“You build your own website?!”
People often give me a disbelieving and puzzled look when they find out I build my own website. Despite the strong presence of social media, it is hard to deny that website is still as relevant and important as before and will still be in the foreseeable future. But it is the “why do it yourself” that is the interesting question.
3 key reasons why I did it:
Saves Money
First, it saves me tonnes of money. While I do have smaller vendors and gig workers quoting my company a few thousand, some of them quoted 10K or more. Every quid is paramount to the survival of a startup or small business. If you know how to do it yourself and the project is not time-sensitive, and you save big money along the way, why not?
Avoid Sticky Situation with Vendor
Second, it saves me from vendors’ service lag and possible “ransom” situation when things go sour. Unless you have the know-how, chances are you have to rely heavily on their support and maintenance service. This leaves you at their mercy even for a trivial change request. Or worse, terminating or not renewing the contract ends up messy–Potentially losing the ownership and rights to your own website.
Having Full Control
Third, it saves me from surrendering my business presence. Social media platforms, while powerful for marketing, cannot entirely replace a website. It is not uncommon for platform companies to suspend or ban accounts abruptly. Not setting up a proper website means you put your business or personal venture in jeopardy when your social media accounts goes sideway.
Whether to build a website yourself is a very subjective matter. “Triple Constraint(time/cost/effort)” plays a big part in decision making: Achieve one and trade off the other two. But above them all, I see a critical fourth constraint: Ownership.
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