Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
There are many web design platforms available nowadays that allow you to design your own website easily. Apparently, all you need is creativity and a web hosting company. It seems simple but is that really enough?
The popular expression: “You get what you pay for” truly applies in this instance. As a business owner (no matter which type of business you have) you must have the most professional and most appropriate image online for your business. Your image, which represents your branding and reputation, must not only deliver a clear message about who you are and what you offer but it must also be search-engine friendly and easy for others to navigate once they arrive at your website.
For a while now, the concept of the static website has been obsolete. Websites must constantly be offering content that is fresh and is on innovative topics. The content must be informative and interesting as well as educational. It must also offer some sort of solution to the problems of the people who have searched and landed on your website. It must answer the question: “What’s In It For Me?” (WIIFM), in other words, it doesn’t matter how wonderful you and your business offerings are. The only thing that matters is how you are able to help the other person.
The technology behind those concepts is very sophisticated and the work that goes into developing the website is just as sophisticated and should not be left to amateurs. If the website is not designed correctly and does not include all of the elements that will guarantee the advancement of the business, whatever the investment is that you put into it will be worthless. It is never a smart idea to be penny wise and pound foolish.
In order to be able to build a website properly, you need a good understanding of information architecture, the aesthetics of web design, search engine optimization (SEO), the ability to develop web forms and a great deal of other technical abilities. Attempting to do it yourself (DIY) is good in theory, however, considering that web design is most likely not your area of expertise, the only way that you will be able to really accomplish the task correctly is if you take a great deal of time to study and sharpen your web-designing skills, which will take a great deal of time. In all likelihood, you don’t have the time for that in your life.
Creative control
If you start to build your own website, you are given choices regarding font styles, colors, backgrounds, etc. Your next thought, of course, would be that this is a breeze and as long as you are able to make decisions regarding your website, you will be able to create an effective and pretty website for the entire world to see. That is, unfortunately, not necessarily the case. One thing that many people who go the DIY route forget about is company branding. You need to ask yourself if your website conveys a professional and familiar brand that differentiates you from your competition. Does it clearly convey WIIFM and make your unique selling proposition (USP) obvious.
People who scour the Internet can usually tell quite easily if your website was designed by a professional or by an amateur. That determination will drive their decision to look more deeply at your website or to move onto another website that appears professional to them. People will be much more inclined to deem a website that has been designed by a professional web designer as credible and trustworthy than the non-professional one.
HTML skills
Basic HTML is not difficult to learn, especially if you have a great deal of time on your hands and the energy available that you will need to devote to your study of HTML. If you learn only the basic codes, what do you think your website will look like to others? The chances are great that your website will still look amateurish compared with websites that have been designed by professional web designers. Your objective is to have your website seen by as many people and for it to leave a lasting impression that is professional.
There are many reasons to hire a professional web designer, including the avoidance of security loopholes in your HTML code, the assurance that users on all platforms will be able to view your site with any and all browsers that they use and the probability that the search engines will be able to read your code and index your website.
Time and money savings
If you decide to buy a DIY web design kit, it will seem, at initial evaluation, that you are saving a great deal of time and money. One of the important questions that you need to ask yourself is: how much is your time worth? If you happen to have a great deal of extra time on your hands, you may be ok with the DIY route. However, if you are not sure about how much available free time you have you may want to go the professional route. What happens if you get halfway into the project and find that it is taking a lot more out of you than you had anticipated? You will then be left with a web design project that is halfway done and won’t do you and your business any good at all. In that case, you will probably end up hiring a professional to complete the web design. So, in the end, you will have spent a lot of money and wasted a lot of time.
Conclusion
The comparison of DIY vs professional web site design is very important. Your money and time should always be spent as wisely as possible. It is very interesting that things often do not appear as they seem. That is definitely the case with web design. It is a known fact that the DIY approach of web design takes several hours to several weeks to build. Many people who build their own websites contact professional web designers 12 to 14 months after they have built the original website because they are not achieving the search engine rankings that they want and business is just not increasing. They begin to realize after that that their website is just not effective and people are not paying any attention to them. It is vitally important that you get a return on investment that satisfies you and helps you and your business to become more and more successful over time.
We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: On Startups – The Community For Entrepreneurs
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Michael, that is true. However, I have been doing my research as I'm in the same situation regarding the design and development of a site. But, given the reliance on technology these days, how do you ensure that you get the required visibility of your product or service. This is where SEO (or search engine optimisation) becomes a really defining factor. The trend towards the use of social media etc requires one to continually optimise your visibility. It's not a once off thing! The visbility of your product or service to social media sites and the incorporation of blogs, RSS feeds and such, continually provides new content that is reoptimised through Google etc will help to ensure that you are always visible. Ultimateyl, this is your own choice but for a start up probably means a certain level of visibility but less money spent than on marketing campaigns, advertising through media and events. Hope this helps…
Posted by Dave Stevenson
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Search Engine Watch
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Obvious reply: It's like anything else; should you draw your own logo simply because you can use a creative software or hire a graphic designer?, should you create your own advertising tagline simply because you think you have a feel for it or hire an advertising agency? Should you manage your own SEO strategy simply because you know how to use twitter and change your site page titles or hire a SEO consultant?
Apparently all you need is…but is that sufficient?
Posted by Antoine Becaglia
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: On Startups – The Community For Entrepreneurs
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Doing it yourself or having a professional do it comes down these thoughts for me – 1) how much time do you have to do this, 2) if you are not a web developer how much time to plan to devote to learning whichever technique you choose, 3) how much time do you plan to devote to the upkeep, 4) how much time do you plan to devote to the optimization. It is just like any other service a business needs – you can do it yourself or hire a skilled person/company to do it for you (i.e. accounting, administration, marketing, cleaning,….).
Posted by Robin Walker
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Tweeple
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Hire someone. Depending on how simple your site is, you can get a freelance graphic artist to design your website as little as $250. Good luck.
Posted by Uyen Dang, EIT
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: On Startups – The Community For Entrepreneurs
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Below is anextract from an article off my website – the SME Toolkit South Africa:
Your website can be an important marketing tool for your business, so if you're about to launch one or are updating your existing site, here are some good tips for what makes or breaks a website.
Your website could be the first contact a potential client has with your company, so it's absolutely crucial that it's well designed and user-friendly. If your knowledge of the online environment is limited, here are some of the key questions you need to ask about your site.
What is the purpose of your site?
Having a well-defined purpose for your site will help you identify what messages should be communicated to visitors, how the site should be managed, what content to include and everything involved with developing and running a website.
Be specific. For example, rather than saying you merely want to establish an online presence, your aim could be to generate leads for business and communicate with potential clients. You're basically setting a goal for the site and can then focus on achieving the goal.
How should it look?
The appearance of your website will be a big factor in its success. Your site should present a positive, professional image, without too much clutter or bombarding the user with too many bells and whistles.
Without having to go too drastic, update the look and feel of your site every few years in line with the current trends. There's nothing worse than looking at a boring site that hasn't been changed in five years.
