Whether you’re designing the website yourself or hire a professional web designer depends on several very important factors. One of the most important thing to consider is the level of expertise that you or your employees have the necessary web technology to create an attractive, professional looking site that functions as you wish. The decision not to make it even comes down to your skill level, the features you want or need, the image you want to project for your site and the time you need to build the website.
Some of the skills necessary to design and build a website are:
* HTML knowledge – some basic knowledge is necessary, but good web design software can help.
* Artistic ability – a good eye for color and overall good taste is needed for a web designer to create an attractive website.
* Graphical software expertise – some knowledge is necessary to produce attractive clean images and website graphics. It is also necessary to optimize images for the smallest possible file size for quick loading.
* Navigation Expertise – Understanding functionality of site navigation design and implementation is a critical skill.
* Programming – you can use CGI, JavaScript or a database programming to add interactive web pages or integrate it with an online database.
* Marketing and business experience – whether you are building a personal website or a company website, there are some large commercial and marketing aspects to be taken into consideration right from the start deisgn phase of the website.
What if I can not do all that?
If you do not have neither the time nor the skills necessary to build your own website, you can hire a professional to do all or part of it for you. A good place to find a professional web designer is one of the many freelance work sites available. These freelance job boards allows you to recruit people with expertise you need: web designers, programmers, SEO specialists, writers and more. It may be a person or an entire team of individuals. Alternatively you can hire a local web design firm. Freelancers are usually cheaper, because many of them live in countries where there is a 5:1 ration in wages. That means $ 1 in the USA is equivalent to $ 5 in their country. So pay them $ 5 an hour is like paying someone U.S. $ 25 per hour, which is the minimum price you can recruit people with the necessary knowledge.
Content writers who are native English speakers charge from $ 0.05 per word and up. Non-English speakers can be rented for about $ 0.02 per word. But if your site is in English, you probably want to hire a native English speakers to write your content.
Make sure you notify the web designer, web developer or copywriter you hire exactly what you need to achieve. A good website designer understands how to build internet marketing instead designed to make it search engine friendly.
What does outsourcing cost?
For a mere five or six page website, expect to pay somewhere between $ 100 for just web design and $ 1,500 for the entire site with graphics and content. For a more complex interactive website you can pay from $ 500 for just the programming of $ 10,000 and up to the entire website.
It is all a cost in your time as well. You will manage the project: to write project specifications, spend time writing emails to a freelancer, doing some quality assurance testing, etc. In some cases, you’ll discover, develop a website in-house can be cheaper than outsourcing it.
Remember, it’s not always about money. If you already have an established corporate brand, you probably want to seriously consider hiring a professional web designer to make sure that you can maintain your brand and present it professionally to your website.
In Conclusion
The decision to hire a professional web designer or building site itself depends on what skills you have, how much time you can spare and really, whether you want to do the work themselves.