November 13, 2024 • 11 mins
In this episode, Chrissy Rey tackles common misconceptions about building your own website. She debunks four major myths and shares real success stories from her students who have successfully launched their own professional websites, even without technical expertise.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Welcome to Website Success.
I'm your host, Chrissy Rey, andtoday we are going to bust some myths
about building your own website.
Something I hear all the time fromclients, from students, "Chrissy.
I could never build my own website."
Well, because I help people do thatall the time, I'm here to tell you
that that is absolutely not true.
(00:30):
Every year I help dozens of studentslaunch their mostly DIY websites.
And I say mostly DIY because I wasthere to help them when they needed it.
And a lot of these students that I get,they call themselves tech challenged.
But when I help them and they follow theclear processes that I give them, they
(00:51):
use the right tools that I help them with,they can create beautiful websites that
are going to bring them new customers.
And today I'm going to share the truthbehind some of the common myths that
I hear from the students and from myclients about building their own website.
So let's start with the first myth, whichis probably the biggest one that I hear.
(01:11):
And that is that you need to betech savvy to build a website.
I hear this one all the time andthat's part of why I created my
Build Your Website in One Dayworkshop because people needed help.
They maybe weren't tech savvy,but they just needed a little
bit of guidance to get there.
And part of why it works is becausemodern website builders like WordPress
(01:34):
and web flow and Squarespace andWix, they're all designed for regular
people and you don't have to besuper tech savvy to use most of them.
You do have to be tech savvy toreally extend them and make them
do everything that you might want.
But to just use them and build awebsite that looks really nice,
you don't have to be tech savvy.
A lot of the website builders now havedrag and drop editors or something
(01:58):
similar, which means you really just needto drag or point and click and things
are going to go where you want them togo, and then you can easily edit them.
And there's no coding that's required.
So all you really need to focuson is your content and your design
choices, and the platform is goingto take care of all of the tech.
Now, with all of that in mind, if youare not tech savvy, I do recommend
(02:23):
getting advice from a pro about whichdirection you should take to get started.
And that's, again, that's part ofwhy I created my Build Your Website
in One Day course, because I'm hereto help teach my students and my
clients, what they need to know.
In some cases, if you're really nottech savvy, and you need to do some
more advanced stuff for your website,you might need to get someone that
(02:46):
is tech savvy to do some of the work.
It really is just going to dependon what you're trying to do.
So I do recommend reaching out to someonethat is tech savvy and get a little
bit of advice on which direction to go.
The second myth that I wantto bust is that it's going to
take months to build a website.
And that is just not true formost small business websites.
(03:07):
There are some websites thatcan take months to build.
And I've actually worked on acouple of websites that took
close to a year to build.
But those were really big e-commercewebsites that had complex interactions
or integrations with othersystems and most small business
websites don't need all of that.
A basic website for a smallbusiness is probably going to take
(03:30):
a few weeks to maybe a few months.
And it's going to take lesstime if you plan it properly.
I already mentioned my Build Your Websitein One Day workshop, and the reason
that we're able to build a website inone day, and we actually are able to
build a website in one day, is becausemy students that take that have already
planned everything out that they needbefore they start building the website.
(03:53):
They already know everything thatthey're going to add to the website,
all of the stuff that they need for it.
They've already got their brandingready to go, and they can just dive
right in and start building the website.
So again, you do need a plan.
You need to prepare for it.
You can kind of think of this as like,if you were making a really complex meal.
If you have all of your ingredientsmeasured and ready to go, the actual
(04:16):
cooking is going to go quickly andsmoothly, but if you have to run
back and forth to the store, you'vegot to go get your ingredients.
It's probably going to take forever.
Website building is very much like that.
You need to do the planning and theprep before you actually start building.
Now let's tackle myth number three,which is that DIY websites look
unprofessional, and this may havebeen true 10 or more years ago,
(04:40):
but it's really not true anymore.
A lot of website builders offerprofessionally designed templates that
you can customize to match your brand.
And these templates were created byexpert designers and they understand
user experience, mobile responsiveness,and modern web design standards.
So if you trust those designers andcustomize the templates without trying
(05:02):
to go totally overboard, you can makesomething that looks really professional.
One of my students from my Build YourWebsite in One Day course told me
that a colleague recently asked herfor a referral for her web designer.
The colleague loved my studentswebsite and wanted to hire the person
who did it to make one for her.
And they were completely shockedwhen she told them that she built it
(05:24):
herself using the template and my help.
The secret was that she tookthe time to plan her content.