What does it need to say?
The design and visual appeal of your site will draw visitors and hopefully encourage them to stay for a while. This is where good content comes in and can greatly affect the kind of experience a user has.
If needed, have your content written by a professional with experience in writing for the web. The writing shouldn't be too formal and must give as much info to the reader in as little text as possible.
What about the design?
The design of your site should complement the content, without overshadowing it. Go for a simple style that matches the message and the purpose of the site, as well as your type of business.
Load time:
Error messages:
Layout:
Colours and fonts:
Make it easy to navigate:
Use good quality images:
So now that you have an awesome website, don't just leave it there and forget about it. Visit the site regularly to make sure everything is still working. Update it with any news about the company, successes, new products and so on. Make your site work for you and prove to be a good return on your investment.
Posted by Rene Truter
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: On Startups – The Community For Entrepreneurs
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Hi Michael,
Ideally, it is the combination of " YOU + HIRED PROFESSIONAL" . The ratio of efforts, roles and responsibilities by each team depends upon the commercial factors and the timeline.
The ready web design platforms are suitable for small businesses and those which are limited to information dessimenation. There is a need for hired professionals to extend these designs bringing in graphics / craetives, integration of web applications like eCommerce, integrationg social media platforms, promotions / SEO and compliance specific to the industry and the environment.
Thanks
Posted by Shashidhar Bhat
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: eMarketing Association Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Hi Michael,
What you mentioned is right. There are many platforms and its tutorials available on internet where you can gain knowledge about web designing and development. But if you are looking for a website which acts as a mirror of your business, its products and services. Then you surely have to approach an expert who can help you in providing the apt solutions for your needs. Its only through an expert you can get a more professional website with add on features that suits your requirement/purpose of the website.
Regards,
Asha
Posted by Asha Parvathy
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Professional Bloggers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I am a freelance writer, designed my website on my own and it's online since 2003. Have no plans to hire a website designer as the current site meets my requirements. If you are looking at cutting costs, design one for yourself or else, hire a webdesigner. We have just started taking web design orders, so if you need one, feel free to contact us. I have tied up with web designers in India for creating websites.
Posted by Resmi Jaimon
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Books and Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I had been planning on using a WYSIWYG for my site, but I realize that someone with experience, education and a creative eye can maybe add another "dimension" to your site that you may not think of. Things like color and font style affect your target audience (think marketing to lawyers as opposed to tweens!), and depending on who your target market is, a web designer can offer suggestions and design a site with them in mind. I FINALLY broke down and hired someone, and she had just enough of a different slant on things that I'm thrilled to have spent the money (my site's not up yet….now I have to do the copy!! BLAH!)
That's my take on things. Hope it helps!
Posted by Charline Kelly
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Public Relations and Communications Professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Always hire a professional so it looks better and …you will give to your targed audience the right impression…your message will be professionally send…I can recommand you a small agency very efficient… and not expansive…it is bad to look at a website not professional and not well balanced…
Posted by Muriel Gilbert
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Writing Mafia
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Hire a professional. The existence of "simple" software doesn't automatically make you the best person for the job.
I do believe it's important to have a basic understanding of any technology you use regularly (a computer or computer program, a car, a kitchen stove), but why should I spend the time to develop a set of competencies that don't really interest me and for which my use is limited?
Plus, it makes me crazy when someone tells me they know how to write and don't need my professional services. Why should I treat other professionals that way?
Posted by Sarah Lowengard
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Biotech & Pharma Professionals Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I set out with a minimal budget and a love of Macs, so I used iWeb and MobileMe to cut a corner on the creativity side and hosting hassle.
Trouble is, I lacked the objective point of view – I failed to canvass the opinion of a third, impartial party with marketing experience and just as vital (doh!), I failed to check that the website worked smoothly on the most popular internet browser. Fixes are now in place and it's a compromise I can live with for a while.
So, I would say with hindsight, that it could indeed be simple, but only after a fair degree of research on the product that you are using, the help of someone whose candid opinion you trust and a couple of days effort. LinkedIn is a very friendly community and I am sure that many others can give you valuable leads.
Posted by Steve Hoare
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Loads of kids learn maths at school but you wouldn't ask them to do your company accounts or your tax return. Get a professional agency to do the job and they will not just design a website that helps you win clients when you refer them to the website but they will help you get to the top of Google search results and that is likely to be the single biggest long term asset your business will ever have. Building a website that no one finds is like building the Taj Mahal at the bottom of the Marianas trench – no-one will ever see it so it is a waste of effort! Hire a professional agency and if you are a B2B client find a B2B specialist on-line agency that knows your industry sector.
Posted by Charles (or Charlie) Darley
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Given I spend a bit of time reviewing websites for brand, SEO etc, my response is:
ONLY if you have professional skills should you design your own site. And having professional skills and designing well should be independently supported rather than having your friends and family fail to tell you the 'truth'. :0
I essentially agree with Charlie..you reap financial rewards by hiring professionals for the various stages of your business development and expansion. However, you also need to know how to appraise those people.
Posted by Susan Plunkett PhD
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: eMarketing Association Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I appreciate the comments so made and would like to add one more thing which is actually hidden in the statements so made by Dhammika and Asha.
Every business can be successful provided they know their Key Proposition and maintain a proper focus on that; and leave the rest of the their work on the experts (means outsourcing) to some reliable and/or trustworthy organization.
Else they can have their own team of working professionals but then it will be adding to the Infrastructure cost and maintainable cost to the organization. Now there is a concept of BOT getting prevalent in the market which allows you to take the advantage of the outsourcing and also a complete possession over the resources without incurring the extra expenses.
Posted by Siddharth Sinha
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
The key phrase is: all you need is creativity. Put a great designer to work.
Posted by Landa Williams
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Books and Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
There's really no need for writers to pay to have a website designed.
One way many writers handle this is just using WordPress to manage their content.
Pick the right free theme, change the colors and images to suit you. (Something anybody can figure out how to do pretty quickly online), set a static "landing page" and you're there. You can always change themes at any time.
There are also free templates for sites.
By the way, it doesn't matter how professional you are, there is only so much you can do with "font style" due to the nature of browsers. And picking anything cuter than serif or non-serif isn't all that good an idea.
This is probably one of the biggest money-wasters for beginning authors.
Posted by Linton Robinson
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Books and Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I use GoDaddy because it is inexpensive and easy to use. I can update my website on the fly and I was able to keep my domain name/web address rather than using a long string of letters and numbers for a web address (as would be the case for the freebies). My website is inspiredscribe.com if you'd like to look at it. All the copy and pictures are mine. I simply filled in the blanks using a template I chose. For me, because I like to keep the content up-to-date, it works well.
Posted by Micki Bare
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Design your self .Its a long term independence.Financially cheap. Emotional satisfaction.Practical Viable. what you need more some visibility and traffic.
