If you are considering if you want to Build Your Own Website or hire a professional website builder, then you certainly have several considerations you should make.

What is Your Website Building Budget?

If you are operating on a shoestring budget, then you have a few options:

Outsource For Low Cost Custom Design

Services such as GetAFreelancer allow you to find designers at a very low cost, compared to most US based design firms.  However, be forewarned, you must be VERY careful when describing your project, and most importantly very SPECIFIC as to what you want.  If you select a service provider from another country, observe their communication via message boards to you, to see if there is too much of a language barrier to effectively communicate.  Although this can be very very low cost, it can sometimes be a case of you get what you pay for.

Utilize A DIY Online Website Builder

There are hosting companies who also provide simple online DIY ( do it yourself ) website builders that are simple and very easy to use, but also provide a professional looking, and relatively customizable design.  Features such as contact forms, galleries, polls, calendars, and so forth, are all available.  One of the best services for this is found here.  This particular service provides you with hosting, domain, and the ability to both design/setup, and then maintain your own site with a point and click interface.  No HTML knowledge is needed.

Find Someone To Build Your Website On Craigslist

This can be hit or miss.  It is vital to ask for examples of prior website design work, so you can see their style, and if you have a specific design in mind, send it to them or any possible designer!  Like with the getafreelancer service or any other designer / web development company, you have to be specific about what you want.  You should provide pictures, and if at all possible as much content and information as you can.  If you expect a website designer to construct everything, without providing ANY guidance, you may wait a long time for completion and get frustrated in the process.  Get all your ducks in a row, pick an example design, find a responsible person, and go for it.  This may NOT be the CHEAPEST option however, and you will still need to get your domain/hosting setup with a service like MyHosting.com.

Building A Website With A Template Found Online

Templates can be found online from FREE (not usually the best looking ones), to $50-$100 or so.  Services like FreeWebsiteTemplates can get you started.  However, this is NOT the EASIEST option.  You will need to still be a little tech savy and have a working knowledge of HTML to get this setup properly, OR buy the template you like, and send it to a developer to customize.  You will need hosting, a domain, need to change out text, possible move some elements around, so this option may be a waste if you are not prepared to use an FTP program, do not know how to setup hosting/domains, and do not know basic HTML.

Work With A Reputable Website Design Firm

If you are NOT on a shoestring budget, but are more concerned with the quality of your design and/or you require advanced functionality of some type, then you will simply have to break down and pay for a professional developer to design and build your site.  We work with several reliable, affordable, and reputable designers/developers, so simply contact us for a quote on design that is search engine friendly.

Whether you decide to use the DIY Online Website Builder, decide to hire a design firm, decide to outsource your website design, find a simple website builder on craigslist, or decide to build your own website with a website template, you may find it easiest to bring on some professional consulting help along the way.  If you are interested in speaking with us along your journey to launch your business, or simply to upgrade your image or marketing strategy, please do not hesitate to send us a note.  We wish you the best!