She chose her brand colors and fonts.
And she got some professional lookingphotos before she started building.
Plus, she took my advice and didn'ttry to go totally overboard with
throwing everything she could on ourwebsite, which would have made it
(05:44):
look cluttered and unprofessional.
I can't tell you how many timesI've had students or clients take
every design element that theycan and add it to their website.
And then they come back to me and they'relike, "Uh, my website doesn't look
the way that it did when you built it.
Can you fix it?"
And usually it's just a matter of takingsome of the stuff off of the website.
So less is more.
(06:05):
Or less is often more, notalways, but less is often more
when it comes to websites.
So go back and listen to my episodeswith Eve Simon from a couple
of episodes ago for some greattips on designing your websites.
And that brings us to myth numberfour, which is that it's too
expensive to build a website.
And you may already know this.
It's not a myth to everybody, but DIY isusually the most budget friendly option.
(06:31):
Hiring a web designer mightcost thousands of dollars and
sometimes that's the right choice.
But building your own website is probablygoing to cost less than a thousand dollars
for the first year, and then probably evenless afterward, unless you do a redesign.
And that usually covers your domain name,the hosting, a good template, et cetera.
There might be some additional costs.
(06:52):
If you need specific features or premiumad-ons for things like e-commerce
courses, memberships and stuff like that.
But you can start small and addthose things as your business grows.
Just remember that yourwebsite is an investment that
helps you get more customers.
So even if you're putting a thousanddollars into it, even if you're
paying a professional to do it foryou, and you're putting more than a
(07:13):
thousand dollars into it, it shouldpay for itself pretty quickly.
And I do want to mention here that whilea DIY website is probably going to cost
less money, it's going to cost more time.
So you really need to think aboutwhere that balance is and whether
it's going to be more cost-effectivefor you to hire somebody to do it,
or if you're going to do it yourself.
Now does busting all of these mythsmean that building your own website
(07:37):
is completely without challenges?
No, absolutely not.
But the challenges are usually going tobe about creating your content, choosing
the right images, and figuring out thebest way to present your information.
And those are going to be the exact samechallenges that you would face even if
you hired somebody to build your website.
So, what do you need to actually builda successful website on your own?
(08:01):
I've got a list for you.
Number one, you want aclear plan for your website?
So knowing what pages you need and whatcontent is going to go on them, you need
all of that information, plus a bunchmore to really plan out your website.
Number two, you need your brand basics.
So you need a set of colors.
You need your fonts.
You need a logo.
(08:21):
And even a simple logo istotally fine to get started.
Number three, you also need tohave great content, which does
include photos and images that aregoing to work with your website.
And number four, you also need areliable website builder that's
going to match your needs.
And finally, number five, you need thewillingness to learn and try new things.
(08:43):
And I've got some good news for you.
I'm hosting a free Website QuickstartChallenge starting on December
4th, and we will work on the firstthree of those things together.
We'll create your website plan.
We'll get your brand basics sorted out.
And we'll start working on your content.
Then, if you want to build the websiteyourself, you can join me for my Build
(09:05):
Your Website in One Day course on December14th, and I will walk you through the
actual building process step by step.
You'll do it live with me, holdingyour hand, holding your virtual
hand, and you'll be able toBuild Your Website in One Day.
You might need a few days after thator a few weeks after that to finish it
up and add the finishing touches to it.
But you'll be able to build thebulk of your website in one day.
(09:28):
I'll put the links for both theWebsite Quickstart Challenge and
the Build Your Website in One Dayworkshop in the show notes, which
you can find with this episode atwebsitesuccessacademy.com/podcast.
I just want you toremember one thing here.
Every web developer, a web designer,they DIY'd it the first time.
And mine was back in 1995 and I'lllet you in one a little secret.
(09:54):
It did not look professional at all.
But the point is I was not born knowinghow to make a great looking website.
I learned how to do it.
I taught myself how to do it.
But you can do it too.
And now you have professional webdevelopers out there that can help you.
So with the right guidance, the rightresources, you can absolutely build
(10:14):
your own professional looking website.
If for whatever reason you don'twant to do it yourself, you can
always hire someone to help you.
So go back and listen to episode 38, whereI talk about DIY versus hiring a pro
and I go into that in much more detail.
That's all I've got for now.
Thank you so much for joining me.
(10:35):
If you enjoyed this episode, pleasesubscribe, leave me a review and
come back for the next episode.
And if you have any questions,make sure you join my Website
Success Lounge Facebook group.
The link for that willbe in the show notes.