Posted by amit ghosh
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Either way you must have clear vision about the purpose of your website, and some good ideas about it functionality. Big question: are you prepared to handle the content management, or would you expect anexternalwebmaster to do that? Ihad my site designed professionally, but done insuch a way that I can make the changes myself. I did have to spend half a day learning basic html. If you want a site that is a platform for e-commerce then you must use professionals. On the other hand if the site is basically a marketing platform then you can probably get away with have a professional to set up the site insuch a way that youcan update it. And about once a year go back to your professional for some bells and whistles perhaps. Our website undoubtedly caused significant growth of the sales of our books by amazon, and we treat it 50% as a tool to drive customers to amazon since we don't seekto get into the mail order business ourselves
Posted by Simon Mitton
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
oh Please hire a designer.Nothing looks less professional than those cookie cutter websites.. unless you're a mom and pops' biz… then why not.. my nephew has a dog sitting/training business and I used one of those … but it's a tiny business… I always recommend my clients to redo their website when they have done it themselves. The website is the modern-day business card, and often the first impression.
Posted by Anne aka Ane Howard
As usual, great stuff here Michael. Why do I feel like I might have been a small part of your inspiration behind this post? LOL For anyone reading this comment, Michael has been my savior when it comes to my websites. I have been through tons of modifications/variations of my websites (the first round was really nasty) – all with the expert advice and patience of Michael who not only offered his suggestions and help to me – but also had to answer many of the same questions for than once.
So the net-net here is, if I had been less stubborn and didn't have the strong need to get it done myself, I could have saved myself tons of time if I had hired a professional right off the bat. In my situation, I am glad I did learn the hard way, but for those of you that don't have the time to waste, definitely hire a professional.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Design and Development in 21st century
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It is like having over the counter medication as opposed to Prescription drug. If the ailment is for a common cold the former approach is fine, else you need to see a doctor for prescription drug. So, If your web site needs are very simple you might be OK with designing it your self, if you are totally understand what you are getting into, Else hire a professional. digislate.com
Posted by Dave Vasudevan
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Design and Development in 21st century
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
The many companies that do have a well-designed, professional web presence are industry leaders. Their website’s look great because they’ve employed professionals to develop and market the 'first thing' most of their clients will ever see about them.
Remember that you are in business to build, sell equipment, provide services etc.., not to do Web Design. Save yourself a lot of time and headaches and leave it to the experts.
Posted by Chris Szabo
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Design and Development in 21st century
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Couldn't agree more with Chris! And Dave, that's a great analogy. I'll be using that in the coming months… Thanks!
Brett
Posted by Brett Hart
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I strongly advise colleagues to use skilled, experienced professionals to create and design their websites, then learn how to updates themselves. Website design is an art, and there's a lot more to it than what we see on the surface. You need to use someone who understands, and can implement, all the essential "under the hood" stuff.
Posted by Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Books and Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I remember when everyone was a web designer:)
there are hundreds of thousands of templates and you may mess up a few times but if you start with the simple you should be ok. In fact keeping things simple is one of the best rules you can have for a web page.
A few things i have learned;
I don't do pages people have to scroll down a lot.
I prefer to have links open a new window so people never actually leave the home page.
I don't use flash. Flash is lovely but it is slow for people with narrow bandwidth.
Remember why the Internet was created: to impart information. Not for making a small movie:)
I am sure my web pages seem naive, but as far as I know they say everything that needs to be said and anyone who wants to can go buy the book.
Posted by Daniel Nanavati (LION)
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Beware of so called professionals and companies who make you disabled with jargons even when its just matter of clicks to make a website,unless scripting and coding is involved .some like godady,yola.com,even google and yahoo offer 24×7 and step by step guidance to anyone .you just need a online payment system which is secured and instant .
Posted by amit ghosh
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
@Amit, "disabled with jargons" makes no sense; I have no idea what you're trying to say. And it's godaddy.com. I've never heard of yola.com so I don't know if that's spelled correctly.
It takes a LOT more than a few clicks and an online payment system to create a well-designed, attractive, effective website that works for its owner. It takes a *professional* site designer. It isn't that hard to find a good, reputable, trustworthy designer. To find someone trustworthy and skilled, ask friends and colleagues whom they have used; look at websites in your field and contact the webmasters – or, better yet, the owners – of ones you like; get references for anyone who isn't recommended. Learning to do basic updates isn't that hard, but designing a site properly is a complex process.
You can always have a professional designer create the site, then learn how to make your own updates and change the password so no one else can get access to it. Just be sure that the domain name is registered in your own name on your own credit card, not in the name of the designer or hosting company.
I base my recommendations on having created my own site and had it revamped by a professional website person, as well as having used hosting-company templates to create sites myself. There simply is no substitute for a real pro.
Posted by Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I believe this depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the degree of background you have in marketing writing. My business is wholly word-of-mouth. My website, therefore, serves ONLY as a platform for people who have been referred to me or who otherwise want to check me out. It helps people confirm their choice of me, get to know me a bit better, or make a final choice when they are on the edge. In fact, I don't want to be getting requests from people who have not been linked to me through another connection. So, I used Yahoo's built-in platform. I've had lots of compliments on it. But in fairness to your question, keepin im mind that my clients have all come to know me through a referral and recommendation, so they are prejudiced toward "liking" it. My website only confirms their opinion and fills in knowledge gaps. It's not there to woo and wow but to inform and affirm.
If I were selling some type of service that could be "shopped" easily, where people are comparing price, service, and other factors, I would have a more aggressive site–one that would no doubt require professional assistance. My site is passive, on purpose. It has done its job for me, and cost me only my time plus the hosting fee. In my estimation, for my business, I'm better off putting the time/money into developing new connections with new potential clients than putting the money into custom web work.
Posted by Vince Hyman
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I had my graphic designer build both of my sites. Now I am partnering with him to build sites for some of my clients. He is subtracting through me – I have the client relationship already and he and I know we work well together. We work on the concepts together, he designs and I do much of the content creation for the site. I also work with a team of amazing photographers. I refuse to use stock photos in any of my work.
I agree with Vince. It really depends on what your goal is and our skill level as a designer. I can't even pretend that I know the first thing about building a website – beyond visioning of course.
Posted by Kathrin P. Ivanovic
I am at that stage. Some professional help, but mostly sweat work Have 3 domin names, setting up a blog before the 3 websites.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Design and Development in 21st century
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Wow, it appears that the Lowes "do it yourself" mentality is reaching further and further! I will do my best to explain why you should not do it yourself in less than 10 zillion words.
1. You can't, and shouldn't do everything yourself. Would you build your own desks and chairs too? Unless you are a carpenter, I can almost guarantee that it would be counter-productive and ineffective.
2. Creativity is by no means all it takes to develop a successful website. Experience with online marketing principles such as calls to action, usability, TOMA (top of mind association), user workflow, standards, etc. etc. is a must in order to create a successful website. Like a business plan, a website must be built around realistic goals. Aesthetics are only a fraction of what it takes.
3. Cheap do-it-yourself websites platforms and templates are almost always poorly coded by overseas developers. That's why they are so cheap! Soccer balls and tennis shoes may be sufficient and not require the care and expertise of a competent developer, however a good quality website does. So, look around your office. Do you see quality? If so, don't represent your business with anything less.
