The pitch is irresistible: "Build your own website in minutes!" Wix shows someone dragging and dropping a beautiful site together while sipping coffee. Squarespace makes it look like choosing fonts is the hardest part. WordPress promises "full control" over your digital presence.
Here's what they don't show you: the 100+ hours that follow.
Where the Hours Go
Week 1-2: Choosing and Setting Up (15-25 hours)
- Comparing platforms (WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace vs...)
- Choosing a template/theme (browsing 500 options, settling on one, hating it, switching)
- Setting up hosting (for WordPress: domain, DNS, nameservers, SSL)
- Learning the platform interface
- Watching YouTube tutorials
Week 3-4: Content and Design (25-40 hours)
- Writing all your content (harder than you thought)
- Finding and editing photos
- Tweaking the design ("Why won't this margin move?")
- Making it look good on mobile ("It looks fine on my laptop...")
- Rebuilding the page you accidentally deleted
Week 5-6: The Details That Kill You (15-25 hours)
- SEO setup (title tags, meta descriptions, sitemaps — what are these?)
- Contact form configuration (and testing why emails aren't arriving)
- Google Analytics setup
- Google Business Profile configuration
- Speed optimization (why does it score 23 on PageSpeed?)
- Security setup (for WordPress: plugins, two-factor, login protection)
Ongoing: 3-5 Hours Per Month Forever
- WordPress updates and plugin management
- Content updates
- Troubleshooting things that randomly break
- Wondering why your ranking dropped
The Opportunity Cost
Let's be generous and say you build your site in 80 hours. What's your hourly rate?
| Your Hourly Rate | 80 Hours Costs You |
|---|---|
| $30/hour | $2,400 |
| $50/hour | $4,000 |
| $75/hour | $6,000 |
| $100/hour | $8,000 |
| $150/hour | $12,000 |
A plumber billing $75/hour who spends 80 hours building a website has burned $6,000 worth of billable time — on a website that still doesn't work properly.
What You Get for That Time
After 80-100 hours of DIY work, you typically end up with:
- PageSpeed score: 25-45 (Google recommends 90+)
- SEO: minimal, because you're not an SEO expert
- Content: whatever you could write yourself, which is usually generic
- Design: a template that looks like every other template site
- Mobile: "it kind of works on my phone"
- Ongoing support: yourself, forever
The Alternative
Fill out a 5-minute form. We build your site. $149/month. PageSpeed 95+. SEO included. Content written for you. Mobile-perfect. Ongoing support included.
80 hours of your life back. Do the math. Start your free trial.
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