And you can ask your questions there.
Thanks for tuning in.
And I look forward tochatting with you again soon.
Welcome to Website Success.
I'm your host, Chrissy Rey, andtoday we are going to bust some myths
about building your own website.
Something I hear all the time fromclients, from students, "Chrissy.
I could never build my own website."
Well, because I help people do thatall the time, I'm here to tell you
that that is absolutely not true.
(00:30):
Every year I help dozens of studentslaunch their mostly DIY websites.
And I say mostly DIY because I wasthere to help them when they needed it.
And a lot of these students that I get,they call themselves tech challenged.
But when I help them and they follow theclear processes that I give them, they
(00:51):
use the right tools that I help them with,they can create beautiful websites that
are going to bring them new customers.
And today I'm going to share the truthbehind some of the common myths that
I hear from the students and from myclients about building their own website.
So let's start with the first myth, whichis probably the biggest one that I hear.
(01:11):
And that is that you need to betech savvy to build a website.
I hear this one all the time andthat's part of why I created my
Build Your Website in One Dayworkshop because people needed help.
They maybe weren't tech savvy,but they just needed a little
bit of guidance to get there.
And part of why it works is becausemodern website builders like WordPress
(01:34):
and web flow and Squarespace andWix, they're all designed for regular
people and you don't have to besuper tech savvy to use most of them.
You do have to be tech savvy toreally extend them and make them
do everything that you might want.
But to just use them and build awebsite that looks really nice,
you don't have to be tech savvy.
A lot of the website builders now havedrag and drop editors or something
(01:58):
similar, which means you really just needto drag or point and click and things
are going to go where you want them togo, and then you can easily edit them.
And there's no coding that's required.
So all you really need to focuson is your content and your design
choices, and the platform is goingto take care of all of the tech.
Now, with all of that in mind, if youare not tech savvy, I do recommend
(02:23):
getting advice from a pro about whichdirection you should take to get started.
And that's, again, that's part ofwhy I created my Build Your Website
in One Day course, because I'm hereto help teach my students and my
clients, what they need to know.
In some cases, if you're really nottech savvy, and you need to do some
more advanced stuff for your website,you might need to get someone that
(02:46):
is tech savvy to do some of the work.
It really is just going to dependon what you're trying to do.
So I do recommend reaching out to someonethat is tech savvy and get a little
bit of advice on which direction to go.
The second myth that I wantto bust is that it's going to
take months to build a website.
And that is just not true formost small business websites.
(03:07):
There are some websites thatcan take months to build.
And I've actually worked on acouple of websites that took
close to a year to build.
But those were really big e-commercewebsites that had complex interactions
or integrations with othersystems and most small business
websites don't need all of that.
A basic website for a smallbusiness is probably going to take
(03:30):
a few weeks to maybe a few months.
And it's going to take lesstime if you plan it properly.
I already mentioned my Build Your Websitein One Day workshop, and the reason
that we're able to build a website inone day, and we actually are able to
build a website in one day, is becausemy students that take that have already
planned everything out that they needbefore they start building the website.
(03:53):
They already know everything thatthey're going to add to the website,
all of the stuff that they need for it.
They've already got their brandingready to go, and they can just dive
right in and start building the website.
So again, you do need a plan.
You need to prepare for it.
You can kind of think of this as like,if you were making a really complex meal.
If you have all of your ingredientsmeasured and ready to go, the actual
(04:16):
cooking is going to go quickly andsmoothly, but if you have to run
back and forth to the store, you'vegot to go get your ingredients.
It's probably going to take forever.
Website building is very much like that.
You need to do the planning and theprep before you actually start building.
Now let's tackle myth number three,which is that DIY websites look
unprofessional, and this may havebeen true 10 or more years ago,
(04:40):
but it's really not true anymore.
A lot of website builders offerprofessionally designed templates that
you can customize to match your brand.
And these templates were created byexpert designers and they understand
user experience, mobile responsiveness,and modern web design standards.
So if you trust those designers andcustomize the templates without trying
(05:02):
to go totally overboard, you can makesomething that looks really professional.
One of my students from my Build YourWebsite in One Day course told me
that a colleague recently asked herfor a referral for her web designer.
The colleague loved my studentswebsite and wanted to hire the person
who did it to make one for her.
And they were completely shockedwhen she told them that she built it
(05:24):
herself using the template and my help.
The secret was that she tookthe time to plan her content.
She chose her brand colors and fonts.
And she got some professional lookingphotos before she started building.