4. Being that there are so many options and directions each version of the those platforms could go, there is usually a colossal mess of code "stuffed under the hood." You may not not see it, however your best friend Mr. Search Engine does. The less obstacles for Google the better. Standards also go out the door, and I won't even go into that right now. The abuse of tables is still happening today and it drives me nuts!
I could go on and on, but you should get the picture. So, if you are the type of person that could care less about quality or the image your business conveys, or you are the type of person that would attempt giving yourself a root-canal, then set aside an hour or thousand and do it yourself.
PS, Mr. Cohn you do agree that a reputable business should hire a professional web developer, right? Being that you are in the industry that is…
Posted by Brent Tabor
Brent,
Absolutely!
Those who wrote that they can design a business quality website with just few clicks, make me giggle. 🙂
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Developer & Graphic Designer
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Good question. No, creativity and a hosting company is not enough. If you're serious about starting a business or representing your brand, I definitely recommend hiring professional(s) . I may sound biased because I am a web professional, but there are several good reasons to suggest that.
Although these web platforms that code for you, include free design templates, and may be a more affordable way or free way to slap together something in no time, there are key important elements that may be missing from a website that can effect the success of your business, organization or message and the impression it gives.
Pretend that you are a race car driver and the car represents who you are, but you're not a mechanic or designer. Do you really want to try to build a car from scratch, decorate, and advertise it? Do you want to shop for price, (cheapest over quality who would build and design for you)? Probably not. There are the issue of vehicle safety, speed, power, if others will like what they see, and the question of who and how to target your brand to the world.
This is comparable to building websites. Does the design look professional? Does it define who I am as a business? Does the code meet industry web standards? Does it load fast enough? Will most people be able to access it through their devices (IE vs Firefox vs Chrome, mobile vs computer, text browsers vs regular, visually impaired vs not)? Will they be interested enough to hang out on the site or leave on the first page?
Professional graphic and web designers can present a nice visually appealing presentation that draws. UI & Information Architects organize the content and navigation, to make it the most effective and user friendly. Web developers can produce clean code that makes it more accessible to users and search engines, cross browser/device compatible, and build web applications that make your site interactive. Web marketers can present your brand, your image, expand your presence and draw users to your site and company. There are a lot more roles that are involved, but those are a few. Also note that it's nearly impossible to hire one person who's an expert at everything, so I suggest a web design firm may have all that or a set of freelancers that each specialize in an aspect.
Careful thought and consideration to your website can make a big difference, just like designing a new building for your organization or a shop for your store; you want the best impression and the widest audience (yes, it would be nice to include a slope and elevator for those who are unable to use the stairs). The amount you invest in a website also could be just a fraction of your business, or earnings, that pays off in the long run.
I hope that helps. Good luck!
Posted by Phuc T.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Amit, it's just a matter of clicks to make *a* Web site. But as Ruth and Simon have said, it is most emphatically not just a matter of clicks to make a Web site worth having.
Posted by Benjamin Lukoff
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Editors
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Work with a professional. That's what we did for the three youth sites that I manage (one for kids, one for middle school students, and one for high school students). The group we hired met with us a lot in the beginning to get to know our sites and what we had in mind. We provided detailed documents stating what we wanted, but leaving the artistic and technical creativity open. they know so much more than we do–they're the ones who put time into studying the market, the latest trends, the latest technology. They're the artists who know how the tech will work behind the scenes. They gave us 4 initial designs to pick from. we honed it down to one and turned them loose. It was fantastic. All of us have ownership in the design and the incredible technology.
Posted by Rena Crispin
So, I am not happy with Michael's response that those who feel they can build a website within a few clicks make him laugh. That type of response does not show appreciation for those people who obviously have a different view point. I am an independent contractor and I have “designed” several websites myself to support and generate leads for my business and for other clients within my industry. I did so because I truly wanted the control over my brand and because I was and still am genuinely interested in learning about web design.
But uploading a template or populating a theme with my content is not my definition of design.
I’ve grown up with the DIY mentality of the ehows, self-check outs and easy to use web builder tools or WordPresses of the world. And, I have also learned the hard way that there’s a significant learning curve, one that I was happy to experience because it made me realize that just because I can upload a site, doesn’t mean I should.
But, I understand that when you are first starting out and you are on a limited budget, you can, in some case, start out with the Website Tonights of the world (as this is my opinion, I expect not all of you will agree, which is A ok with me).
But time and time again, when my business was successful, I reinvested into my site. In essence, my website has evolved as I have with Michael’s help along with many others through networking, elance, books, youtube, forums, white papers, etc.
In fact, with all of the money (and time) that I have spent on sites over the years, I probably already paid for a full designer fee, one I didn’t have when I first started out. The easy to use web design tools are meant to get you started. I don’t think the design tools are meant to keep you at that level. And they are certainly not meant to help you with SEO and SEM. That, SEO and SEM, should be done by a professional no matter what because it is very time consuming and it can make or break your business if you rely on web leads.
In the future, I don’t plan to design anything myself. I’ve outgrown the need to DIM (Do it Myself). I rather get the professionals to do it, but since I have some experience now with my failed attempts, at least I know what they, the designers and SEOist, are talking about.
It also helps me to negotiate fees now that I know how much work is involved.
Two cents delivered Michael. I hope I added to the discussion. You certainly hit a nerve with this topic. As always, I love your blogs. I learn and apply. Now time for me to hire!
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Design and Development in 21st century
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Me too Michael. You know what really is lacking in our industry? Consumer awareness.
For example;
If you went to a gas station and gas was 10 cents / gallon you would probably go elsewhere out of fear that their gas was toxic or watered down with baby seal blubber. On the other hand, if gas was 19 bucks / gallon then you would inquire as to why rocket fuel was available at the pump. Approximately $2.50 to $3.50 (depending on where you are) per gallon and you know that what is coming out of the pump is probably good gasoline.
That, my friend, is what lacks in our industry. I dream of the day when people understand what it takes to produce a good website and learn how to avoid an over-priced or under-priced solution.
It's actually really funny. I think every good web developer / owner goes through a "client frustration period" where they just want to give up and start a sod company. If it's green and it's the right type of grass then everyone's happy (no offense to sod co. owners, there's actually a lot more to it then that). Thankfully, I passed that hump a few years ago. Now I am a huge fan of the education sale (vs the confusion sale). I tends to bring in good clients.
Posted by Brent Tabor
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Depends on the objective of the website.
And depends on whether you have the creativity to get to that objective.
Posted by Sumit Roy
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It really depends on the goal of the site. If your goal is simply to post content, then by all means design your own cookie cutter style site. Just don't expect much in return. For more ambitious applications with a goal to drive sales or invoke any call to action, creative is the name of the game and an experienced designer will play a critical role in helping you win that game.
According to new ComScore ARS data, creative quality drives more than half of the sales for digital advertising campaigns which makes creative quality the single biggest factor in the effective impact of your web presence. There is more to be lost than gained by going cheap and a well executed creative strategy and a professionally designed website will be one of the best investments your business will ever make.
