DIY vs Custom Build vs Prebuilt Sites: Which should I choose?

Let’s look at the different options people have for building a website.  They can follow the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) route, get a custom website, or get a prebuilt website from PrebuiltSites.com.

What are the differences between a DIY website, a custom-built website, and a prebuilt website?

I’ve been building websites since the mid-90’s. I’ve worked on a ton of websites – ones I’ve built from scratch, and ones that we’ve taken over that other people have done it themselves, had another company do it cheap. or had someone very expensively.

Over the years a pattern has emerged. This is what I’ve noticed.

Before, when people needed a website, there were two choices.

1. You could do it yourself – This goes all the way back to the mid-90’s, where we had things like GeoCities, or Frontpage, where you did it yourself, or you wrote hard HTML and CSS. Nowadays, with DIY, there are solutions like SquareSpace and WIX, and WordPress.com, and others.
2. Get a custom-built website by somebody else. – This is where Prebuilt Sites’ parent company, The BBS Agency. They do custom builds from the ground up for people or we rebuild sites others have built. .

Let’s take a look at these two solutions with a new THIRD option below.

#1 – DIY Solutions

With a DIY solution, you do it yourself and you’re responsible for it all.

The problem is most people aren’t a web designer or a developer, so most don’t know how to use those tools effectively. 

Unless you went to school, or you’ve watched a billion YouTube videos and are self-taught, most people don’t know:

• What effective website design is
• What a good layout is
• How to make sure things look great on a big desktop, on a tablet, on a mobile device
• They don’t understand the technical aspects of search engine optimization
• How to write things for SEO.
• How to design a good user experience 
• How design affects conversions and sales

So, people who try the DIY approach, they find several things.

• It takes a lot longer than they expect.
• When they’re done and launch their website, they feel their own efforts are underwhelming and disappointing.

It’s not as easy as you see in the commercials.

Most get an underwhelming and disappointing website that doesn’t necessarily work for them, and at some point they’re going to have to redo it.  

Typically companies who survive that initial startup phase, and have gone the DIY route at some point will eventually seek out a professional website developer to redo their site.

How do we know? It’s how most professional website agencies, like The BBS Agency, get new clients.  

Those who go the DIY route also quickly find out that when something breaks, or doesn’t work the way you want it to, you have to figure it out through a lot of trial and error, a lot of googling, a lot of YouTube videos, and lots of time working through the customer support to fix it.

#2 – Custom Built Websites

The custom build is where you hire somebody else to do it. People typically take one of two approaches to this:

• You can go cheap. – This is the “I hired the kid down the street to do it”, “I hired this fresh college graduate, this new freelancer”, or “I outsourced it for cheap online”. You don’t have to do the work, but you get what you pay for, and the results are often underwhelming and disappointing.
• You could hire a professional, and the end result is usually good, but it can cost many thousands of dollars. This option is often out of the reach of a start-up or new business.

Prebuilt Sites

These problems with the DIY and Custom Built website is why we created Prebuilt Sites.

We now give you an effective middle ground. It’s an industry-specific site that we’ve prebuilt for you.

It’s for startups, for new businesses, & entrapaneurs to get you on that solid foundation.

Your site is professionally designed.

It’s updated to match your branding and appeal to your target market.

We handle all the tech and the setup for running your business.

And after just a few days, we have this site prebuilt for you, and all you have to do is drop in your text, change any images you wanna change out, and it’s ready to go.

When it’s time to launch, we even submit your site to the search engines.

We let you spend your time concentrating on your business, and not the tech or design.

You get the perfect mix of a DIY and the mix of a professional custom-built website.