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

Michael Weitzman • Apr 05, 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.


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