Posted by Brian Selden
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Bergen County Business Professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
My wife designed my website. She had no experience in web design or HTML code, just a lot of creativity. She looked at other Accounting websites (I am a CPA) for ideas on what might be helpful to include, and went from there.
Posted by Alexander Rosenfeld
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Please do get a designer. Designers are up to date with the latest trends in user interface design, they will understand how to interpret your brand and manager the whole process leaving you to do whatever you are skilled in. But first and foremost set key objectives before you hire a designer.
Posted by Josh Reeve
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Writing Mafia
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Before you hire anyone, make sure you know what you want the web site to do for your business? Not everyone needs a website, especially if they have a small, referral driven business. I was talking today with a personal trainer, who can get all the new business he needs from referrals through his Facebook page.
If you do need a web site, I agree with Sarah, that you'll get a much better one if you hire a professional. Yes, there are packages and predesigned DIY sites (Intuit, MS Publisher, etc), but they never have exactly what you want or need and you're usually limited as to the number of pages as well. I have done my own site using WordPress, mostly because I wanted to learn the full capabilities of WordPress to offer to prospects. Guess what? I never had time to figure out how to customize all the site's technical features. I'm now partnering with a web designer to better customize my site, and so that I'll be able to offer her technical expertise to my own clients who want a site built from the ground up.
Karen
Posted by K Stoddard Hayes
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It's not really an either-or choice….
I built my editing site myself, off a stripped-down template. That worked because, like Vince's, the site is just a place for the already-interested to find out more about me; the bare bones are all it needs.
For my felting site, I hired a friend who'd done some Web design, then participated heavily in the process so as to get something that matched my vision for the site, which was more complex and fluid than his earlier work. We both learned a lot in the process, and I came out with something I can maintain by myself.
Posted by Hilary Powers
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, & Writing Professionals (no religious/ political discussion)
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It depends on what your website is about and the target audience. Is it about promoting your book? Is it about showing editors your work for future articles? Is it strictly for business writing? Is the target audience narrow or is the target audience consist of people from different sectors?
It really varies when you think about it.
Posted by Lillian Melendez
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I have been in business for 18 months and finally decided to invest money in the elements of my business that I find too challenging or time consuming (this being accounts and web design), allowing me to get on with the areas I am good at! Apart from the practical benefits of this decision, I have found great peace of mind and reduced stress levels, knowing that whilst I am busy being effective elsewhere, an expert is doing a good job with the other areas of my business. It does take time and effort to find the right person for the job but finding the right person makes spending the money, hurt less!
Posted by Jane Pangbourne
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Social Media for the Blogger
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
My vote would be to hire a professional. As a Technical Communicator, I have the ability to design a site using .html, but I won't. I don't want to take the time away from clients and other business responsibilities to put into building my site. A friend of mine asked me to help her with a build-it-tonight-site and we've spent three evenings together and it's not complete. My design knowledge continues to clash with her desires, which have little to do with usability. With my own site (in progress), I can give directions but not do the work. And the professional I am using will use SEO and maybe Adwords to bring the site up in the rating. I not as talented in either of these processes to make the site work well.
Save yourself the aggravation – hire a professional!
Posted by Sandee Hemphill
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
You send in your car to a mechanic, and you have a cleaner come and empty you garbage, why micro manage an area that someone else could perform more effectively, allowing you to truly utilize your skill sets to their optimal use and performance.
Posted by Chad Warford
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Search Engine Watch
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I alway tell potential clients that the biggest costs in a DIY website is lost sales. A professional web designer delivers much more than a good looking site. There a lot of great looking template designs – but will they sell your product?
We all have seen great looking sites that were slow to load, lacked a clear call to action, or were poorly optimized. All of these, and more, lead to lost sales. DIY has its place – just not on a business website.
Posted by Michael Regan
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Professional Bloggers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I agree with Resmi,
However, I have been developing my own sites for the last 10 years.
I currently help others to develop their own site using WordPress. In my experience many small business use programmers to design their site and when they want to make a change they have to wait in line for the programmer to update their sites.
With the WordPress platform, the small business can learn how to manage and update their own sites with minimal help. This platform provide the freedom and control that some small business want.
This is my 2 cents worth. I hope that this helps.
Respectfully
James
Posted by James Roughton, CSP, Certified Inbound Marketer, 6 Sigma BB
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: All About ROI
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I am a firm believer in doing it yourself. After all, you know your business best right? There are some very simple tools out there that any person can find to build their own world class website, including e-commerce shopping carts.
All those silly things like metatags, seo, etc are just marketing hype anyway.
Go for it. If you build it they will come.
Of course if you ask silly and leading questions to drive sales for your company who builds websites, you should expect that someone like me is gonna make fun of you.
Posted by Jim Gilbert
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Professional Bloggers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It really depends on what you want from a web site. There are a lot of factors that are "under the hood" and a good developer will know how to build your site with SEO and other factors in mind.
WordPress and other CMS's are getting much better and plugins can fill in the gap, but you still need to know what plugins to use. A good designer will work with something like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. to give you the look and feel that you want. Then the content is up to you through their easy to use administration.
Posted by William Nickerson
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Facebook & Twitter For Business
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I wouldn't say it is so simple. Here is why, and I am a little biased as an owner of a web design company. I believe just because the tools are available, doesn't mean that people are fit for the job. Home Depot will sell you all of the tools you need to build a store, doesn't mean you should build it yourself.
There are best practices that are established after 20 years of existence that you can't learn over night….your web presence is the most important thing for your business, as I would relate it to a mom and pop computer store doing their own store layout vs a major brand like Apple's stores.
Do you catch my drift?
Let me know if I can help.
Posted by Jason Stephens
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, & Writing Professionals (no religious/ political discussion)
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I designed and created my website. I learned enough html to allow me to do what I wanted to do with it. If in surfing the web I see something on someone else's webpage that I think would incorporate into mine, I do a right click/view source and take a look at the code to see how it was done.
It isn't simple unless you use a ready-made template that some hosting companies have. You are limited when you do that and you will have a webpage that is too close to many others. One of things I always advise an author considering doing a webpage is don't use those ready-made templates like those from WordPress. Be original because you need to stand out.
Posted by Charlotte BoyettCompo
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: New Jersey Bergen County Networking Group
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It is important to hire a professional web design company if you want to increase traffic of your website. All your efforts of web development will be in vain if you do not take the help of professional web designers for designing your website.
With the advancement of technologies, Internet has become the best place in getting information about any service or product. No matter how small or big your business is, its imperative to have a website for your business. This will not only promote your services or products to your targeted audience but also increase the profits of your business.
Posted by Hussein Yousef
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Linked-N Bergen County NJ
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Great article, Michael. You certainly do get what you pay for and I feel that you must hire a professional. Of course, I am somewhat biased as the owner of a company who does web design as part of its repertoire 🙂 But in all honesty, professionals will help a small business extract the most out of its company website. Not to mention, most business owners/directors/managers don't have the time to sit there and build it out. Better to leave it up to the professionals.
