# Should I hire someone to build my website? By Humfrid · Websites by text · Published 2026-11-04 · https://humfrid.com/blog/hire-someone-to-build-my-website/ > Yes. Hiring it out gets you a finished website without learning an editor or losing your evenings to it. You can pay a freelancer, an agency or a done-for-you service. Whoever you choose, the web address should be in your name, leaving should be simple, and changes should be easy to ask for, not billed by the hour or locked behind a login you'll never use. Humfrid is that kind of done-for-you service: answer a few questions by text, OK your website, and it's live within a day on a .com in your name, with every change after that one text. Text Humfrid your business name. No sales call and no setup fee: answer a few questions, OK your website, and it's live within a day on your own .com. After that, every change is one text. Start at https://humfrid.com/. ## Should I hire someone to build my website? Yes, if you'd rather spend your time on your business than on a website editor. Your website is where people decide. They hear your name from a friend, see your sign or find you on Google Maps, and then they look you up before they call. Google lets you [share your business's website with your customers on your Business Profile](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617), so the people who find you there can tap through to the full story: what you do, what it costs, when you're open and how to reach you. Building it yourself means picking a template, writing every section and coming back each time something changes. Hiring it out gets it done right while you keep working. The real question is who to hire, and how it stays right after launch. Humfrid's answer is a website built and kept up by text, and the rest of this post shows how to judge any option, Humfrid included. ## Who can I pay to build my website? There are three ways: a freelancer, an agency or a done-for-you service. They differ in who you deal with, how changes work after launch, and what you keep if you part ways. **A freelancer** is one person who builds websites for clients. Plenty of web developers work this way: the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts [18% of web developers as self-employed](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm). A developer [meets with clients](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm) to talk through what the site needs, then builds it. A good freelancer is personal and flexible. The catch is that everything runs through one person, so when they get busy or move on, your changes wait. **An agency** is a team: people to plan, design, write and build. That fits a large custom site or a brand built from scratch. Getting started usually means a sales call and a proposal, and the work is scoped as a project, with changes after launch handled under a separate agreement. **A done-for-you service** builds your site and then keeps it up for one monthly plan. You describe your business, approve what's made, and ask for changes when you need them. For most small businesses, whose website mostly needs to show the right hours, services, prices and photos, this is the simplest of the three. Humfrid is a done-for-you service you run entirely by text. ## How Humfrid does this for you With Humfrid there's no sales call. You text your business name and answer a few quick questions. Humfrid builds your website, you look at it on your phone, and nothing goes live without your OK. If something isn't right, text back what to change. Your website is live within a day. After that, a change is one text: - "We're closed the Friday after Thanksgiving." - "Add weekend appointments, Saturdays 9 to 1." - A photo from today's job with "put this on the front page." Photos and voice notes work too. There's no app, no computer and no login. Your own .com web address is included, in your name, and stays yours if you leave. Already have a domain? You can use it. Your phone number stays the same, and calls come straight to you. Humfrid also writes posts and review replies for your Google Business Profile, for you to post. Every plan sets your website up to be found on Google, Google Maps, ChatGPT and other AI answers (SEO, GEO and AEO), though no one can promise a ranking. Every plan also includes online booking, online payments and deposits, and a weekly report with your visitors and bookings. There's no setup fee, no contract and no charge per lead. You see your website free for 14 days and pay only when you want it live on your own .com. You cancel by text. ## What should I ask before I pay someone to build my website? Ask what you'll own, how changes work and how you'd leave. A good provider answers plainly, in writing, before you pay. 1. **Whose name is the web address registered in?** It should be yours. 2. **Can I see sites you've built?** Google's advice on hiring help for your site's search suggests asking for [examples of previous work](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo). 3. **How do I ask for a change, and what does it cost?** A holiday closure or a new price shouldn't need a new quote. 4. **Will you tell me every change you make?** Google suggests asking [whether they'll share with you all the changes they make to your site](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo). 5. **How will we communicate?** Text, email, calls or a portal. Pick what you'll actually use. 6. **What happens if I leave?** Notice, fees, your files and your web address. Humfrid's answers fit in a line each: the web address is in your name, you see your own website free for 14 days before you pay, nothing goes live without your OK, changes are unlimited and made by text, and you cancel by text with no fee to leave. ## What are the red flags when hiring someone to build a website? Four come up again and again, and each one costs you later. **The domain isn't in your name.** Your web address is the part you keep. ICANN, which oversees domain names, warns that a developer you hired to help manage your domain [may have registered it using their own contact details](https://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/faqs), even though you paid. It suggests you [check with your registrar to see who the Registrant of record is](https://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/faqs). Fixing it later takes time: after a change to the registrant name, you [cannot transfer the domain to a different registrar within 60 days](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en) unless the registrar offers an opt-out. **There are no exit terms.** If nobody can say what happens when you leave, assume it's hard. Ask about your files, your address, fees and notice. **Every change is billed by the hour.** If each small update means an invoice, you'll put them off, and customers will read last season's prices. Web developers' [median pay](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm) is nearly twice the [median for all U.S. workers](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm), and a freelancer's rate has to cover their own costs on top of that. **You need a login you'll never use.** Some providers hand you a dashboard so you can make changes yourself. If you know you won't, your site goes stale or you pay someone each time. With Humfrid there's no login at all: you text the change. One more: be wary of anyone who promises a top spot on Google. Google itself says [no one can promise a first-place ranking](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo). ## I need someone to build my website fast. What's the easiest way? A done-for-you service you run by text, like Humfrid. There's no project to manage and no editor to learn. You answer a few questions on your phone, you see the site, and you say what to change, and it's live within a day. More on how that works in our post on [getting a website by text](/blog/websites-by-text/). ## What happens to my website if I stop paying? What you agreed to before you paid decides it, which is why you ask first. Your domain is the part to protect: ICANN says [it is your right to transfer your domain name registrations between registrars](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en), and your registrar must give you the code to do it [within five calendar days of your request](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en). That only helps if the domain is in your name. With Humfrid, there's no fee to leave. The web address is yours, and you get an email on how to take it over. Your site goes offline when your plan ends, and its files are kept for 90 days and sent to you at no charge. Text Humfrid your business name, and you'll see your website within a day. ## Sources - [Web Developers and Digital Designers: Occupational Outlook Handbook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - [Table 1. National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey by occupation, May 2025](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - [Contractual Compliance FAQs](https://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/faqs), ICANN - [FAQs for Registrants: Domain Name Transfers](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-holder-faqs-2017-10-10-en), ICANN - [Do you need an SEO?](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo), Google Search Central - [Edit your Business Profile](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617), Google