The time has come for your business to have its own website. So, what do you do? There are two options: building it yourself or paying an agency to create it. Each approach has its pluses and minuses and which route you go down depends on a number of factors so let’s look at each in turn starting with the free website building services.
The primary appeal of building a site yourself it that it won’t cost you anything. Sites such as Wix, Squarespace and WordPress have thousands of free templates and there is no reason why you couldn’t have your website up and running in a day without spending a penny. That said, the site will be basic so if you want a more ambitious site expect at least a week or two’s further work depending on how steep your learning curve is and what you want the site to do. You will also have to write all the content.
Wix and Squarespace are suited to people with no background in web design whereas WordPress is more versatile and comprehensive but takes longer to learn.
Building a website yourself will involve a good deal of trial and error, and this can be turned to your advantage as you will be able to experiment with different looks, fonts, levels of site complexity and layouts without incurring extra expense.
You will also be learning valuable skills by doing the site yourself. In addition, when you want to make changes to the site you can do them yourself, without incurring cost or delay.
If you plan to go it alone it is important to consider the opportunity cost of your time, that is to say, what opportunities to make money are you passing up by doing the site yourself? It is often the case that any task, especially an unfamiliar one, takes longer than expected.
Say you are a mechanic with rudimentary computer skills and modest design ability, how much time away from fixing cars and invoicing customers are you going to have to take to learn the skills you need to set up the site and, almost as importantly, to make sure it continues to work correctly and does well in search results.
Unless you are a design whizz, it is unlikely a DIY site will look as good as one developed by professional website builders. Given how important first impressions are, the free route could turn out to be a false economy. And while the templates on the aforementioned sites will be enough for many, those looking for more customisation may find them limited. In addition, a more bespoke approach is likely to require skills such as coding or using third-party tools, which may be a bit advanced for some people.
You will also have to factor in testing the site on different platforms, devices and browsers and sorting out any glitches in how the site loads on them. You will also have to stay on top of backups, security checks and general upkeep. Getting these tasks wrong or neglecting them can lead to site outages or poor load times, technical problems that people without specialised skills may struggle to get to the bottom of.
It is unlikely the DIYer will be able to come up with a website that looks as good as a professionally designed one. You will want strong images, impactful graphic design, easy navigation and sparkling copy that accurately reflects your brand. This is a big ask of someone who has never built a website before.
As well as creating the website, the agency will be able to ensure it functions well. For example, your site will need accelerated mobile pages (AMP), which ensure fast loading and correct display on mobiles by using a specific, simplified HTML framework.
An agency will also have search engine optimisation (SEO) skills to help you get your site on to that all-important first page of Google results. This will include keyword research, meta descriptions (this is the text displayed beneath the URL in search results, consisting of a company name or description of its products in larger coloured type with a sentence that provides an overview of the site’s content).
In addition, it will have software that tracks your site’s performance enabling you to be able to assess how well modifications are working and if you are reaching your target market, and what parts of the site are engaging the public.
The cons – or con, perhaps – of the agency approach essentially come down to cost. A basic site created by an agency will be in the low hundreds of pounds. For this you would get a five to ten page site with some standard functions that won’t include taking payments. This may not be much different from one you could knock up yourself.
If you want an e-commerce site you are looking at £3,000 to £7,000. For this you will get the ability to accept payments, inventory management and product pages.
A site for a significantly sized business will be about £10,000. This could offer services such as multilingual support, API integration (APIs are software that connects different systems to share information and perform tasks, for example, Google Maps’ API will enable you to put Maps on your site) and customer portals (areas of the site that allow customers to check up on orders, communicate with bots and support staff, and do things like amend orders or shipping addresses).
Crucially, professional developers will understand the technicalities that really push a site up the search rankings. They will also be able to set up sites that work equally well on desktop and mobile.
Your website will need a provider to host it. Wix’s most basic service is £9 a month, Squarespace starts at £15 a month for a personal site, and of course there are other providers. Designing a site is free on WordPress but you will need to pay a hosting provider – companies such as Bluehost or SiteGround are about £5 to £20 a month (prices as of November 2025).
Whichever route you go down for creating your website you are likely to need some financial and tax advisory help with your business. Finsbury Robinson is a full-service tax, accountancy and business advisory firm, and our friendly and highly experienced team is available on 020 8858 4303 or via email at info@finsburyrobinson.co.uk.
