As more and more people and businesses go online to establish their veritable web presence, the first and most common dilemma most budget conscious purveyors of the “get online” movement will face is to pay or not to pay for web design.
It used to be that you had to pay. In other words, the time and money spent in purchasing and learning the software required to build your own site was a monumental task. Not to say that a few didn’t tackle it, albeit with a longer term purpose in mind that included creating multiple websites. Regardless, most people would not have considered building their own site.
Today, the possibilities of setting up your own website at a minimal to no cost are quite real. A number of hosting and online media sites offer free templates for creating your own website–and often in a matter of minutes!
So, what are the limitations to “doing it yourself” versus hiring a trained professional? Consider this example: Let’s assume you want a portrait of your favorite breed of horse to hang on your wall. There is a sketch book for sale that will allow you to select from any number of pre-drawn outlines of this breed of horse, and all you have to do is pick a color and fill it in.
On the other hand, you can hire an artist to draw a rendition of this horse. So, which do you pick? Well, cost may be the first issue, but not the only one. How badly do you want an authentic drawing? Is it one that will cover a prominent wall or simply grace the dark corner in your study? Do you want to play a part in creating it and hopefully learn further, or is having the professional touch more important?
A similar approach can be used in selecting between the free template designs of a website, or hiring a professional for total customization.