Hire a Professional Web Site Designer - Yes or No?

We've all seen them. Those web sites that have blinking text, clashing colors, huge graphics and music that starts playing, making you jump out of your chair! And worse yet, you discover that it's a business web site. It may even be difficult to tell what the business does.

These days every business needs a web site. Unfortunately, this is a place where many business owners scrimp. They ask their 13 year old nephew to create one. Or, they use one of the many do-it-yourself web design programs or systems out there. Some are inexpensive. But if you go with one of these, you may not be getting the website your company really needs.

An experienced, professional web site designer knows how to create an attractive, easily navigated site that will appeal to visitors. A professional designer has studied color and how it relates to the web. An experienced web developer knows that people use different web browsers and designs so the web site layout will work in all of them. He or she will know how to optimize graphics for the web, will have learned and kept up with the techniques for rankings in Google and other search engines. A good web designer will walk you through the process so developing your web site is not a chore.

It takes time and dedication for a serious web designer to learn everything there is to know about designing for the web. It takes ongoing education. It takes experience. An experienced web designer can give you so much more than a template or do-it-yourself program can.

Here's another way to look at it: Did you make your own business sign or did you use a professional? Did you put your own plumbing in or do your own electrical wiring? Unless you have the specific training to do those tasks, you probably hired a professional. The same should be true of developing your web site.

Your web site will be seen by people all over the world. When people visit your site, they form an opinion about your business based on what they see. If your site is hard to navigate, is unclear about what you do and takes forever to download, their perception of your business declines. It's as if they walked into your physical store and found dirt and dust everywhere. That is not the impression you want to make.

The fact is that the public expects a business to have a professional looking web site that provides them with the information they need. Unless a business owner has the time and skills to create such a site, he or she should seriously consider hiring a web professional.