Do it Yourself vs. Outsourcing to Website Design Company

By: Wildfire Marketing Group Content Distribution Team Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Almost every company these days can benefit from a properly executed online presence, in fact, people expect it. For a new, small or struggling business, however, the big question is whether to take a do-it-yourself approach, handling the planning, graphic design, coding, search engine optimization and implantation on your own, or to invest in the services of a professional website design firm.

It's more than just a question of money however. It's also a question of time, your skill level and desired outcome, and numerous other details. Before deciding which choice is best for you, be sure to evaluate all of the details that should impact your decision.

Cost

At first glance, it may seem that the do-it-yourself option is free; it's not. Even if you do understand how to design a website, you still have to sit down and do it, which takes time. If you choose this option, estimate how long you think it will take and compare that to the value of your time. If you know that you can make $75/hour by focusing on your core business, and you think it will take you 40 hours to finish your own website, you will be using up $2,960 worth of your time. Something else to think about - even those of us who design websites everyday sometimes underestimate how long a specific project will take. Since you don't design websites everyday it will probably take you longer than you first estimate.

The cost to hire a web design firm can vary considerably. You may find some firms offering to design a website for a few hundred dollars, and you'll probably come across an equal number of firms charging several thousand dollars. As with anything else, you get what you pay for, so if you do hire a web design firm, you should avoid those with rock-bottom prices. You shouldn't take that to mean that you should necessarily look for the highest priced firms either. A truly professional and skilled firm will spend some time to learn about your needs and goals before starting any work on your website.

Capability

Is designing your own website is just as simple as buying a copy of Photoshop and Dreamweaver, right? The short answer is no. Access to, or even mastery of these robust programs doesn't mean that your website will work properly. There are several more issues that if overlooked, can have a dramatic and negative impact on the effectiveness of your website. For example, a WYSIWYG code editor, such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage will almost always produce sloppy, invalid HTML. While this might not seem like a big problem, especially if everything displays fine in your web browser, there can be a vast quantity of issues going on {{{under the hood|behind the curtain. A poorly coded website can display improperly in other browsers, prevent search engines from spidering your content, or load slowly, to name just a few potential pitfalls.

One of the major benefits of hiring a web design firm is that they already understand the potential roadblocks that may arise and how to solve them. This means that in addition to a better end-result, your website will be completed sooner. They can also tell you if an idea that you have may be ineffective, or even detrimental to your online goals.

Support

If something stops working with a website that you've designed yourself, you may find yourself in a position where you have to quickly find a web design firm to fix it right away – which usually means rush fees! This can happen more often than you think; websites that worked perfectly when they were initially designed can suddenly stop working or display incorrectly when a new version of a web browser is released. If you've designed your own website, you won't have anyone to turn to if this happens.

Your website itself is only one part of your online presence, and if you don't know what else you need, you may find that you don't know what questions to ask or who to ask them of. It doesn't take long to get confused, frustrated and even overwhelmed.

Working with a web design firm, however, means that you have expert guidance by your side at every step along the way. They can recommend a stable, cost-effective web host and domain registrar. They know if you need a dedicated IP or an SSL certificate. They will be able to help you set up a merchant account.

The bottom line is that there are pros and cons to either decision. You'll need to evaluate your circumstances, budget and schedule to determine which is the best for you.

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