Wix, or Get It Done for You?

Wix and Squarespace ads make it look like twenty minutes and you're done. For some people it genuinely is. For a lot of tradies, the site gets most of the way there and stays unfinished.

Site builders are good software. This is about which job you're actually signing up for.

What the ads leave out

Picking a template is the easy part, and it's the only part the ad shows you. The work is everything after:

• Writing the words. What you do, where you do it, why someone should ring you.
• Getting the photos off your phone, cropping them so they don't look stretched, and shrinking them so the site isn't slow.
• Making it look right on a phone as well as a laptop. The editor shows you the laptop version.
• Connecting your own web address rather than the free one with the platform's name in it.
• Setting up the form so enquiries actually reach your inbox, and testing it.
• Filling in the bits Google reads: page titles, descriptions, your suburbs, your trade.

None of it is hard. All of it takes time, and it's time after work, when you'd rather not be looking at a screen.

Where DIY sites usually come unstuck

The words. Plenty of half-finished sites still have the template's filler text on them. Writing about yourself is much harder than it looks.

Phones. The site looks great on the laptop you built it on. On a phone the logo is huge, the buttons are tiny and your number isn't tappable. That's where a lot of people will be looking at it.

Speed. Photos straight off a phone are enormous. Drop a few in and the site crawls, especially out of range of good reception. People leave.

Google. A site builder gives you a site. It doesn't tell Google what you do or where you work, and it won't sort your Google Business Profile, which plays a big part in whether you show up for "electrician near me".

It never gets updated. Six months later, the number is old and the work shown is older, because remembering how the editor works is its own job.

When DIY is genuinely the right call

Do it yourself if you enjoy tinkering, you have the time, and you'd rather spend nothing but hours. Do it yourself if you just need one page with your number on it while you get going. There's no shame in a simple page that's honest about what it is. It beats no website.

What "done for you" should mean

Not every done-for-you deal is the same. A good one should mean you send a logo and some photos, and someone else does all of the above: writes it, builds it, puts it online, sets it up to be found, tests the form, and keeps an eye on it afterwards.

What it shouldn't mean is a $3,000 invoice before you've seen anything, a discovery call, an account manager, or an hourly rate every time your hours change.

Ours is $0 upfront and $49 a month, usually live within 7 days of getting your photos and details, with a change a month included. Your job is mostly sending your logo, your details and a few photos off your phone.

The honest comparison

• Cost: DIY is a cheaper monthly plan plus your weekends. Done-for-you is a higher monthly price and none of your time.
• Speed: DIY takes however long it takes. Ours is usually live within 7 days of getting your photos and details.
• Quality: DIY is as good as the hours you put in. Done-for-you should look like a real business from day one.
• Google: DIY leaves it to you. Done-for-you should include the setup and your Business Profile.
• Changes: DIY means relearning the editor. Done-for-you should mean sending a message.
• Ownership: Either way, check the web address is registered in your name.

The way to decide

Put an hourly rate on your own time: the one you charge customers. Now guess how many hours a site will take you: ten is optimistic once you count the rewrites. Multiply.

If that number is less than a year of paying someone, and you'll genuinely enjoy the work, build it yourself. If it isn't, or if the half-built site has been sitting there for three months, that's your answer. Your hours are probably better spent on the tools.