Plus, she took my advice and didn'ttry to go totally overboard with
throwing everything she could on ourwebsite, which would have made it
(05:44):
look cluttered and unprofessional.
I can't tell you how many timesI've had students or clients take
every design element that theycan and add it to their website.
And then they come back to me and they'relike, "Uh, my website doesn't look
the way that it did when you built it.
Can you fix it?"
And usually it's just a matter of takingsome of the stuff off of the website.
So less is more.
(06:05):
Or less is often more, notalways, but less is often more
when it comes to websites.
So go back and listen to my episodeswith Eve Simon from a couple
of episodes ago for some greattips on designing your websites.
And that brings us to myth numberfour, which is that it's too
expensive to build a website.
And you may already know this.
It's not a myth to everybody, but DIY isusually the most budget friendly option.
(06:31):
Hiring a web designer mightcost thousands of dollars and
sometimes that's the right choice.
But building your own website is probablygoing to cost less than a thousand dollars
for the first year, and then probably evenless afterward, unless you do a redesign.
And that usually covers your domain name,the hosting, a good template, et cetera.
There might be some additional costs.
(06:52):
If you need specific features or premiumad-ons for things like e-commerce
courses, memberships and stuff like that.
But you can start small and addthose things as your business grows.
Just remember that yourwebsite is an investment that
helps you get more customers.
So even if you're putting a thousanddollars into it, even if you're
paying a professional to do it foryou, and you're putting more than a
(07:13):
thousand dollars into it, it shouldpay for itself pretty quickly.
And I do want to mention here that whilea DIY website is probably going to cost
less money, it's going to cost more time.
So you really need to think aboutwhere that balance is and whether
it's going to be more cost-effectivefor you to hire somebody to do it,
or if you're going to do it yourself.
Now does busting all of these mythsmean that building your own website
(07:37):
is completely without challenges?
No, absolutely not.
But the challenges are usually going tobe about creating your content, choosing
the right images, and figuring out thebest way to present your information.
And those are going to be the exact samechallenges that you would face even if
you hired somebody to build your website.
So, what do you need to actually builda successful website on your own?
(08:01):
I've got a list for you.
Number one, you want aclear plan for your website?
So knowing what pages you need and whatcontent is going to go on them, you need
all of that information, plus a bunchmore to really plan out your website.
Number two, you need your brand basics.
So you need a set of colors.
You need your fonts.
You need a logo.
(08:21):
And even a simple logo istotally fine to get started.
Number three, you also need tohave great content, which does
include photos and images that aregoing to work with your website.
And number four, you also need areliable website builder that's
going to match your needs.
And finally, number five, you need thewillingness to learn and try new things.
(08:43):
And I've got some good news for you.
I'm hosting a free Website QuickstartChallenge starting on December
4th, and we will work on the firstthree of those things together.
We'll create your website plan.
We'll get your brand basics sorted out.
And we'll start working on your content.
Then, if you want to build the websiteyourself, you can join me for my Build
(09:05):
Your Website in One Day course on December14th, and I will walk you through the
actual building process step by step.
You'll do it live with me, holdingyour hand, holding your virtual
hand, and you'll be able toBuild Your Website in One Day.
You might need a few days after thator a few weeks after that to finish it
up and add the finishing touches to it.
But you'll be able to build thebulk of your website in one day.
(09:28):
I'll put the links for both theWebsite Quickstart Challenge and
the Build Your Website in One Dayworkshop in the show notes, which
you can find with this episode atwebsitesuccessacademy.com/podcast.
I just want you toremember one thing here.
Every web developer, a web designer,they DIY'd it the first time.
And mine was back in 1995 and I'lllet you in one a little secret.
(09:54):
It did not look professional at all.
But the point is I was not born knowinghow to make a great looking website.
I learned how to do it.
I taught myself how to do it.
But you can do it too.
And now you have professional webdevelopers out there that can help you.
So with the right guidance, the rightresources, you can absolutely build
(10:14):
your own professional looking website.
If for whatever reason you don'twant to do it yourself, you can
always hire someone to help you.
So go back and listen to episode 38, whereI talk about DIY versus hiring a pro
and I go into that in much more detail.
That's all I've got for now.
Thank you so much for joining me.
(10:35):
If you enjoyed this episode, pleasesubscribe, leave me a review and
come back for the next episode.
And if you have any questions,make sure you join my Website
Success Lounge Facebook group.
The link for that willbe in the show notes.
And you can ask your questions there.
Thanks for tuning in.
And I look forward tochatting with you again soon.
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