Meet Katlego, a qualified financial consultant who’d just opened her own practice in Sandton. After years of working for other firms, she was ready to build something of her own helping small business owners and individuals navigate their financial futures.
She had the qualifications, the experience, and a growing list of referrals. What she didn’t have was a professional website to showcase her services and attract new clients online.
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when Katlego decided to tackle this herself. How hard could it be? She opened her laptop, made herself some coffee, and typed into Google: “create a website for my business.”
What happened next is a story that’ll sound familiar to many small business owners who’ve tried the DIY route. This is Katlego’s journey from “I’ll have this done by lunch” to “I need professional help” and what she learnt along the way.
The promise that caught her attention
As Katlego scrolled through the search results, she saw the usual suspects: Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com. But it was a YouTube video that made her stop scrolling.
“How to Create a Business Website in 30 Minutes” read the title, with over 200,000 views and comments full of praise.
“Thirty minutes?” she thought. “Perfect. I can have this sorted before I start on my client reports.”
She clicked play, and immediately felt encouraged. The presenter was confident, articulate, and promised she’d go from “no website to expertly designed website in half an hour.” No years of learning web design. No complicated technical knowledge. Just follow along, and you’re done.
What the video didn’t mention upfront and what Katlego didn’t realise was that the presenter was a web designer and digital marketing expert with over 10 years of experience. When he said “30 minutes,” he meant 30 minutes for someone who’d built hundreds of websites before.
But Katlego was hooked. She grabbed a notebook and settled in to follow along.
The step-by-step reality check
The video started well enough. The presenter explained the process clearly: secure a domain, choose a hosting plan, install WordPress, pick a theme, and customise it with Elementor page builder.
Katlego felt confident as she followed the first steps. She registered her domain name and purchased a hosting package. So far, so good.
Then she hit her first snag.
“Right, now we’ll install WordPress,” said the presenter, breezing through the process in about two minutes.
But Katlego’s domain was still registering. She’d have to wait a few hours before she could proceed.
“No problem,” she thought. “I’ll keep watching and take notes.”
The website template trap: When “customise” doesn’t mean “create”
As the video continued, the presenter installed the Hello theme and Elementor page builder. He explained the differences between the free version and Elementor Pro, making it sound like the free version would be perfectly adequate for most small businesses.
What wasn’t clear from the video title or description was that Katlego wouldn’t be creating a website from scratch. She’d be customising a pre-built template.
That realisation hit when the presenter said, “Now, let’s create your first page. Click ‘Edit with Elementor,’ and then we’ll import a template.”
Import a template? That wasn’t quite the same as “creating” a website, was it?
But Katelgo pressed on, still optimistic. The template library looked impressive in the video. Professional layouts for all kinds of businesses, including financial services.
There was just one problem: accessing those templates required Elementor Pro. The free version only offered basic layouts that looked, frankly, basic.
The skills gap: When following steps isn’t enough
By late afternoon, Katlego’s domain had finished registering. She watched the video again, this time actually implementing each step. She installed WordPress, activated the Hello theme, installed Elementor, and purchased the Pro version to access the template library.
She found a financial services template that looked promising and imported it. Now came the fun part: replacing the dummy content with her own.
But as she started working, her excitement began to fade.
The template looked professional in the demo, but when she replaced the placeholder text with her service descriptions, something felt off. The layout didn’t quite work with her content. The colour scheme didn’t match her brand. The images were generic stock photos that had nothing to do with her business.
She spent hours trying to customise the design, but every change seemed to create two new problems. The text overlapped the images. The colours clashed. The mobile version looked completely different from the desktop version, and not in a good way.
As the sun set outside her home office, Katlego sat back and looked at her “expertly designed website.” It looked nothing like her vision. More importantly, it looked nothing like the professional service she was offering.
The lightbulb moment: Why web design is a profession
That evening, as Katlego prepared supper, she had time to reflect on her day. She’d followed every step in the video. She’d bought the premium tools. She’d spent nearly eight hours on what was supposed to take 30 minutes.
So why didn’t her website look professional?
The answer hit her like a revelation: creating a good website, requires skills she simply didn’t have.