Posted by John Ferrughelli
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Freelance Editing Network
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I'm with the commenters here in thinking that website design/maintenance choices should be driven by the purpose of the website. On my "about" page, I refer to my website as an extended resume. For now, I just list my past careers and link to some sites of past employers and colleagues, but I look at my website as a spine or architecture that will eventually allow me to add content and archival material from some of the other things I've done and worked on.
I agree that providing informative content is a good way to attract people to a website; but if they do not need a translation or edit, I cannot sell them one! (Not like a new pair of shoes or an energy-saving gadget.)
Also, I disagree with the statement that unprofessional-looking or "homemade" sites are a turn-off. I am turned off by slick cookie-cutter sites, stock photos (way to go, Kathrin), and repetitive animations.
I enjoy personal sites that contain information that reflects the expertise or obsessions of the owners. The information needn't be comprehensive, but I really appreciate originality and, at minimum, authenticity. Some of my favorite sites boast their original 1998 design. They are rich with information.
My website was a collaboration, and I think it's good to have a second pair of eyes on all my content. My designer has graphic design and web experience, so she is good about recommending features, and she keeps her skills current. Plus, she's also a book editor, so she appreciates my corrections. ;v)
Posted by Paula Gordon
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Publishing and editing professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Creativity and a web-hosting company aren't nearly enough. An effective website takes a professional, skilled person who knows how to do all the complex, sophisticated stuff "under the hood" that makes the site work well.
I've designed my own and used hosting-company templates to create a couple others, and am learning WordPress, but I bow to those who are well-trained in the real deal of site design. I believe in doing my own updates – programs that let site owners do their own updates are reasonably easy to figure out – but using a professional to do the actual underpinnings. That stuff has to be done right, and that takes training, skill and experience. Using a pro for design is an investment in the success of the site and the business it represents.
Posted by Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Publishing and editing professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
That is a good question. I think it depends on what kind of finished product you are able to come up with. I've seen a lot of people who have gone the "do-it-yourself" route and the end product really suffers. Since with any work you put out there you are essentially branding yourself and a poorly designed website can hurt you straight out of the gate. Most people are on a tight budget so I would start with finding a friend who is familiar with designing websites and ask for their help.
That all being said I have also seen people who have built their own websites using fairly easy to use and robust editors and the end product looks great. Having an impartial eyes look over the finished product is always a good idea too.
David
Posted by David Martin
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I understand the complexities involved but "Michael is talking of web design platforms available" .one can hire a chef for a slice of bread,butter with omelet.
Hire only if requirement is complex.
Posted by amit ghosh
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, & Writing Professionals (no religious/ political discussion)
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I agree with both Lillian and Charlotte – with some provisos.
You cannot stand out before people stumble upon you. It would be nice if webpages stood alongside each other so some could stand out, but it's not like that: content is all-important.
Your content determines your route when it comes to websites: what sort of audience do you want to attract? Some people (including some of my readers) don't care about the decor… they come to read what I write, so a template background does the job rather well for absolutely no dollars. Thankfully, I know a few html tags that serve me well.
If my game were more slanted toward the visual arts, I would think again, because what it looked like would be ultra-important.
But my grandfather taught me never to pay for things I can learn how to do myself. So I started by knitting jumpers, and ended up inserting tags etc., half a century later!
Posted by Rosanne Dingli
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, & Writing Professionals (no religious/ political discussion)
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Authors Guild holds specials for its members and designs websites free. You get to pick from 50 or so designs & a dozen or more formats. You can make changes yourself afterwards, i.e. don't have to pay your designer to do so. The site may not be as sophisticated as some, but it's a great beginning website.
Posted by Connie Goldsmith
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Professional Bloggers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
You can get the best of both worlds by asking a designer to provide you with a website in WordPress, so you get a content management system but also the added professionalism of a good design.
Many years ago, when DTP came along, everyone thought they could layout pages and design publications but it soon became obvious that if you want something that looks good it pays to get in the pros – editorial and design.
Posted by Alison Harmer
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Writers World
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Designing your own website requires a certain level of technical competence at the same time as a bit of artistic flair. Many of those that are slef-designed take ages to load, don't move easily between pages, always assuming that they have separate pages, and often look unprofessional, amateur and down market. If that's how you want to present your work…go ahead and design your own.
Posted by Ian Mathie
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Fans of Mashable
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Don´t design youself, everybody should do what he can do best. Ask a nice designer.:) Or if you don´t know anyone, look where you could find a reasonable amount of professionals. Nowadays, crowdsourced online communities are a very good option to find creatives.
Posted by Eva Missling
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: NJ Social Media
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I'm a believer of hiring a professional to do the job right unless a person is extremely talented. You have to consider graphics, logos, layout, plug-ins, and a really clean code for SEO. DIY sites have messy codes and in the long run what was cheap or free will cost you with less traffic. Plus the pros do it often and can complete the job quickly. If none of this matters then a DIY site is fine.
Posted by Robin Birkel
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: NJ Social Media
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Michael – you know your business, and you know what YOU like… in terms of design and color etc. However, YOU are not creating a website for YOU. Think about it – you are making a website to attract others. the main reason you should consider using an outside designer is to gain that perspective of your customers. I have worked with many website owners who love their site – and honestly – their site was terrible. They often called me (when I was doing online consulting) because they weren't getting much good traffic. It was difficult telling them their wonderful site was not very usable or well thought out. so… by using a good designer, that actually gets to know you and your objectives – the results are often much better.
Posted by Stephen Harris
I found your blog on Google and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Linked-N Bergen County NJ
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I get that occassionally from prospective clients, "Why do I need you to set up my blog, blah, blah, blah." And I tell them they're right. They can also change their own oil in the car, paint their own house, grow their own food and home school their own kids. Or hire a professional. Their choice.
Posted by Gene Sower
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: A Solo Business – Solopreneurs And Business Owners
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I still believe it is best to hire a professional. It's not just about setting up a website; it's about key word optimization and SEO optimization. My web designer put up my professional website in 2008 and it was just recently analyzed by another web designer who told me the first one did a top notch job in doing the "behind the scenes" work as well and that if any changes that needed to be made it would be very minimal. My initial investment has certainly paid off. People find me just by "googling" professional organizer and that's the power of a great website. I don't think you can expect to get that if you do it on your own. You can have a nice looking website but if people can't find you, what's the point.
Just my opinion…
Posted by Audrey Cupo – professional organizer
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Medical/Healthcare Communications, Medical Education, Pharma Advertising & Marketing Professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
The most important thing to consider is your message. Next, you need a talented team of writers, graphic designers, and possibly programmers to enhance and present the message in a way that represents your company, branding, and goals. If you don't get it right, your customers will know. Do you have the talent you need in house? If so, you benefit from having a web design team that knows your business and goals already. If not, then by all means, get professional help. It takes a team to develop a good web site.
