Webdesign: DIY or hire a pro?
Many businesses, organizations and people are realizing that having a presence on the web is becoming more and more important. The web is in all our lives now, not only at home and in the office, but also on the move on mobile devices such as tablets and cell phones. Because of this, more and more websites are being created each and every day and it is extremely important to have a very well constructed website. It's also becoming easier and easier to create websites, so the question is what to do - webdesign, DIY or hire a professional?
It should be clear why a well designed website is important, but it should also be understood that there is more to designing a site that is merely pleasing to the eye. Like most products, design of websites falls into three parts - functional design (how the site actually works), aesthetic design (what it looks like) and ergonomic design (how easy the site is for the user to use).
If you have a good understanding of these design elements, then DIY your site would be a good option to choose. You don't even need any coding knowledge if you use a program like Adobe's Dreamweaver, or better still software such as Wordpress whereby you can have a fantastic looking website up in a matter of hours. These are both low cost solutions although there are learning curves to conquer.
DIY webdesign is the way most personal websites are produced and also small businesses and organizations, because of their low cost. However, if you want something more complex, then hiring a professional is the better way to go.
A professional will design your site with your needs in mind and will also have plenty of other ideas in which he can produce a better site for you. He will also have some knowledge of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which he can help get your site good rankings on Google (after all a web site is only useful if it has visitors).
Whichever route you take, it is essential that your site stands out from the rest. Firstly it has to be pleasing on the eye, colors should complement one another, and there should be good compositional balance across the site. Pages need to load quickly and all images need to be optimized so they are small in size, but still maintain good visual quality.
A good best way to get ideas to implement on your site is to surf the web and see what's out there. Google "top 10 great websites" and you'll be presented an array of lists from all kinds of sites linking to sites they perceive as being good website design. As with everything, research is critical not only with how your site looks, operates and feels, but also with your content. You always want people to come back for more.
It sounds a lot of work and it is, but if you want to step out from the competition you need your site to have that something extra, that wow factor. So whether your webdesign is DIY or you hire a professional, it needs to look good, it needs to work well and it needs to bring people back for more.