Do It Yourself or Hire a Web Desiger

Prerequisites: You’re ready to start (re)designing your tour or activity website but you’re not sure whether to do it yourself or hire a web designer.  This daily action should help you decide whether or not you can design the site yourself or start looking for a web designer to help you.

Estimated Time for Completion: 15 min reading time

Details: I realize I am dating myself when I say that there was a time when building your own website meant having to code in HTML, using FTP, and programming CGI scripts.  Fortunately for you, there are many tools available now that allow you to design and build your website without the need to write a single line of code.  But just because the tools are there, it’s not always a good idea to do things on your own.  So how do you determine if you should do it yourself or hire a web designer to help you build out your tour and activity website?  Here are some questions to ask yourself before you make your decision:

1. What is your time worth? The biggest reason why small operators build their own websites is because they believe that they can’t afford to contract someone to do it for them.  I strongly believe that if your website is treated as a priority marketing piece, it will be allocated the appropriate budget.  Before you consider outsourcing, however, define how much your time is actually worth and then determine how much it will cost you if you build your site.  A good starting budget would be about 50% of what it would cost you to do it yourself.
2. Do you have a design background? Have you designed print materials for yourself or others in the past? Do you have an understanding of basic design concepts, best practices, etc.  If the answer is no, then you will want to find someone who has a graphics background to help you.  How you look on-line is how your customers will judge your business.  If you have a poorly designed and unprofessional website, your customers will not take you seriously.  Remember, first impressions count, especially on-line.
3. Have you used the on-line tools before? If you have not used the on-line and off-line tools that are available for web design or content management, you may not want to risk learning them from scratch.  This is an important time cost question.  How much is your time is worth and how long is it going to take you to learn this new tool.  If it is going to cost you more in time then it will cost to hire someone else to do it, then you will want to consider contracting out.

Approach your website the same way you would approach your car maintenance, installing a new sink, or building an addition to your home.  If you’re okay with the project taking way longer then it should, costing you every weekend for a year, and looking like… well, you did it at home on the weekends, then go ahead and do it yourself.  If, however, you want a professional job with a slick professional result, then hire someone that knows what they are doing.

Outcome: You should be able to decide whether or not you want to design your website yourself or hire a web designer to help you (re)design your tour and activity website.

Photo Credit: Elsie Esq.