Build Your Website Yourself (Wix, WordPress) or Hire a Pro?
Build a website yourself with Wix or WordPress, or have it built? An honest comparison of cost, time and results, from Thurgau.
Website builders promise a website in an afternoon. The ads show finished pages in a few clicks. And yet many business owners are still sitting in front of a half-finished site weeks later. Before you decide, it is worth taking an honest look at both options.
Building it yourself: the upside
- Low start-up costs: a website builder costs roughly CHF 10 to 50 per month.
- Full control: you change copy and images whenever you want.
- Quick start: for a simple online business card, a template is enough.
For a club, a hobby project or the first months after founding a company, this is often the right choice.
Building it yourself: what is often underestimated
- Your time: 20 to 60 hours is realistic for a usable business website. Multiply these hours by your own hourly rate.
- Copy: the template only looks good with good copy. You have to write it yourself.
- SEO: page titles, descriptions, structure and load time are not automatically right in a website builder.
- Mobile view: what looks good on a computer is often misaligned on a phone.
- Legal: no website builder delivers a legal notice and privacy policy under Swiss law ready-made.
- Maintenance: with WordPress you have to install updates yourself. Outdated plugins are a common entry point for attacks.
Wix or WordPress?
Wix is a closed website builder: easy to use, but you are tied to the platform. Moving away later takes effort. WordPress is open and flexible, but needs more technical work: hosting, updates, plugins and security are up to you. Wix is easier for beginners, WordPress is more open for growth. Both take time if the result is to look professional. Important for both: the domain should be registered in your name, not the provider’s.
Having it built: what you get
- A custom design that fits your company, instead of a template many others use.
- Clean technology: fast, mobile-optimised, with SEO basics.
- Copy that is polished or written entirely for you.
- Someone who takes care of updates and backups after launch.
At 147codez a website up to 5 pages costs from CHF 5'900, up to 8 pages from CHF 7'900 and up to 10 pages from CHF 9'300. Maintenance starts at CHF 90 per month. Examples include alian.ch, bizondesign.com and pszone.ch.
The honest calculation
Do the maths once: 40 hours of your own work times your hourly rate, plus a website builder subscription over three years. For many owners this lands close to what a professional website costs. The difference: those 40 hours are missing from your own business.
Building it yourself pays off if you enjoy it, have time to spare and the website mainly needs to show that you exist. Having it built pays off if the website should bring in inquiries and your time in the business is worth more.
The middle way
You can also combine both. Have the foundation set up properly and maintain it yourself afterwards. That is exactly the idea behind the Shopify store from CHF 3'900. And if you have already built a website, the website audit for CHF 490 shows you what is good and what is missing. That way you only pay for what you cannot do yourself and keep control of the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Can a website builder rank well on Google?
Yes, it is possible. But it takes good copy, clean page titles and a fast site. The website builder does not do that work for you.
Can I switch from Wix to my own website later?
Yes, but the design cannot be taken along. Copy and images are carried over, the website is rebuilt. It is important to redirect old addresses properly so you do not lose ground on Google.
What does it cost if I only need help with a few things?
We bill work by time at CHF 120 per hour. For an overview, the website audit for CHF 490 is often the better starting point.