When needing a website, many people ask themselves whether they should hire a professional to design their site or tackle it alone. With all of the free busines, blog, ecommerce templates and other resources online, it may seem that designing it alone is a better option than going to the expense of hiring a professional. However, there are many other considerations than the cost of having the website created by a pro.
The “return on investment” factor
Hiring a professional will certainly cost more up front than creating it yourself. However, that isn’t the only cost involved. Consider this common scenario: prospective customers and clients see your website and notice that it looks like one of the multitudes of sites created with free templates. It doesn’t look professional and it doesn’t have any of the virtual bells and whistles that buyers now expect from the sites they frequent visit. They leave and go to a site that does look professional.
When you consider that this will likely be a common occurrence when your website isn’t professionally designed, you begin to see the real costs involved. The cost to your business over time will be far more than you spent to hire someone to design your website. The return on your website creation investment continues to pay over time and is unlimited. The loss of customers that may leave when they don’t like the look of a website is also unlimited.
Facing the online competition
The web is now so crowded that virtually anything sold or advertised online has an enormous amount of competition. Your prospective customers or clients know this. They know that if your site doesn’t strike them as a professional one, they can simply go elsewhere. That’s why it’s more important than ever to make sure that your website is the best it can be. Anything less simply doesn’t cut it in today’s world.
Adding to the competition factor is the trust factor. With so many websites out there, people are wary of which sites they can trust. Doing business with a company depends a lot on how professional that site looks. If there are mistakes on the website or areas that look less than professional, this is a red flag to many people. They don’t want to get taken, and they exit the site as quickly as they can to avoid any problems. If the site looks thoroughly professional, with each page instilling confidence, even a new and unknown site will feel like a safe place to do business.
The perils of the homemade site
If losing out on countless customers or clients isn’t bad enough, you must also consider what you stand to lose personally. If you aren’t a pro at website creation, you may spend weeks trying to learn everything that is necessary to create your site. And after all of that time and trouble, the site still won’t have everything it needs. You will have wasted an enormous amount of time that could have gone to your business.
If you let a professional fix your car, reroof your home or deliver furniture, you know how much time and trouble it can save to hire a professional to handle something important. Why is the creation of your website any different? Remember the future return on your website creation investment, and you will have no trouble seeing how important it is to hire a professional to create it.
While it may cost more at first, and it may seem difficult to justify, it’s usually best to get a professional to create your website. However, you don’t want to throw your hard-earned money away, so be sure that the person you choose does great work, is worth what they charge, and comes with a contract to protect you if you aren’t satisfied with their work. If you put a little research into choosing a designer that is a good match for you and your new site, you’ll get the product you want and set up your site to be successful.
[box]Written by Thomas Hathaway
Thomas Hathaway is a financial consultant and content contributor to paydayloans.org.uk, a site to get instant loans when you’re short on cash and need a little help.[/box]
I agree with the return of investment factor. It always a good idea to invest on a professional looking website. Having a professional looking website will surely contribute to the traffic that it can generate specially if it has good information on it. Having a little gain is a lot better than a loss is my principle in doing business.
Great article Thomas. I really think that hiring a professional is important unless you know how to build a website yourself. If you’re going to draw people to your site, the site has to look professional enough hence, a professional web designer. It may cost you a lot but if you look at the long term effect, I’m sure you got a great deal.
Thank you, now I will never get another website to build. haha. You make some valid points regarding people can build their own site’s.
But, we know it takes a certain individual to be able to step back and not see the greatest thing ever.
People can still MESS-up a downloadable theme or template and claim to be a “Designer” . I am not a designer.
You know as well as all in the web biz, there are some really bad sites just clearly slapped together.
Thanks for the article, good stuff here.
Unless you know pretty well how to do create a website and make it look user friendly, it is better to hire a professional web designer because they can help you design a good looking website that will most definitely contribute to the traffic that it can generate.
Web design is something I have no interest (ok no skill at) in, so I’m forced to look for designers to take care of customizations, and redesigns. This is like most other areas online in that once you find a reputable designer it’s probably best to stick with them.
There are a ton of so called “experts” with little to no skill who are only interested in picking your pockets. Once you find a couple of good designers, make sure you get their phone number on speed dial, and stick with them!
I agree that in cases like this that it can save a lot of time and money to hire someone to do what we have no interest or skills in. I have done much of my website on my own because I know a lot about web design but I hired someone to design my header and logo and I’m so glad that I did – and I’ve gotten a lot of great compliments on them too!
HI Thomas, I agree wholeheartedly and in fact I’m working on this myself.
We all are good at ‘something’ but not everything and as you say, letting a professional take care of your site is definitely the best way to go if it’s going to mean the difference between having an a amateur looking site and one that ‘wows’ them!
Jayne
I believe it’s worth it to make a research and find the right person that designs one’s site according to his or her personality and the marketing message one wants to convey.
There is always a creative way to have a site look ggd professioanal and unique.
Knowing what one wants is the basis before investing.
Hi Thomas,
I absolutely think it is worth it to hire a professional web designer. I have a friend who built his own blog and it took him a couple of months to do it. I paid a professional to create my blog and she did it in a couple of days. Not only did she create the blog, but she tweeks it and makes updates on a regular basis. Her services were well worth the minimal amount of money that I spent.
I agree with you, Thomas. “You get what you pay for” is certainly true with web design. DIY approach is not bad if you have the time and the talent. But time is money and you may be better off putting your time somewhere else. Find a pro to do it, but very clear about what you want.
Hiring a web designer is a great investment. We are visual people and when something looks good it catches our attention. I designed my site myself, but I need someone to help me with my header. The way I want it done is impossible for me to do it on my own.
I’ve run several businesses and have always had a professional web designer. I really think branding is so important to business and whilst I can use WordPress I’m not a designer and am a great believer in focusing on what you do best and outsourcing the rest.
Hi Kostas,
Some things have to looked at as the cost of doing business, hopefully you can afford to pay it. I recently read a post by Ana Hoffman about the different things that affect the readability and the way doing things certain ways keeps people reading and buying. This relates to your idea of having a blog designed by a professional. Keep up the good work!
Lou