The ads make it look easy. Pick a template, drag in a few photos, hit publish, and you’ve got a DIY website by dinner time.
If you’ve tried it, you’ll know it rarely goes that way. Not because you did anything wrong, but because a website is a lot more than a template. The hours add up, and most of them come out of time you’d normally spend on paying work or with your family.
First, credit where it’s due
Building your own website takes real effort, and plenty of business owners have done a solid job of it. Website builders have come a long way, and for some situations they’re exactly the right tool.
This isn’t about talking you out of DIY. It’s about seeing the whole job clearly, so you can decide with your eyes open.
Where the hours on a DIY website actually go
Here’s what a DIY website usually involves once you get past the first exciting afternoon.
Choosing a builder
There are a lot of website builders and platforms, all claiming to be the easiest. Comparing plans, reading reviews and working out which features cost extra can take longer than expected. And it’s a decision that matters, because moving to a different platform later often means starting again.
Picking a template, then wrestling it
Templates look great in the preview, filled with professional photos and perfectly sized text. Then you add your own content and things shift. Headings wrap awkwardly, sections don’t fit your services, and the colours don’t quite match your logo.
Getting a template to look like your business, rather than the demo, is often where the most time disappears.
Writing the words
This is the part most people underestimate. Every page needs clear, friendly copy that explains what you do, who you help and how to get in touch. Writing about your own business is surprisingly hard, and it’s easy to stare at a blank page for a long time.
Finding photos
You’ll need images for every page. That means either taking your own, which involves good light, tidy spaces and a few attempts, or searching stock libraries for something that doesn’t look like every other business in town.
Making it work on phones
Most people will visit your site on their phone. A page that looks fine on your laptop can turn into a jumble on a small screen. Checking and fixing each page on mobile is a job in itself.
SEO basics
For Google to understand your site, each page needs proper titles, descriptions, headings and sensible page addresses. Images need descriptions too. None of it is difficult on its own, but learning what to do and doing it on every page takes time.
Domain and email
Then there’s connecting your domain, setting up business email and getting the settings right so your emails actually arrive. If something goes wrong here, it can stop your enquiries without you noticing.
Updates and upkeep
A website is never quite finished. Prices change, services change, staff come and go. There are platform updates, plugin updates, renewals and the occasional thing that breaks. This is ongoing time, not a one-off.
Work out your own number
We’re not going to tell you how many hours a DIY website takes, because it depends on you, your business and how comfortable you are with technology. But you can estimate it yourself.
Grab a piece of paper and try this:
- Go through each step above and jot down a realistic number of hours for you. Be honest, and remember the evenings spent fiddling.
- Add them up.
- Multiply that total by what an hour of your time is worth, whether that’s your hourly rate, your average job value or simply what you’d pay someone to cover you.
- Add a few hours a month for ongoing updates and changes.
For a lot of people, that number is a bit of an eye-opener. The website builder subscription might be cheap, but the time rarely is.
When DIY is the right call
DIY genuinely makes sense in some situations:
- It’s a hobby or personal project
- You’re testing a very early side idea and just need something online
- You enjoy the process and have the time to spare
- Your website isn’t a big part of how customers find you
If that’s you, go for it. When the business grows and the website starts to matter more, you can always revisit it.
What it looks like when someone else does it
When you work with Inversit, the hours shift from you to us. Here’s how it goes:
- A free consultation to understand your business and what you need
- A clear written quote before any work starts
- We design and build the site
- Launch, once you’ve approved it
A standard build typically takes 21 business days once we have your content. Custom WordPress websites start from $1,595 + GST, and every site is mobile-responsive, with on-page SEO foundations, security and an SSL certificate. You own the website, and there are no lock-in contracts.
We’re a small team in Lismore: Carrie designs and builds the websites, Bella handles photography and graphic design, and Luke looks after IT. That means the photos, the hosting and the email can all be sorted by the same people. You can see the kind of work we do on our recent projects page, and read more about our custom web design.
Your part is the bit only you can do: telling us about your business and your customers, and signing off on the design. The hours of fiddling are ours.
If you’d like to understand the costs in more detail, our website pricing guide breaks it down.
Want to compare your options?
If you’ve got a DIY site already, we can do a free website health check and tell you, in plain English, what’s working and what we’d improve. If you’re starting fresh, book a free consultation. Call us on 02 6610 9202, Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm.
