There are a plethora of free website builders out there, so why would you need to pay someone to do this for you? Some of the most popular choices are Wordpress, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Shopify and GoDaddy's website builder. These all have their pros and cons, and to be transparent, none of these are really a bad choice. So if there's a free option, or a low cost option out there, why pay someone your hard earned money to build a website for you? Well consider some of pros and cons below.

Most of the popular website builders I mentioned above offer a free option. Sounds great, until you start looking at the details. For instance, the free option usually doesn't allow for your own domain. Nothing will scream "no-thought-startup-business" more than having to list your website address as: yourcompanyname.SomeFreeWebsiteBuilder.com - It's tacky.

Almost all of the free options will serve advertisements on your website. To offset the cost of you not paying them, they have agreements to have advertisements automatically appear on your website. Don't get excited, you don't get paid out for them. In some cases, you'll have ads with your competitor in them. Can you place a value on that?

Other downsides to the free model is the limited features. They all have tiered plans. You'll likely end up having to upgrade to one of their $5 or $10 or so plans.
The upside is, that it IS FREE. If you're literally just starting up that lemonade stand, free is for me until life starts turning those lemons into profitable lemonade. In my humble opinion, Wordpress offers the best free option. Their upgrades are fairly low-cost and they have an incredible support group since it's so widely used.

I have this working theory that website design is just like an oil change, or any other car maintenance for that matter. I am not mechanically inclined by any means. At best, I'm able to change the brakes on my car without any help now. (So if you need your brakes done, I work on the cheap). Oil changes however, scare me. I've yet to attempt an oil change on my own. Could I do it? Very likely. I know how to put my Jeep on the lift or on jack stands and I know where the oil plug is. It doesn't look complicated, but why do those auto shops get $90 for a synthetic oil change when I can buy the oil and filter for $30? Because they do it right and they do it quick. If I was brave enough to tackle the oil change on my own, it would likely be an all afternoon project and involve a lot of beer drinking afterward. (Actually, that's not so bad) There's a possibility I will also forget a step, like forgetting to plug the oil drain back and then the oil leaks everywhere. For me, paying $80 or $90 is well worth it every 3 to 4 months for that peace of mind and having someone else do it, which also saves me a lot of time.

Can you build your own website without the aid of a professional? It's very likely. Many have done this. I've seen some great looking websites that have excellent styling, strong call to actions and good design all made by a small business owner like yourself. So why have a professional do this?

A professional web designer will know what he's doing. He's not looking at an instruction sheet or waiting on the phone with the web hosting company's tech support for an hour (and if he is, you're not the one waiting!). A pro knows what great website design looks like, and is familiar with the latest web design trends and standards. He should also be familiar with conversions. Really, does it matter if you have an eye-catching website if no one ever becomes a customer? And if your web designer is from Breeze Digital Media, they'll know website personalization like the back of their hand, or keyboard.

For a simple five page website, I spend on average 4-6 hours on that website. There's a lot that goes into building a great, converting website. Do you have the time and the experience to handle that? If you do, hats off to you! If you don't, you're probably in the same boat as the greater majority of business owners who just don't have the time, the skill or both to handle a great website build.

The good news to this? All of our websites come with an easy to use Content Management System, or CMS. The CMS is where you, the business owner, can make quick and easy updates to your website whenever you need. We'll do the initial heavy lifting and then you just ride the wave. We also offer plans to make regular updates to your website, however many find our CMS is easy to use and saves them time during their update process. 

Head over to our contact us page, or our free consultation page where you can request a free mockup to be delivered where you can then decide to move forward with hiring us or not. If you choose not to hire us, we forgive you for your bad decisions, but we'll still shake hands and be friends. If you decide to move forward, you'll be among the many success stories our customers have testified to already.

What do you think? Do you think it's better to hire a professional designer or try out the DIY versions yourself? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.