Hiring Web Developers vs. DIY Web Design: The Pros and Cons

Hiring a web developer can be a huge investment for corporations and self-employed individuals alike.

But is it really worth the investment?

Between user-friendly web building platforms and tutorials for building your own website being readily available online, many people think that they can “DIY” their own website.

No matter your comfort online, you are always taking a risk trying to build your own website instead of hiring a professional. You could make one mistake towards the end of development and end up having to redo your entire website.

The functionality of your website could end up being poor as well due to “amateur” work.

Creating a website is a huge step. So you want to make sure you make the right decision when building your site and not wasting a lot of time or effort. Take a look at these pros and cons of hiring web developers instead of creating a website on your own.

Pros to Hiring Web Developers

Site Hosting Provided

One of the biggest benefits when you hire someone to build a website is that they provide a web hosting option. This gives you the opportunity to register a domain name if you haven’t purchased one already. Even if you have already purchased a domain, you can usually move that domain to another hosting site fairly easily.

Make or Request Changes Easily

You usually have two options when you pay someone to build a website. Per your contract, they will usually offer a certain amount of change requests to your website over a period of time, or they will give you access to your website to make the changes you need when you need to.

When the web developers give you access, it is usually very easy to make the changes you need. Keep in mind though, that if you hired a web developer, it may be in your best interest to just let them make the changes.

Social Implementation

You can have your web developer add social integration to your website so that you can both keep track of your social pages as well as make your platforms easily accessible to visitors to your website.

These social integration tools will allow you to track the visitors to your social pages as well as track how they came to your social page.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

Having your website be mobile friendly is essential to creating a modern optimized website. Not only that, there is so much more to creating a website that is mobile-friendly than just making sure it looks good on a smartphone.

Making sure you have a professional to work with you to create a mobile-friendly website can prove to be an asset when creating your website.

Cons to Hiring A Web Developer

Cost

Considering you are having your website essentially be built from scratch according to your own specifications, you can expect that to be quite an investment. You can expect to pay upwards of $3,000 for a professional web developer.

Pricing starts at around $500, which is still a lot of money when you compare only having to spend around $40 for a WordPress theme if you want to build a website on your own.

Timeline to Build

Depending on who builds your website – an individual contractor or an agency – your timeline will vary.

If you have a larger website with multiple pages and a lot of customizations, then your website will absolutely take long. But one of the bigger factors is if you hire a developer that has multiple clients and deadlines, or is just doing web development as a side job, then you may not be considered a priority.

This can lengthen your timeline drastically.

Communication and Satisfaction

Similar to the issue of an extended timeline when working with a developer, you may risk a lack of communication and overall satisfaction with your end product. Just like working with a graphic designer, copywriter or any other individual you are hiring for a service, you may not get exactly what you are looking for.

Considering a website is a large investment, it is essential to try and maintain a constant stream of communication with your developer to ensure all your needs are being met. While this is essential, depending on both your workload and your web developer’s workload, this can alter your desired timeline.

Necessity of Customization

Do you need a large website to be built? Does your website require a lot of custom features or tools that you are unfamiliar with? Or do you just want a simple website that your clients can reference for information about you and how to contact you?

These questions could prove the final reason you may or may not need to hire a web developer. Web developers are an asset and definitely worth the investment when creating a large website with many custom features that you couldn’t create on your own. If you simply need a small one-pager for your clients to reference, then you may want to consider creating a website on your own.

Final Thoughts

There is a ton of guides and tutorials online to walk you step-by-step on how to build your own website. In fact, by the time you finish the tutorials, you may feel like an old pro in web design. But keep in mind that watching something and doing something well is very different.

Keep these pros and cons in mind when deciding the best option for your own website and hiring web developers.

If you need something small and simple, maybe consider a user-friendly website builder. If you have a large website that needs to be built with a lot of extra features specific to your business, then you should at least talk to a few professionals to get some quotes.

At Databerry, we can walk you through all your web design needs easily and efficiently. We take pride in maintaining a constant stream of communication and believe in total transparency when it comes to digital marketing services.

If you are ready for a quote on your own website, contact us today.