Should I build my own business web site?

As a web designer my first thought is ONLY IF YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGNER. But then I stop thinking about myself [!] and offer up the question, 'can - or should?'

For some reason web design has fallen into a void where everything seems up for grabs. There are very few professions where 'lay' people would ever consider learning the trade to get a job done, but where web design is concerned there are a lot of people who buy an 'out of the box' piece of software, crank out a site with one of the set templates it comes with, and hey presto another web designer is created. We are legion!

I guess you can tell that that is one of my pet peeves, but this post is not about my pets or peeves - I'll save them for another time! Back to my question of can, or should.

You definitely can build your own web site, and this blog will help you work out how to do that in a cost effective manner. But what a web design newbie needs to remember, and a small business owner be very aware of: this web design stuff takes a long time and time is limited especially when there is your livelihood to put first.

As a web designer who has been around for over a decade I take pride in my work, but the bottom line is that I am a resource that will save your company money by freeing you up to do what you do best - running your business.

So should you build you own web site? That depends on how much time you have and how big your web design budget is. Let's look at a few options:

1. I have lots of time, I just decided to dedicate 100% of my time to getting on the web.
   
   OK, you have plenty of time to learn the basics of web design. This is a good place to get tips on how to get a small business web presence on a budget. There are many more - Google can show you the way.
   
   
2. I have some time to spare.
   
   If you just want to get on the blog bandwagon you can have a site up and running in minutes. If you need something more customized you might be able to find it on some of the template sites out there [stay tuned - this will be on another post].
   
   
3. I barely have time to sleep let alone plan a web site.
   
   OK, I hope you have some money in your web design budget or you will have a hard time getting on the web any time soon.
   

Of all the people I talk with who want a web site they tend to fall in the middle of 2 & 3. My next chat with you will go over #2, so come back!