Web Site Design

Your Business Website

Who Should Design It?

by Kenneth Catto

Anyone in the business world knows that when someone asks, “What’s your website address?” you better have a URL to give them. They don’t want to hear “I don’t have one yet” or “I’m working on it”. Having an established, professional looking website, always scores credibility points for the business owner.

Of utmost importance though...it is far better to not have a website than to have a nonprofessional, cheesy looking site. You will do much more damage to your business by portraying your company in a less than top-notch light.

If you don’t have the knowledge, skills or abilities to produce an outstanding design yourself then hire a professional web designer. Web designers aren’t cheap, but that’s no reason to cut corners. Rework your budget or possibly try to barter for all or part of the work to build your website.

You can save yourself time and money if you have your website copy written. Provide your web designer with the text and the layout of how you want it to look. Offer color schemes. Send links to other sites that you admire. Of course, you never want to copy someone else’s site, but by giving your designer an idea for the theme you’d like to have, the process will go much more quickly.

The more work you can you do up front yourself, the easier it will be on your pocket book. Many designers work by the hour. If you want to have lots of links in your website, spell that out clearly. Ask your designer if you should submit your text and ideas in a Word document or if they would prefer it some other way. And make sure to forward any photos you want to use to your web designer. Web designers are not mind readers. Most will do as many edits as you like, however you will be charged for each edit.

There are many "quick and easy" web design companies out there, advertising that you can have your website up in an hour. And there are many canned templates that you can use which are very user friendly. But, keep in-mind that most of these tools are for beginners. They will not provide a professional looking site. If it’s your business, the one you’re trying to make profitable, image is everything. Don’t try to cut corners in this area.