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Even if you're a seasoned web professional, you should know what web buildersoftware can offer private individuals and small businesses. Designers regularlywaste time fielding inquiries from small-time website owners who don't realize thetime, effort, and therefore cost involved in making a website from scratch. Or yourbrain may be picked endlessly by a would-be developer. Recommending a good webbuilder program is a great way to help this group--you can even monetize thesenon-prospects by reselling web builder software or referring it as an affiliate.
The 3 Web Design Options
DIY (design it yourself), usually using software such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. Pay someone else to design it.
Use a "website builder" that includes everything you need and builds the websitebased on a setup wizard that asks questions about your website goals.
Most people just stumble into one of these three options without really comparing.In fact, if someone is even considering whether to try to do it themselves, hire apro, or use a website builder program, it's extremely likely they really do need tostart with a website builder program. After all, with the small investment requiredby web builder software, you can easily decide to go the DIY or professional designroute later. But the money and time spent on professional services or DIY cannot beun-spent.
If you don't have the web design skills that would lead you to make your own websitewithout questioning, or the budget to hire a designer just as easily, your time,money and other resources are probably better spent on other aspects of yourwebsite--such as promoting it, planning it, or getting content for it.
Website Options Comparison: Cost
: Cost of software (Dreamweaver, the most popular, runs about $300) + many hours ofyour life--what is your time worth?
Web Designer: $500-$5000
Website Builder: $100-200 (if a software package); $15-40/month (if a subscriptionservice)
Time
DIY: Depending on your skill level, a week to a few months.
Web Designer: A few weeks till completion (but little time on your part).
Website Builder: Five minutes to an hour (depending on how much you want to playwith the options).
Graphic Design: Most people who build their own websites use graphic designtemplates, or at least ready-made graphics. But there's still the problem of how tobring the elements of the design together into an attractive whole.
Web Designer: If you want to be taken seriously, a graphic designer will go a longway. Still, many people manage to sabotage the designer's work with too manydemands. Also, some designers are really programmers rather than graphic designers,and will use templates anyway. In the end, though, the biggest drawback is cost:graphic designers can do it better, but can you afford them?
Website Builder: The advantage of a website builder over DIY templates is that thebuilder will save you the time of coding the website to stitch all the partstogether.