Web design isn’t just about following a tutorial. It requires:
- Understanding of design principles and visual hierarchy
- Knowledge of user experience and how people navigate websites
- Technical skills in HTML and CSS for customisation
- SEO knowledge to help people find your site
- An eye for layout, typography, and colour theory
- Understanding of responsive design for mobile devices
Just like financial consulting, web design is a profession that takes years to master.
“I wouldn’t expect someone to watch a 30-minute video and then give financial advice,” she thought. “Why did I think I could become a web designer in half an hour?”
The professional search: Finding the right web design partner
The next morning, Katlego started a new Google search: “web designers near Hyde Park.”
But this time, she approached it differently. Having been through the process herself, she now understood what went into creating a website. She knew the difference between a template-based solution and custom design work.
When she looked at different web design packages, she could spot the difference between cheap template services and agencies that offered proper custom web design and development. She knew that if she wanted a website that truly represented her professional practice, she’d need to invest in the mid to high-end price range.
Her experience had taught her to ask better questions:
- Do you create custom designs or customise templates?
- How do you ensure the website works well on mobile devices?
- What’s included in terms of SEO optimisation?
- How do you handle content strategy and copywriting?
- What ongoing support do you provide?
What every small business owner can learn from Katlego’s DIY web design experience
Katlego’s story isn’t unique. Every day, small business owners are lured by the promise of quick, easy, cheap website solutions. And every day, many of them discover the same reality Katlego did.
You might also read: What Bob and Zakes Discovered About Web Design vs Web Development While Planning Their Olive Oil Website
Here’s what her experience teaches us:
“30-minute” tutorials are made by experts, for experts
When a professional says something takes 30 minutes, they’re drawing on years of experience and muscle memory you don’t have.
Website templates are starting points, not finishing lines
A good website isn’t just about having a template, it’s about customising it properly to match your brand, your content, and your business goals.
Web design is a skill set, not a process
Following steps is easy. Making design decisions that work for your business requires expertise.
Time is money, especially yours
The hours Katlego spent struggling with her website could have been spent serving clients and growing her business.
You can’t Google your way to expertise
Some things genuinely require professional help, and that’s perfectly fine.
The bigger picture: When DIY makes sense (and when it doesn’t)
This isn’t to say DIY website builders are always wrong. They can be perfect for:
- Personal blogs or hobby sites
- Very simple business websites with basic information.
- Testing an idea before investing in professional design
- Businesses with extremely tight budgets
But if your website is central to your business if it needs to generate leads, showcase your professionalism, or compete with established players in your industry then treating it like a weekend DIY project might be a false economy.
Katlego realised that her website wasn’t just a nice-to-have. It was a business tool that needed to work as hard as she did.
Where Katlego is now: Building the right foundation for her marketing
Today, Katlego has a website she’s proud of. It reflects her professionalism, clearly explains her services, and generates steady enquiries from potential clients.
Was it more expensive than the DIY route? Yes. But when she calculated the hours she’d spent struggling with the template, plus the opportunity cost of not having a professional website sooner, the investment made perfect sense.
More importantly, she’s learned to focus on what she does best, helping clients with their finances while trusting other professionals to handle what they do best.
Key takeaways: The real cost of “quick and easy”
Quick fixes rarely fix anything quickly.
What promises to take 30 minutes often takes days, and still doesn’t deliver professional results.
Website templates need expertise to work properly.
Having access to a template isn’t the same as knowing how to customise it effectively.
Your time has value
Hours spent struggling with website design are hours not spent growing your business.
Professional help pays for itself
A website that works properly generates more business than one that looks amateur.
Know your strengths
Just as you wouldn’t expect a web designer to give financial advice, don’t expect to become a web designer overnight.
Ready to avoid Katlego’s detour?
If you’re thinking about creating a website for your business, learn from Katlego’s experience. Before you spend hours following tutorials or trying to customise templates, ask yourself:
- Is my website central to my business success?
- Do I have the time to learn web design properly?
- What’s the opportunity cost of doing this myself?
- What impression do I want to make on potential clients?
If you’d rather focus on what you do best while trusting professionals to handle your website, we’re here to help.
Schedule a Discovery Call and let’s build something that works for your business—not against it.