Build it on Wix, WordPress, or hire someone?

Three good paths, each right for someone. Here is how to tell which one is right for you.

A builder (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify): when it's enough

You have a simple business, you're comfortable with technology, you have your own words and photos, and you need a presentable site this month. A builder gets you there for the price of a lunch a month. Shopify specifically if you sell products online.

Hidden costs: your evenings, limited control over speed and search set-up, and the moment you want bookings, a CRM and tracking to work together, you're stacking apps that don't quite talk to each other. Also: moving off a builder later means rebuilding.

WordPress: when it makes sense

You want to own everything, you expect the site to grow (blog, many service pages, bilingual content), or you need something specific that builders don't do. WordPress runs a huge share of the web for a reason.

Hidden costs: it needs looking after. Updates, security, backups, a plugin that breaks after an update. Unmaintained WordPress sites are how many small businesses get hacked. Budget either your own time or a monthly maintenance arrangement.

Hiring a designer or agency: when it's worth it

The website is how you win work, not a brochure. You want it written and designed by people who do this daily, built fast, set up for search, connected to a CRM and ads, and you want one accountable party afterwards. For most trades, clinics and professional services past the first year or two, this pays for itself.

Hidden costs: the price, obviously, and the risk of hiring badly. See the questions below.

The decision in three questions

• Is the website a brochure or a lead machine? Brochure: builder. Machine: hire.
• Who will maintain it? Nobody: builder or a maintained agency build. You or your team: WordPress is fine.
• What happens to a lead? If the honest answer is "it emails me and I get to it", you need the system more than the site. That points to hiring.

Whoever builds it, insist on

• You own the domain, hosting and accounts.
• It loads fast on a phone (ask for a measured score).
• Every form and call lands somewhere you can see, with an alert.
• Clear titles and plain text on every page, so Google knows what you do and where.
• A written monthly cost after launch.

Our take

Side business or brand new: start on a builder, learn what your customers ask, keep your words. Established service business in Ottawa: hire, and make the site part of a system with follow-up and tracking from day one. We rebuild a lot of builder sites in year three; it's cheaper to build the right thing in year one.