Posted by Bill Bunting
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Personally I would definitely hire a professional. A website is not a “nice to have” extra that looks pretty it should be delivering some clearly defined objectives for you so I don’t think a bit of creativity is enough.
As long as you create a clear brief, a good agency should be able to create a web site that meets your objectives and customers can easily find on a search. If you can genuinely deliver the same yourself then go for it but those who do it day in day out will probably be able to do it far better.
Posted by Samantha Tonge
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It depends.
It depends what you mean by design. Do you mean look and feel? Navigation? Page structure? Are you including content creation and SEO? What about landing pages and forms? Are you including whether or not I should use flash, blogs, a user forum or other social media content? Or do you mean everything?
It depends what kind of business you're in. Is it b2c or b2b? How narrowly defined is your niche? Is there a technical specialty involved? Can you even find a quality agency that has deep understanding of either the subject matter or psychographics of your target? (Sometimes the only agency with "experience" is the one working for your direct competitor.)
It depends what skills you have inside your company. Do you have designers, great writers, coding, SEO inside your company? Is any part of this a "core competency" of what your business does? (I wouldn't recommend to a PR agency to contract out the writing of their blog, for example. Come to think of it, I wouldn't recommend that to anyone.)
The answer depends on so many things, that I don't think there is a pat answer. It's a little self-serving for all the agencies to chime in, and for an agency person to lob a softball question (lame blog article) out there for everyone to nibble on. In general, there are probably some elements of the work that you should bring in hired guns for, and other parts you should own. Especially if you're in a b2b niche that requires rare subject matter expertise.
So, I don't agree with your blog thesis. You should hire experts for the things you lack adequate expertise or can't do, or which aren't critical to your positioning and business strategy. Those things vary by organization. And most companies should own at least part of their own site.
Posted by Paul Paetz
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Actually Paul does have a good point – but I would think that "design your website" suggests building it from scratch which is very different from owning a lot of the content on the site but I think an awful lot can be done in house if you have the right skills available.
By the way Paul – what do you mean by all the agencies chiming in? I'm not sure many of the commenters here are from web design agencies but I don't think it's unfair of those that are to comment as they are pretty likely to have something to add to the discussion.
Posted by Samantha Tonge
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
@Samantha — fair question. I don't have any problem at all with agencies contributing to the discussion, but I have a big problem with big open-ended rhetorical questions that bias the response, and which are designed to favor the person asking. Michael and the first two respondents all are with agencies doing web design and content. What do you expect them to answer to a question like this?
If there was research data on offer, or case studies that attempted to give analytics that demonstrated the point, and which showed me how better results are achieved, I'd be very open to that, but I'm pretty close-minded about agencies telling me their opinion is that agencies are needed. And, I'd treat the research as more credible if the results were nuanced, and not so black and white.
Of course, I believe that agencies add value, especially when it comes to technical expertise, but it's important to optimize for the results you require, and not simply say "I don't want to drive — here's the keys".
Posted by Paul Paetz
Paul,
Please explain how this article is favoring us.
Please click on the article link and read all the comments left on the article source. Most comments are not from agencies and the comments swing both ways.
You say that you are close-minded, yet you are asking for data, analysis and information. How can we deliver this information to you if you are close-minded? Our blog and articles provide educational information which most people embrace, however we cannot educate someone who is close-minded and is not whiling to be educated.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: A Solo Business – Solopreneurs And Business Owners
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I agree with Audrey! There are so much more to the pretty graphics that you see on a website. As the owner of a web design company, we evaluate your goals, your target market and your competitors and develop a strategy to get you there. Taking into consideration usability and website conversions. After all your website shouldn't be an expense it should produce a return on investment.
Posted by Nicole McCullum
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
@Michael. I think most people who read my comment would parse it correctly. I will try to explain it to you more simply
I am open-minded to data. Results. Numbers. Proof. I will listen to anyone, agency or not, who can offer bona fide evidence that points to a positive result, or any set of results for that matter. When it comes to someone that has a self-interest, I insist on data — their opinions about whether their services are good for me don't matter.
I read your whole article before I commented the first time. I didn't want to be too critical here, but rather thought it best to let others come to their own conclusions about it if they followed the link. However, it strikes me as a lot of re-hashed pablum. Saying something is true doesn't make it so. If you are such a skilled web designer and marketer, then you ought to know that, and you'd also know that offering up real data and studies instead of opinion is not just compelling, but it generates high traffic and tons of leads.
re: educational. I'm not even going to address this red herring. But, I will probably help drive traffic to your site by suggesting that others go read your article and decide if it teaches them anything.
Endgame: If you are selling me something, and the best you can do is say that I need it because you think I need it, then I'm sorry — you'll need to find someone else to sell to me that respects my intelligence.
Posted by Paul Paetz
Paul relax, nobody is trying to sell you anything.
All you were asked for is to answer the question and you are not charged for that.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Linked Business
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Well should you hire a carpenter or build the cabinets yourself? Basically if you want the website to bring you business in the near future than you need to hire a firm that can show that they can design you a nice site in addition to properly optimize that site for being ranked online for what you do in addition to who you are.
Sure everyone and his brother is a web designer and you can buy a loads of decent looking templates for practically nothing though most people who do this end up frustrated that they never get any business from their website. Basically what I ask people is if they want a website that builds their business or do they want one that they have to build the business to? Most people want a website that will build their business but only want to pay for a business card site.
What is a business card website? In most cases it is the sites that are under $1,000. for a 5 to 7 page site. Normally these website will never be ranked and if the designer says they will see what his website ranks for and if it is just the business name then you are going to be getting a business card website.
Of course if you want to do it yourself you will have years of work to really understand the internet and how to achieve rankings. I hope that I have helped you with your question.
Posted by Gary Golden
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: AOL Small Business
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
we did both. as we were trying to figure out dsl extreme we hired a pro. as we worked with him my bus. partner figured it out and built one. the pro site was more professional but we can change our homemade site as we learn and grow without being charged for changes made by the pro. after doing both i think its a toss up as the pro knows a lot more but charges us each time we need something changed where when we want to change something it doesnt cost. Posted by Rich_ Dressler
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Editors
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I will go for professional web designers. They know the deal. It also saves energy and time so that the top leadership can focus on other important issues.
Posted by Munish Kumar
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: B2B Marketing
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Wow, some people get touchy. Um…get people with the skills to do the job properly. Be clear what your goals and objectives are and stay focussed on those. Find the appropriate agency/designer/whatever who you think can best help you to reach that goal. Pay £200 for a website and you get a £200 website – and not much more. That's it really.
Posted by Steve Morris
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Publishing and editing professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
If you want a professional product, hire a professional. Site building tools like wordpress + professionally-built templates can result in a superficially pleasing and workable site. Maintain it yourself, certainly, but if the foundations are not sound the edifice will, sooner or later, collapse.
