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Home  Online Wealth Developing Your Website
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Page 6 of 6
Web Designer Choices
Step #6 - Design Your Own Site vs. Choosing a Web Designer
Depending on your creativity and the type and size of website you are trying to create, it can be both challenging and time consuming, but rewarding to do it yourself. However, trying to design a website using while learning html or xhtml can be too time consuming and take you away from your real purpose, which is to get a site up and running right? So, you might want to try the template route, which can give you choices of several templates, allow you to choose your menu buttons, change colors, setup sign up boxes, content pages and more.
Your Women About Biz hosting package comes with two types of online template builders: Site Build It and Site Builder. Both of these can be used for basic websites that don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, but provide a professional appearance.
Click here to learn more about site builder.
Choosing a Web Designer
If you feel that you are too busy to deal with the logistics of developing your website then your time would be better spent planning your content and contract a professional web designer. A designer can a custom design a more robust template or custom build a site based on description of what you would like to see your site look like. This is one of the reasons why you should review other websites in your business industry before you start working on your own, because you’ll get a chance to see basic to advanced and know where you want to fit in and provide your designer with sample sites that you like. This will help to get the creative juices flowing.
When choosing a web designer keep in mind that it’s all about show and tell. A designer can brag all day about how good and knowledgeable they are, but as they say, “the proof is in the pudding”. A good web designer should have a sample of website projects that he/she has worked on in the past. A few testimonials and references would be good as well.
Some web designers can be very “A” personality and want you to give them everything right the first time and seem to get upset or impatient quickly if it’s not done on their terms and then there are some that make you feel right at home and can help you to organize your thoughts regarding your site and make it a smooth process.
Make sure when meeting with your potential designer that you discuss their expectations and how they work with their clients. Also make sure a timeline is set for your project, so you can set content goals and have everything ready that you designer will need.
Probably the biggest thing to remember about working with a web designer is that they won’t do anything until you have provided them with your layout requests and basic content. The content allows them to properly design the site infrastructure and ensure that the navigation and user-friendliness is implemented.
Last but not least, choosing a web designer has a lot to do with your budget, level of design you’re seeking, creativity style of the designer and personality match. Just because a web designer is expensive doesn’t mean that they can build a website to the way you like it and just because a designer is on the low side doesn’t mean that they are building you a substandard site. Again, it’s really about that sample portfolio, testimonials and referrals.
Step # 7- Setting A Budget
Website design fees can range anywhere from as little as $99 to as much as $25,000 or more. The question to ask yourself is how much do I have to put towards having my site design? Keep in mind that your site is a work in progress, so everything doesn’t have to be done all at once. You can have a basic and professional site done now and add more features to it later or have a more robust site with bells and whistles built later as your company grows. Don’t break the bank trying to build your site!
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The African American Experience
Black Genius
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