How to Decide Whether to Have a Custom Website or Build Your Own

Michael Weitzman • April 5, 2019

You know your business needs a website. Perhaps you already have one. If you don’t, rest assured that creating an online presence is as simple as registering a domain name, finding a reliable partner to host your site, and deciding whether to have a custom website or build your own.

Of course, there are a number of ways business owners can create a website – code it on your own from the bottom up, build your own based on a template from one of the thousands of DIY platforms on the market, or hire a professional web developer.

 To help you choose the best one for your business, we will break down the options in order of highest to lowest level of technical know-how required.

  1. Let’s start with the option of building your own site. Developing your own custom site from the ground up requires some knowledge of a number of different technologies – HTML5, CSS, SQL, PHP, etc. Alternately, if you aren’t a web developer but you do have limited skills with HTML and CSS, you can still build your own site using an application like Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression, or with a content management system like WordPress or Joomla!. The advantage of building your own site is that it is a relatively affordable option, and your options are limited only by the amount of time and expertise you have to develop your site.

  2. For those with some technical confidence but no interest in programming, you can still choose to build your own site by purchasing a web-based application that allows you to select a template.  This references the thousands of automated website builders on the market that allow you to point, click, drag, and drop until you have something that looks relatively professional. You might even feel proud of yourself.

    After selecting a template (one that thousands of other businesses also selected), you can add your own text and images, often in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) manner similar to a word processing program.

    These types of programs are usually quite affordable and easy to administer, although they allow only a certain amount of design flexibility, and can look cookie-cutter and offer little in the way of results when it comes to attracting new customers.

  3. The final option is to develop a vision for your custom site with an experienced web designer, and leave the site creation, and sometimes even the maintenance, to a professional. This option will have more up-front cost than the other two and it will cost you more each year as well. However this cost can easily be justified by the increase in results a professionally designed web presence brings in. 

    A professionally designed website can quickly deliver exactly the site you want to represent your business, with very few limitations. An experienced site designer can offer suggestions to intrigue users and provide the return on investment that you seek.

If you’re still weighing what option is best for your business, search the web, note the differences in the quality of websites, and decide which types of websites you prefer and how you want to represent your business. Any of the approaches we outlined can create a successful site for you. 

Once you do have a website, you can use a tool like the free Website Grader that enables you to measure your site’s SEO, website traffic, the blogosphere, and social media and ensure you are getting a return on your investment. However you choose to invest, you want to make sure you are receiving a return on that investment. Many of World Source Tech's programs offer guaranteed leads for example - something most DIY and even other developers can't offer. 

The decision about how to create your site often boils down to the technical skills you possess, the amount of time you want to devote, and your budget. If you are considering a custom site, contact us for a consultation about the website and custom marketing plans we offer. We can get you quickly started with a results-driven site that you will be proud to call your own.


By WST Support Team March 20, 2026
Marketing Center: Your Complete Command Center for Campaign Performance The Marketing Center inside Central is where strategy, performance, and collaboration come together. Designed for both clarity and depth, it gives you full visibility into your marketing efforts—while making it easy to analyze data, collaborate with your team, and make smarter decisions faster. Whether you’re reviewing performance at a high level or diving into granular details, everything you need lives here. A Unified Overview of Your Marketing Performance When you enter the Marketing Center, you’ll land on the Overview page . This is your starting point—a clean, consolidated snapshot of all campaigns managed by World Source Tech. Here, you can quickly: Understand overall performance across accounts Identify trends and momentum Get a sense of where things stand without digging into reports It’s designed to answer one simple question instantly: “How are we doing?” Campaign-Level Visibility and Control From the Overview, the Campaigns tab allows you to go deeper. You’ll see performance broken down by individual campaigns, giving you a clearer picture of: Which campaigns are driving results Where optimizations may be needed How performance changes over time You can also adjust date ranges on the fly—whether you want to analyze last month, compare time periods, or review a custom range. This flexibility allows you to move beyond static reporting and into real analysis. Audience & Targeting Insights: Understanding the “Why” Data becomes significantly more valuable when you understand the story behind it. Inside Audience & Targeting Insights , you can explore: Demographics – Who your audience is Locations – Where your engagement is coming from Devices – How users are interacting with your campaigns Keywords – What people are searching for and responding to These insights help you move from surface-level metrics to strategic understanding. Even more powerful—this data can be viewed at multiple levels: Account-wide Campaign Ad group Individual ad This allows you to pinpoint exactly where performance is being driven—or lost. Ad-Level Insights and Real-Time Collaboration The Ads section gives you a detailed look at your creative performance. You can: View live previews of your ads Cycle through variations Review asset-level performance (such as headline effectiveness) But what truly sets this apart is built-in collaboration. You can highlight any part of an ad—like a headline or description—and leave a comment directly in context. Ask questions Suggest changes Tag your account team using “@” This eliminates long email threads and keeps communication exactly where it matters—next to the data and creative itself. Full Keyword Transparency Inside the Keywords tab , you’ll find complete visibility into: Active keywords driving traffic Negative keywords filtering out unwanted searches This ensures you understand not just what’s working—but also what’s being intentionally excluded to improve efficiency and performance. Revenue Tracking and ROI Insights The Revenue Tracker allows you to connect actual business outcomes to your campaigns. You can input revenue data tied to your marketing efforts, enabling: More accurate performance analysis Deeper insights into return on ad spend (ROAS) Better alignment between marketing activity and business results All inputs are flexible—so you can provide as much or as little data as you have available. Google Analytics Integration When connected, the Google Analytics section adds another layer of visibility. You’ll be able to view: User behavior Traffic patterns On-site engagement This helps bridge the gap between ad performance and what happens after the click. Smarter Reporting with Business Context Inside the Analysis tab , reporting becomes more intelligent. By adding Business Context —your goals, priorities, and key business details—you enable more meaningful and tailored performance insights. This ensures that analysis isn’t just data-driven—it’s business-driven . Your account manager will typically configure this, but it can be updated anytime to reflect evolving priorities. Research & Strategic Planning Tools The Research tab is designed to support campaign planning and expansion. You can generate insights into: Target audiences Psychographics Market dynamics Competitive landscape From there, key findings can be saved and organized for future use. This turns the Marketing Center into not just a reporting tool—but a strategy engine . Visual Planning with Boards The Boards feature provides a flexible, visual workspace for organizing ideas and strategy. You can: Map out campaign concepts Save research insights Upload and organize creative assets It’s a collaborative environment where strategy and execution come together. Competitive Intelligence The Ad Intelligence section gives you visibility into how competitors are advertising. This helps you: Identify trends in your industry Understand competitive positioning Discover new opportunities Access to this feature may vary based on your plan, but it’s a powerful addition for staying ahead. Built for Clarity, Speed, and Collaboration The Marketing Center was designed with one goal in mind: To give you complete clarity and control over your marketing performance—without complexity. It combines: Real-time data Deep insights Seamless collaboration Strategic planning tools All in one place. A Better Way to Manage Marketing With the Marketing Center, you’re no longer waiting for reports or piecing together information from multiple platforms. Everything is accessible, organized, and actionable—right when you need it. Clarity. Insight. Collaboration. This is the new standard for marketing performance.
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