Posted by Elizabeth Spiegel
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Search Engine Watch
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I have always thought of it as simply a loss of personalization, but that really doesn't articulate it very well. A call to action, optimization, loss if visibility and ultimately loss of sales or loss of reaching a particular group with a message, are all much clearer examples of that personalization. Having these concrete examples is a nice reminder as to the importance of having a website tailored to one's specific needs.
Posted by Marianne Ingrid Moner
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: A Solo Business – Solopreneurs And Business Owners
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Stay focused. You started your business because you had a specialist knowledge or skill so the purpose of your business should be to sell that specialism. It follows that unless that specialism is web design or SEO (and please don't think that those two things are the same), or you've no money, the only answer is to use professionals to do the design and SEO for your business.
Posted by Brian Holt
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, & Writing Professionals (no religious/ political discussion)
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Let me start by first disclosing that in addition to being an emerging writer, I am also a professional web designer. But my input on this subject isn't about promoting me, but commonsense points that all writers need to consider when deciding when to hire a professional.
Hiring a professional vs. DIY is a question authors often ask themselves about a variety of aspects of getting their work out into the world. For example, should I go through a traditional publisher or publish it myself? If I go through a publisher, should I hire an agent or negotiate the contract myself? If I self-publish, should I hire a cover artist or design the cover myself? Should I hire a freelance editor or edit it myself?
With all of today's creative technology at our fingertips, it can be tempting to do it all ourselves. The problem is that while we may have the technology to do something, it doesn't mean we have the experience and understanding the professionals do.
Let's take hiring an agent. Sure we want to hold onto that precious 15% commission. And maybe we understand legalese. But when it comes to negotiating a contract, we lack the insider knowledge that an agent has. We don't know what a given publisher normally pays for a book. An agent does and also has the clout to negotiate in a way we don't because they deal with multiple projects. DIY can cost you much more than the 15%, especially when it comes to audio and other production rights.
Look at designing a book cover. Most self-publish advocates strongly encourage authors who self-publish to hire a professional book artist, even if you happen to be a graphic designer yourself. Why? Because designing a book cover is worlds apart from designing a brochure. It has its own set of rules that non-cover designers don't know about. DIY can cost you a ton in sales.
So now let's look at web design. You can use a template and get stuck with a site that looks like thousands of other sites. Remember that the better looking the template is, the more other sites use it. Also, you can learn HTML, CSS, Javascript and even PHP/MySQL (a must if you intend to go the WordPress or other CMS route). But unless you're involved with the industry, you won't understand the process and principles for what makes one site appealing and another a dud. As with cover design, DIY can cost you a ton in sales.
I think it's great when people can learn to do things for themselves. And as writers, we are very creative and talented people. But professionals who do things for a living have experience and industry knowledge that you can't get from reading a book or two. Sure, we can choose to do it ourselves, but you get out what you put in.
As a writer, your website is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. How will potential readers respond if your website looks like a thousand other template websites? Or looks amateurish like one designed by someone who's read a couple of Dummies books on web design? How much more likely will a potential reader buy your book when your site is professional, unique, engaging and centered around you and your work? DIY can cost you in sales if you don't know the ins and outs of design (including copy writing, CMS, how users typically read a web page, etc.)
Dharma Kelleher
Posted by Dharma Kelleher
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Reputation 2.0
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
It depends on who your target audience is and what your objectives are. If you want to advertise yourself or have a website generating money (aka internet business) then you need professionals. If you simply want to show to the world your resume and display photos from your trips; well, it's not necessary.
Posted by Nikolaos Bonatsos
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Social Media for the Blogger
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I hired a professional to build my website. Yes, I agree that there are many great platforms available. That being said, at the end of the day I wanted my website to be completed in a timely manner and to look professional; my vote is to hire someone if you are not technically savvy and timely completion would be an issue
Posted by Kathryn Davis
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Publishing and editing professionals
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
If you've got thousands to spend, then by all means hire a pro. Most of my clients have pretty tight budgets, however, so I recommend they go the same route I did: Get a WordPress pro to help you customize your WordPress site and to give you some training on site maintenance and updating.
Posted by Sue Collier
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Editors
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
If you're doing it as a personal hobby, design it yourself. It's great fun to learn a new web application like WordPress or Drupal, you can spend your evenings tinkering with it like a 1950s dad with his car, and you'll feel prodigiously proud every time you see it.
It won't, however, be very good. And it'll take ages. If you need a professional site, hire a professional.
Posted by Sam Bueno de Mesquita
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Professional Bloggers
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
This is an age old question. Do you install your own wood flooring at home, even when the store says it's easy to install? Do you do your own taxes, even when there are applications that make it simpler.
It depends on a lot of factors, but just because it is easy to put together a website doesn't mean that the content and the message on the website will be effective. That's where the value is.
Posted by Andres Hernandez
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Search Engine Watch
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
I've noticed that a competent designer using a tool can produce a site that looks good, it can have major issues with how it appears to search engines.
Invalid HTML, poor navigation, excessive file sizes and similar all impact your search engine rankings, and in some cases cannot be resolved within the restrictions of a WYSIWIG design platform.
Posted by Jonathan Elder
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Search Engine Watch
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
IMHO the pitfalls mentioned above by the others here (no offense) can be experienced whether or not you design your site or a “pro” does. While I agree that you’ll stand a better chance of getting a quality result with a professional don’t think for a second that someone who can program HTML or is a master at Photoshop can help you deliver on Your business objectives. This is where I see most businesses fail when it comes to digital strategy execution. Your site may not be about sales – it may be about gaining awareness. Engagement may be the order of the day not lead generation. It is in the clear direction and planning of a website that leads to its success as much as where things are and what color your logo is.
If a company is struggling with what they want from their digital presence, chances are they’ll need much more than a web designer to right the ship. FWIW – I also don’t think its wise to have “a” web designer. Getting locked in to someone’s talent level and style can be equally as detrimental to the success of your site. In the end, if you have a vision you may have folks in your company that can serve a roll but be prepared to supplement with talent that fits the bill. E.g. pick a designer to design not guide marketing principles. With that – read Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think. Plenty of nuggets to inspire thought for sure.
Posted by Aaron Johnson
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Web Editors
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Doing it yourself prepares you for the day you want to hire a professional, if you have the time. I learned so much that way, because I did it myself first, just for fun. By the time I was ready to hire a professional, I knew what I wanted.
Posted by Rena Crispin
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Social Media for the Blogger
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Whether you build the site yourself or have a professional build it for you, a very important element is getting professional advice regarding usability, SEO, and whether the site is social media-friendly.
I have seen many, many sites (built by professionals and by amateurs) that are missing some significant site elements.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller
Posted by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, M.B.A.
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: American Society of Business Publication Editors
Discussion: Should You Design Your Website or Hire a Professional?
Thanks for posting this, because I just had the in-house/vendor conversation yesterday at a meeting in which we looked at RFQ responses for an online magazine revamp. I wish I had seen this article before I went into that meeting; I could have been more articulate in specifying why I want a vendor! But outsourcing is the way we're going to go, so nothing lost.
Posted by Maryann Gorman
Lovely Website, Preserve the useful job. Appreciate it.