• Tweet

• Tweet

So you need a business website?

It costs money right? And it’s hard to find a local, reliable web designer who can work within your budget? So you’re going to do it yourself (or get nephew John to do it for £50, after all, he is a computer whizkid at only 13 years old)? Maybe you’ve seen those cool flash website templates, complete with music for only a few £’s– “that’ll do nicely!”

BUT what about-

• Registering the right domain name?
• Setting up email accounts for all the staff?
• Getting the right type of web space to host the site?
• Adding a web form?
• Web design software… Do you have any installed?– Oops! that will cost hundreds of ££’s!

So… maybe web templates aren’t so cheap after all?

And lets not forget… you’d still need to find a few hours/ days to do this, so maybe you’d be better selling your product/ service, and leaving this stuff to the professionals?

Well, a good web designer is undoubtedly worth the money if you have the budget. He/ She will build you a customised web site with your business logo, snazzy imagery in your brand colours, nicely laid-out text and menus. They may add a little Flash animation to create impact and an online form that helps your prospective customers contact you from the website. SOUNDS GREAT! But your website needs to do a lot more than just look pretty!

The more professional and experienced web designer will go a few steps further, beyond the looks & feel of a site. He/ She will make sure the code is validated to W3C standards, it is accessible to the disadvantaged, it works in all modern browsers such as Internet Explorer, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera and Safari. They will ensure the content is optimised with keywords for Google, Live and Yahoo, etc. They will test all links work. They’ll submit the site to the search engines that matter, and best of all, they will give you honest and practical advice on all things web; stuff they have learnt over the years.

Because they’re experts!

DIY web templates, and free website creation softwares are just the beginning, and if looks got you to the top of Google then I’d say GO FOR A FREE WEBSITE TEMPLATE. BUT- the reality is, the web is too big and competitive for you not to get a web designer in.

If you are serious about your website being a major part of your online marketing mix then our opinion is get a web designer– it’ll pay for itself eventually! Yes, there are thousands of web templates very cheap, and sites that allow you to create a free personal website- but Google , live, and Yahoo top 10 rankings don’t seem to list them. Not only this, but you’ll also have them plastering adverts right across your site!

If you really want to be taken seriously on the internet- Don’t use free web templates, or online site builders- enough said!