Common website options for small businesses
Wondering how DIY website subscription services, WordPress templates, and generative AI stack up against hiring a professional website designer? Learn more about the different responsibilities for content creation, design, launch, SEO, hosting, maintenance, and updates.
Content writing
Your website copy needs to explain what you do, guide visitors, and support the way people search for your services.
Don Byrom Design
I write custom copy for your website that's tailored around your design, audience, and goals.
DIY website builders
You write and organize the content yourself, or hire someone separately to help.
WordPress templates
You need to shape your content around the template's design, layouts, and limitations.
AI-generated websites
AI can help draft copy, but the content still needs editing, structure, accuracy checks, and a practical page plan.
Visual design
Your website design affects how professional, trustworthy, and memorable your business feels.
Don Byrom Design
I custom design your website for your business, brand, services, and customer experience.
DIY website builders
You start from available templates and spend your own time adjusting layouts, colors, images, and spacing.
WordPress templates
The design depends heavily on the theme. Customizing it often takes more time and technical comfort than expected.
AI-generated websites
AI can generate a starting point, but the results often need significant refinement to feel unique or custom to your brand.
Website build
The build turns the design into a working website, including structure, responsive layouts, forms, performance, and integrations.
Don Byrom Design
I code your site from scratch with a clean structure, responsive layouts, and only the features your business needs.
DIY website builders
You build pages manually inside the platform's editor, which can become slow and repetitive as the site grows.
WordPress templates
You manage themes, plugins, settings, updates, and compatibility issues, or pay someone else to manage them.
AI-generated websites
AI-generated pages may work as a prototype, but turning them into a reliable, scalable website still takes technical work.
Launch
Launch includes the technical steps that make your website live, tested, connected, and ready for visitors.
Don Byrom Design
I prepare, test, connect, and launch your site at your domain, then help Google find the new pages.
DIY website builders
You follow the platform's launch steps and handle domain connection, DNS settings, redirects, and final checks yourself.
WordPress templates
Launch depends on hosting, theme setup, plugin settings, forms, backups, security, and search visibility.
AI-generated websites
You still need to host the files, connect the domain, test the site, manage forms, and the handle launch process.
SEO foundation
SEO setup helps search engines understand your pages, services, location, and business details.
Don Byrom Design
I build your website with clean URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, structured data, XML sitemaps, HTTPS, and organized content structure.
DIY website builders
SEO tools vary by platform, but the planning, writing, setup, and verification usually fall on you.
WordPress templates
SEO often depends on extra plugins, theme quality, configuration, and ongoing maintenance.
AI-generated websites
AI can suggest SEO elements, but they still need to be reviewed, implemented correctly, and connected across the full site.
Long-term updates
After launch, your website needs accurate content, reliable hosting, routine maintenance, and a simple way to make changes.
Don Byrom Design
Just send me a note when you need something updated. My website support plans include small changes each month.
DIY website builders
You are responsible for updates, edits, troubleshooting, platform settings, and figuring out what to do when something needs attention.
WordPress templates
You need to keep the site, theme, plugins, backups, hosting, and security maintained over time.
AI-generated websites
Generative AI can help you produce a functional web page, but the ability to update and maintain a live website will vary by platform.