The world wide web hit a major milestone last year which was announced by the inventor of the web himself, Tim Berners-Lee
http://t.co/D9pwMXuZOa recently passed a billion websites by their count….
— Tim Berners-Lee (@timberners_lee) September 16, 2014
That was last year. The number should be well over 1 billion right now.
You may be thinking of having a website of your own, but what’s the best way to do that? There are two options:
i. Use DIY Website Designers,
Sometimes referred to as What You See is What You Get editors (WYSIWYG), this option allows you to build websites without learning a single line of code. The software’s interface allows you to build your website by dragging-and-dropping pictures, forms and texts onto the page. Basically, if you can play Solitaire, you can use a DIY website designer.
Some DIY designers, like Wix and Weebly, now offer even more features like traffic analytics and ecommerce. And they have loads of templates that you can choose from. Basically, you can have a full website in less than 20 minutes.
ii. Hire a professional web designer.
These are people who get paid to do it for you. They [should] know web code in and out and can perform wonders with websites if given enough time and inspiration.
So when should you opt for either one of the two? Depends on several factors:
Purpose
As much as the web community snubs DIY web designers, they solve a legit problem. For example, you may want to setup a website for a family get together, or an anniversary. DIY designers are highly recommended for these kinds of informal situations. On the other hand, if your website is going to serve an official purpose, a professionally constructed website is highly recommended.
Budget
Remember when I said, professional designers can perform wonders, well I wasn’t joking. But skills like that don’t come cheap. If you’re really, really strapped for cash, I’d say wait till you have money. But if the website is a must, then you can try out DIY designers. Some of them are totally free.
Features
The more things you want your website to do, the more time and money you’re gonna need. And these days, websites can do a LOT of things. If you want to build an ecommerce store for example, I highly recommend hiring someone who knows what he/she is doing, instead of messing around with DIY designers.
Time
A really good website will take a professional designer some time to build. The more features your site has, the more time it will take. And sometimes, you’ll be tempted to choke them when they take too long.
Photo Credit: ntr23 via Compfight cc
