WordPress: Hire A Pro Or Do It Yourself?

I am a frugal person. If there is a deal to be found I will sniff it out and make it happen. If there is a way to do something myself rather than pay someone else, I will take the extra time (and sometimes the headache) and figure it out in order to save money. The ever-expanding library of online resources has helped me save money by doing my own auto repairs, computer upgrades, and much more. Of course, I have also used it to continually teach myself web design and development for the past 15 years.

Because of my personal understanding of a desire to save money, I have at times helped potential clients install and set up their own WordPress websites when their budget did not allow for the hiring of a professional. While this means less paid business for me, in the end I am helping someone out who couldn’t afford to pay me anyway. If I can help save someone a headache or two by giving them a small amount of my time, pointing them in the right direction and answering a few questions, I will do it.

Unfortunately, there are usually problems that occur when someone with little or no experience begins attempting to set up their own WordPress website, and I have had countless inquiries from the frustrated and confused webmaster wannabes, buried under the weight of something they never really completely understood in the first place. While WordPress is a relatively simple way to set up a basic blog or uncomplicated website, it can quickly become a nightmare for the weekend warrior website builder.

In this post I want to point out a few of the pros and cons of hiring a professional to set up your WordPress website versus doing it yourself. If you are considering either, hopefully this will help you know what to think about and weigh in your decision making process.

DIY Will Save You Money

If you are on a tight budget, setting up your own WordPress website is a good way to go. You will have to secure a domain name ($5-$20 per year) and a hosting account ($75+ per year) that accommodates WordPress, but those will be your only expenses, unless you decide to purchase a premium WordPress theme ($20-$100 one-time fee). All in all, you could have a new WordPress website running on your own domain for only $100-$300! What a deal!

Pro Will Save You Time (Frustration, Confusion and Quite Possibly Your Sanity)

If you have never set up a website before, or if you have little understanding of what a web host or domain name is, taking on the installation and setup of your WordPress website could be as foolish as representing yourself in a court of law. There are instructions available to guide you through the process, but many of them assume some type of basic knowledge. A qualified professional knows the best places to go to get your domain name, your hosting account and everything else you will need. They will have a complete understanding of the process and what is required. They will know the right questions to ask before getting started to accommodate your specific website needs and desires, as opposed to a cookie-cutter approach. Typically a professional will have a WordPress installation set up within a fraction of the time it will take the uninitiated to do it themselves. As they say, time is money, so how much money is a do-it-yourselfer actually saving if they take weeks or months to do what a pro can do in an hour or two?

DIY Will Give You Complete Control

Doing it yourself will give you final decisions on every move you make. You decide your domain registrar, web host, WordPress theme and how much you are going to spend on each. You dictate the speed with which each element is completed, and you steer the entire project. No waiting on proposals, contracts, recommendations, mockups and so on from your hired professional. Doing it yourself frees you to push ahead as quickly or as slowly as you want on the project. For micro-managers or just fiercely independent and self-reliant people, doing it yourself relieves the stress of depending on someone else to meet your deadlines.

A Good Pro Will Help You Make Great Decisions

An experienced and quality professional will not take the reins out of your hands, but will instead guide you through the process with sound advice and recommendations. Having walked down this path many times before, they will know what you should be looking out for, best ways to handle your specific requirements, and provide solutions when sometimes you would otherwise not even know one was needed. One of the primary benefits of hiring a professional is that they will anticipate and supply everything that you need and want in order to make your website exceed your expectations.

DIY Means You Pick Your Design Style

There are literally thousands of free and premium WordPress themes available. Many of them are organized into searchable directories, so this makes it easy for the do-it-yourselfer to find the best available theme that fits your functionality and overall style. A place like ThemeForest, which has over 600 premium WordPress themes for anywhere from $9 to $47 can give you all kinds of options to choose from. There are also listings of top free themes to be found by using search engines. Because of the many available themes the do-it-yourselfer should be able to find something that meets or at least comes close to their desired design.

Pro Will Give You A One-Of-A-Kind Custom Theme

Of course, there are many different routes you can take with your project, from hiring a pro to install a theme you’ve already found and love, to hiring a pro to design a completely custom theme that looks and functions exactly the way you want it to. Many do-it-yourselfers don’t realize the many aspects involved in the website they want, and I have fielded quite a few questions from people wondering why the theme they chose and set up themselves doesn’t function the way they want it to. One of the biggest benefits of hiring someone to build your WordPress website to look and operate exactly the way you want is that it will do just that. The likelihood of finding a cookie-cutter theme that has every single option you want is slim to none, but a professional can create a unique design for your site that speaks to visitors in the best possible representation of your business, brand and/or personality. Although there are thousands of themes available, using one means you wil almost definitely have a website that looks exactly like or very close to someone else’s who is using the same theme. For some, this may not be a concern, but for most it is important to separate yourself from the pack and present a website that stands out in the crowd.

Which Will You Choose?

Obviously, I am a bit biased, since I design and build custom WordPress themes for a living, but I have also helped people on several different levels and budgets to take the path of their choice. First and foremost I try to help those who come to me with suggestions to accomplish the most they possibly can within their budget. This has ranged from providing some direction and resources to a complete do-it-yourselfer, to taking on the small project of helping someone get a chosen premium theme installed and set up, to completely custom WordPress websites from start to finish (the bulk of my clients.) Unfortunately I have also received numerous questions and problem-solving projects from those do-it-yourselfers who have realized they are in over their heads, which is why I have written this quick look at what people may not know they are getting themselves into.

Ultimately you have to make the decision that will best fit your budget. I realize many small businesses and individuals don’t have the funds to pay thousands of dollars for a custom website, so they see WordPress as an “easy” way to get their site up and running. While this is not a bad route to take, it is not always as easy as some may think, and I hope this has helped those who are considering it to see some of the issues they may run into.

If you have any questions about the process, or insights into other pros and cons of DIY vs. Pro, please feel free to share them in the comments below. If you are interested in exploring the possibility of hiring me to assist you on any level with your WordPress (or other) website, please email me. There are no stupid questions, I always do the best I can within my client’s budget, and even if you don’t have the means to hire me, I am always willing to help if I can.

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