Guest author: Andrea Wilson
Why Hire a Professional Web Designer?
Why Hire a Professional Web Designer? By Andrea Wilson
The Internet is cluttered with badly-built Web sites that do nothing to promote the owners' businesses.To set your own Web pages apart in this sea of garbage and make them effective at turning visitors into customers, you have to know what you're doing. That takes training, study, an eye for design, the right tools and the time to do it properly.
Without proper training and without the right tools, building an effective Web site becomes a long, difficult process. The results are usually poor and do nothing to advance your business online.
Do-it-yourself vs. Professional?
You can liken it to building a roof on your house. Do you do it yourself or hire a professional? Most of us hire a professional so we can be sure our new roof will match the house, look attractive, stay put in a high wind and keep the rain off our heads. In other words, so that our new roof will be effective at what it's supposed to do. If we attempt to build it ourselves, we put that at great risk... unless we undertake to become a professional roofer! (Or Web designer, in our case.)
What About Web Templates?
Can you buy a prefabricated roof? Not really, because every house is different. You can buy prefabricated trusses for your roof, though, but you'll need a professional to install them. The same can be said for Web templates. With the right amount of professional help, prefabricated templates can work okay for you. They won't be custom-made for your business, because every business, like every roof, is different. And you might see someone else's Web site using the same template, but a template might do in a pinch.
"Instant" Web Building Tools
By the way, there are some tools out there that purport to make designing a Web site simply a matter of "filling in the blanks," so to speak. But be warned, those fancy-looking examples they showcase will have been put together by a Web professional. If you don't know HTML, CSS and good design principles, your results will be hokey and amateurish, no matter what tool you choose. If you want to use such a tool, find one that allows you the most design flexibility. My recommendation is XSitePro. There is a tremendous support community for XSitePro. On their forum you'll find excellent help with any aspect of Web design and Internet Marketing.
If you're going to do it yourself, no matter what tool you choose, hire a professional Web designer to create a custom, professional design for you. At least this will give you the proper framework for your Web site. After that it's up to you to learn some basic design principles, such as the right fonts to use, the best way to lay out your pages, how to optimize your graphics, etc.
In the end, unless you undertake to become one yourself, it's always best to hire a certified Web professional. This will ensure that your Web site looks good, works properly and helps you convert visitors into customers. You will get support and service from a professional; this can mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to getting your Web site online and fully functional. It will also mean that your business can flourish online, and rise far above that sea of ugly, ineffective Web sites out there.
When someone gets value for their dollars, they say, "It was money well spent." Professional Web design is like that; it's definitely money well spent.
Andrea Wilson of Able Webs is a Web designer who specializes in custom XSitePro templates. You can find her at http://www.xsiteprodesigns.com. Follow Andrea on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ablewebs
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