help
- [00:02:05] Evaluating Time Availability for DIY
- [00:03:26] The Learning Curve and Time Investment in DIY
- [00:04:05] Pros and Cons of DIY
- [00:05:00] Benefits of Hiring a Professional
- [00:06:21] The Value of Professional Expertise
- [00:06:44] Considering a Hybrid Approach
- [00:08:05] Decision-Making Process: Assessing Skills, Time, and Budget
- [00:08:22] Closing Thoughts on Website Importance
Key Takeaways
- The necessity of investing time and/or money for a professional-looking website.
- Evaluating personal capabilities, time, and resources in the context of DIY vs professional help.
- Pros and cons of DIY, including cost-effectiveness and control, versus time consumption and learning curve.
- The advantages of hiring a professional, especially for complex website features.
- Exploring middle ground options like guided courses or professional coaching.
- Importance of balancing skills, time, and budget against the website’s needs.
Resources Mentioned
Transcript
Hello and welcome back to Website Success! I’m Chrissy Rey, and today we’re tackling a big question many of us face: when should you DIY your website, and when is it time to call in a professional? This episode is perfect for all you business owners who are balancing getting your business online with the day-to-day demands of running your business.
Before we dive into the pros and cons of DIY versus hiring a professional, I want to talk about your budget. You need to spend time and/or money to create a professional-looking website that attracts your target and converts your audience. I’m not going to tell you exactly how much you need to spend. That’s up to you. But you do need to plan to spend something because, without a doubt, you absolutely positively need a website. Websites give your business credibility, and they are a critical piece of your marketing strategy. Your website is owned media, so unlike social media, you have total control over it. In fact, you should use your social media to drive your audience to owned media like your website and email list because if those social media platforms suddenly went away, you could still reach your target audience. So keep all dethat in mind as we go through this discussion.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s talk about your current situation. Do you have time to DIY? If you’re already stretched thin, it’s probably not a great idea to add one more thing to your already full plate. But let’s say you do have some extra time. Great! Creating and maintaining a website requires some very specialized skills and knowledge. Do you already know how to:
- Register a domain name
- Set up web hosting and your website builder
- Create a professional-looking design that will appeal to your target audience
- Craft compelling content that will convert your target audience into customers
- Add the code to get your design and content onto the website
- Configure the DNS, SSL, CDN, and a bunch of other acronyms
- Integrate your CRM with the website
- Optimize your website for search engines
- Audit and optimize your website’s performance
If not, you’ll need to take the time to learn how to do all of those things if you want to DIY.
And all of those skills are for just a very basic website. You need to learn even more if you want to add e-commerce, online courses, or more advanced features to your website. How long will it take for you to learn all of those skills, and even more importantly, do you even want to take the time to learn them?
Now, let’s look at the pros and cons of DIY. On the plus side, DIY can cost less, and you’ll have complete control over the finished product. If you love a challenge and have the time, DIY can be a rewarding option. However, if you don’t already have the skills and knowledge to DIY, it can be pretty time-consuming. I’ve been building websites for 28 years at this point, and if I have all of the content and branding ready to go, I can set up a basic website in about an hour. But I know all the steps involved and have done them hundreds of times. It could take days or even weeks for someone who doesn’t know what to do to achieve the same thing. And then, after you spend all of that time creating a website, will it even look professional? It might, but if it doesn’t, that will reflect poorly on your brand.
Now, what about hiring a professional? First of all, hiring a professional can save you a lot of time. This is true about many aspects of your business. I generally try to stay in my zone of genius and hire experts to take care of the rest. I don’t know the first thing about US tax codes, and I don’t really have the time or desire to learn about them, so I hired an accountant to worry about them for me. I also don’t know much about privacy laws, so I use a service with an expert attorney to create those for me. If you hire the right pro, they should know exactly what to do and how to do it, and they should be able to do it more efficiently than you can on your own. Your time is valuable, and time spent working on a website is time you can’t spend doing things that bring money into your business. In other words, despite the cost of hiring a professional, they could end up saving you money.
Another thing to consider is the expert knowledge a professional can bring to the table. This is especially important if you want to add complex features like online stores, membership areas, or custom functionality.
Plus, the work a professional produces should look, well, professional.
So, you’re probably thinking, “Well, I guess I should just suck it up and hire a professional to do everything for me.” Maybe not. There might be a middle ground, or two, to consider. One possible option is to take a course that walks you through the process of creating a professional-looking website. That way you’ll have an expert telling you exactly what to do and how to do it. Plus you’ll learn some of the skills you’ll need to maintain the website after you build it. Another possible option is to hire a professional to coach you through building the site. They can help with the really hard stuff, and then walk you through some of the less-technical tasks. I’ve done both of these options with my own clients, and the end up spending less money than if they would have hired me outright, but they end up with a professional-looking website that they know how to manage themselves. And then some of the folks who I’ve done this with end up hiring me to take their website to the next level.
So, how do you decide? Assess your skills, time, budget and what your website needs to do. Weigh the time and stress against the cost of hiring out. In the end, the choice depends on your specific situation. Whichever path you choose, remember that your website is a dynamic part of your business. It needs care and attention, whether from you or a professional. If you have any questions or need guidance, reach out to us at Website Success Academy. Don’t forget to join our Facebook group for more tips and community support. Until next time, keep striving for success in your online journey!