I've learned a number of lessons over the past few weeks in the process of trying to build my own web site. It's not that I didn't know that I'm not a designer or a programmer. I knew that. It's not that friends who do those things for a living hadn't told me to get a professional to do it. They had.

The problem is technology. There are some terrific online tools out there that make it easy for someone like me to tackle jobs that no intelligent person would have attempted a few years ago. I do have to say that Squarespace.com, which is where I built this site, is really great. I've used templates before and they were generic, severely limited and above all, deadly dull to look at.

This one manages to conquer many of the problems I had experienced with other platforms. Someone like me, with a decent visual sensibility but not much deep technical knowledge and no real experience as a graphic designer, can leap into the project and—here's the catch—with a serious investment of time, end up with something that looks pretty darn good (you tell me; I'm hardly objective anymore) and has surprisingly robust functionality, all for very little money.

The question is, though, if I totaled up the time I've spent on this, how much sense would it make? If I had paid a pro to do it and spent my time doing billable work I know how to do, would I have come out ahead?

For the moment, I actually still think I did the right thing, at least for budget reasons. But the experience has made me think a little harder about the principle of sticking closer to what we do best.

If there were a web-based application out there that claimed to make great writers out of people with no natural inclination toward writing (maybe there is one), would I recommend that people use it instead of calling me?

Instead, I would probably rant about how it's just not realistic or possible to expect any technology to take the place of years of learned skill, judgment and experience. The same way that my designer friends will do when they look at my web site.

And, I think I would be right, mostly. But there will always be people who try to get their writing done without any help. People with successful businesses and careers and who presumably have plenty of other things to do without sitting around thinking up web copy or writing marketing collateral.

I have occasionally wondered what would happen if a lot of people tried to do their own legal work or their own surgery. Would they save money? These examples may seem self-evidently absurd compared to the idea of doing one's own writing since anyone who has made it through a high school or college education generally has some facility with written English.

But, if it's not what we do best, not what we love to do, is it the best investment of our time?

Email me your thoughts.

Paul Wesman