Should I Build My Own Website on Squarespace to Save Money?
This is not an uncommon thought from Cornish business owners – and I completely understand why.
Building your own website sounds like the perfect solution. You'll save money, keep control, and Squarespace makes it look so easy in those slick adverts. After all, how hard can it be?
The Template Trap
To many, DIY website building seems like a brilliant strategy. Pick a beautiful template, add your text, swap in some photos of your Cornish business, and ta-da! – you've got a website.
And you know what? You absolutely can do that. Putting together a basic website using a template is genuinely simple these days.
But here's the thing: a website that exists and a website that works are two very different beasts. Perhaps the reason why there’s also adverts for “Hire An Expert” on every self-build website.
The Stuff Nobody Tells You About
What the templates don't show you in the preview is everything happening behind the scenes:
Page speeds – is your site loading fast enough, or are customers bouncing before they even see your stunning hero image?
SEO – are you optimised for Google searches, or invisible to people searching for Cornish businesses like yours?
AIO – is your site ready for AI recommendations, or will ChatGPT suggest your competitors instead?
Meta titles and descriptions – the hidden text that determines whether people click on your site in search results
Alt descriptions – essential for accessibility and SEO, but easy to forget when you're just trying to get the thing live
Call to actions – strategically placed prompts that turn visitors into customers
Spacing and formatting – the subtle design choices that make sites feel professional rather than homemade
Responsive design – does your beautiful desktop site look terrible on mobile phones?
These elements are second nature to me after years of building websites for Cornish businesses. But if you're learning from scratch? That's a significant time investment.
The Squarespace Reality
Don't get me wrong – Squarespace is an excellent platform. I use it myself for all my client websites because it's powerful, reliable, and gives businesses the control they need.
There's plenty of information available. The platform has helpful guides, YouTube is full of tutorials, and AI assistants can answer your questions as you go.
You absolutely can learn to do this yourself.
But Here's the Real Question
Will you make more money doing the thing you're actually good at, or will you save more than you'd spend by learning website design?
Think about it:
How many hours will you spend learning SEO, AIO, responsive design, and all those meta descriptions?
What's your hourly rate when you're doing your actual job?
How much business might you lose while your half-finished website sits there without proper optimisation?
What's the opportunity cost of spending evenings and weekends wrestling with page layouts instead of serving customers?
And let's be honest about the real cost: those evenings spent staring at your laptop trying to work out why the mobile menu won't behave? That's time you could be spending with family and friends. Weekend afternoons debugging page layouts instead of heading to the beach or watching your kids play sport.
The financial saving might look good on paper, but what's the cost to your work-life balance?
If you're a plasterer in Truro, a holiday home owner in Padstow, or running a café in Falmouth – your expertise is worth money. Every hour spent learning web design is an hour not spent earning in your actual profession, or relaxing with the people who matter most.
When A DIY Website Becomes a Roadblock
Occasionally, I work with businesses who've started building their own site but hit a wall. They're stuck, frustrated, and their business growth is on hold while they try to figure out why Google isn't finding them or why their contact form doesn't work.
It's not that they've done anything wrong – they've just discovered that professional web design involves more complexity than they'd anticipated. And while I'm always happy to help, I can see the frustration in knowing their business could have been online and attracting customers weeks or months earlier.
That delay in getting properly online? That's the hidden cost nobody factors into the DIY equation.
So What's the Answer?
The choice can only be yours. Nobody knows your business, your budget, or your time constraints better than you do.
If you're genuinely excited about learning web design, have time to invest, and enjoy that kind of challenge – go for it! There's real satisfaction in building something yourself.
But if you want a professional, optimised website that gets found by customers searching for Cornish businesses like yours – and you'd rather spend your time doing what you do best – that's exactly what I'm here for.
Every website I build through Cornwall Website Design is:
SEO and AIO optimised from day one
Built for speed and mobile responsiveness
Handed over with full control and simple instructions
Designed to help your Cornish business get found and grow
And crucially: I build websites you can manage yourself after completion. You get full access, training on updates, and the confidence to add content, change images, and grow your site as your business grows.
The Perfect Middle Ground For Cornish Businesses
Here's an option many Cornish businesses don't consider: start with a professional foundation.
Let me build your website properly – optimised, fast, and ready to be found. Then you have complete control to update content, add blog posts, and make changes whenever you want.
You get the best of both worlds: professional setup without the ongoing costs.
Final Thoughts from a Cornish Web Designer
I'm not here to scare you away from DIY. If you want to build your own site, I genuinely respect that decision.
But I also know that most Cornish business owners are brilliant at their actual jobs – and that's where their focus creates the most value.
Your time is worth something. Make sure you're spending it wisely – whether that's growing your business or enjoying life outside of work.
Need help deciding? Or stuck with a DIY build that's not performing?
Get in touch – I'm always happy to have an honest conversation about what's right for your Cornish business.
I’m based just near Padstow so I’m always up for a cuppa or a walk and talk if you’re nearby or fancy a trip to a different part of our wonderful county!
