Who is the Best Choice To Design and Build Your Website?
Designing and building a professional, functional website that promotes your company in its best light is critical to the success of marketing your product or service on the Internet. Therefore, choosing how you will implement your website project is probably one of the most important marketing decisions you will make.
Making the right decision for your business requires that you understand what options are available to you, and there are a few to choose from. Of course, for many small businesses, cost becomes the dominating factor in deciding how to design and build a website. For this reason, it is important to consider ALL related costs including hardware, Internet access, web design and development, hosting and maintenance, and future growth functionality.
Basic Needs
Once you've taken care of the basics such as computers, software, internet costs etc, you need to decide how you will design and build your website. Below are the four main ways to get a website up and running for your business and the approximate costs related to each.
1. Do it yourself
The least expensive (but most time consuming) option is to design and build a website yourself. There are many do-it-yourself software programs out there which allow you to design and build a basic website. There are even programs which offer drag-and-drop template software which takes some of the guess work out of website design.
The cost of the doing it yourself makes this option very attractive to small business people. The cost of buying web design software is $250 and up, and template websites can cost as little as $12 per month or free.
Nevertheless, the cost-savings of the do-it-yourself option may be outweighed by the time required to design and build your own site. If you are a novice with computers, this is time that may be better spent doing what you do best - building and growing your business.
Before choosing to build your site yourself, ask yourself: Do I possess the necessary design skills and knowledge of website functionality and navigation? Am I willing to put in the time it takes to learn to use the necessary web authoring software, and gain enough web administration skills to maintain the site?
If you do not have a full set of skills, your efforts may end up costing you more than anticipated and can be stressful and ultimately a complete waste of time and money if it doesn't work out. If Search engine ranking and search ability is important, then this is probably not your best option.
For do-it-yourself templates, check out www.templatemonster.com, www.sitedynamo.com, freewebsitetemplates.com or try a search in Google for free templates.
2. Hire a student
Hiring a student can be a cost-effective option for a small business owner on a budget. A skilled, enthusiastic student can design and build you a basic website. The cost of the hiring a student depends on the nature of the relationship. You may be able to hire a student for as little as $25 per hour or even on a contra basis.
To save time and money, and ensure you get exactly the site you want, you may want to consider buying a template website and have a student incorporate your content and customise it for your purposes.
Keep in mind, a student is still learning not only how to design and build websites, but also about how to interpret a client's needs and wants, and balance them against a site's required functionality. If you require anything more than a basic brochure website, to avoid costly mistakes and ensure you get a site that can be easily and cost-effectively upgraded, you'll want to consider hiring a professional instead.
3. Hire a freelance designer
Hiring a freelance web designer/developer means hiring a professional who has the necessary web design skills and knowledge, yet doesn't have the overhead of a traditional design house.
The pros and cons of hiring freelancers:
Pros
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They are generally less expensive than a design firm.
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A freelancer offers a direct line of communication - you are only dealing with one individual as opposed to a whole team thus avoiding communication problems.
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They usually provide trouble-shooting, maintenance and upgrading services at reasonable rates.
Cons
Costs of hiring a freelance designer really depend on market demand. Freelancers will sometimes charge on a per project basis, but more often charge by the hour. Current rates average $60 to $80 per hour. A well designed, professional but basic website can cost as little as $2,000 through a freelancer.
4. Hire a design firm
If cost is not an issue, you have complex development needs, and you want a full-service approach from a team of professionals, consider hiring a design firm. Web design firms will assign your project to a team of professionals such as a project manager, creative director, designer, developer and Internet marketer. Staff will work together to ensure all aspects of your web development project are in sync. Web design firms may also offer print work to ensure their clients online and offline messages are complementary.
Web design firms often charge a flat fee for an entire project, and their hourly rates average from $100 to $150 per hour.
Keep in mind, the purpose of your website will determine the complexity of the task of building it. For example, if you are selling a product and want to take payment directly through your website you will need to incorporate payment and security tools. Similarly, if you want to automate your supply chain management, your site will require the ability for real-time processing of large amounts of data. As purpose varies, so does development complexity and with this, price. More graphics, more functions, more tools require more time, more maintenance and more money.
Bunbury Web Design is a freelance web design business with 8 years of hands on experience including 3 years of University experience in Computer technology, majoring in Design, (with a University Deans list commendation), Certificate 1, 11, 111, 1V Computer Technology at TAFE, Certificate in Dreamweaver Advanced, intensive work experience at Bunbury Graphics, Bunbury Mail Newspaper, Busselton-Margaret River Times, 3 years of self taught web design (before courses were available) and graphics in Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and various other industry standard programs. Constant and continuing research in Search engine Optimisation, web standards and technology.
Passion for web design motivates towards excellence!
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