Web authoring software is abundant and coming down in price, leading many savvy business people, entrepreneurs and individuals to create their own web sites. Many internet service providers and hosts also offer "site builders" whereby customers create their own web pages without knowledge of coding or markup language.
Or maybe your friend knows a guy whose roommate's brother Bobo says he can do this "stuff."
Some of these sites look very good – so why pay for a professional?
- All the worry over domains, servers, hosting, uploading the pages, email setup, and other such minutia can be taken out of your hands.
- A web site is advertising. It may even serve as an enterprise's only medium for doing business. Trusting a professional to handle something this important makes sense. Drilling your own teeth is usually not as good an idea as going to a dentist.
- SunFox can help with search engine optimization, placement of your site in relevant internet directories, and an overall online marketing strategy.
- For web sites related to business, all costs involved are legitimate expenses for tax purposes.
- SunFox keeps up with the latest information regarding browsers, platforms, coding, and web standards as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
- SunFox makes sure your site is accessible, user-friendly, and efficient. Prototype sites are often exposed to test subjects who give feedback on such key aspects as navigational ability, download speeds, comprehensibility of information, among others.
- Any issues that arise can be quickly addressed. Experience is a harsh teacher, but problems are rarely unique – they have been solved before and can be solved again.
- With a network of resources, SunFox can always find an answer – even if that means directing you to a competitor specializing in what you need.
SunFox hates to see good ideas go bad. We absolutely want you to avoid these pitfalls. At the very least, if Bobo runs into trouble, please give us a call. Advice is free.
Keep this list in mind, and run at the first sign of thunderclouds.
- In addition to the web authoring software, good image manipulation software is needed. Good software isn't cheap. It's expensive. What a surprise.
- If you don't want to pay for expensive (or even cheap) software, you can always learn the coding and markup language. Like we did. It should only take a couple of years to get fluent.
- Using your own software or a site builder, you'll probably rely on templates to create the web pages. This guarantees your site will not be unique (or even uncommon), nor customized to your specific needs.
- Without the knowledge of cross-browser compatibility issues, your site may look great in Internet Explorer but not in Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Safari, or others. Or vice versa. It might be a shock, but not everyone uses Internet Explorer.
- Without the knowledge of screen resolution differences, the size of your pages may not react well to resolutions or screen sizes differing from the settings used to create the site.
- Any scripting provided by software will often be cumbersome, as they are one-size-fits-all scripts. Very little can be customized without understanding the script language.
- Rather than run your business or concentrate on your internet objectives, you can instead spend prodigious amounts of time learning and implementing the nuances of site building and marketing.
- It's unlikely that Bobo the chemistry major also specializes in this "internet stuff." When he's done building your site maybe he could fix your brakes. Or wire your house. Or build you a submarine. You get the idea.
- In the end, when you finally decide to have a professional redesign the site, it will usually cost you about the same as if the professional built it in the first place.
As a business, organization or individual, your image is important. The presentation of your product or message is key to attracting and retaining your audience. Just like a bad photograph can detract from a good person, a poor web site can tarnish your image and drive away visitors. You'll be preaching to the choir. And if you own a company, you can't afford not to have a professional image. The cost of lost business is far greater than the cost of a professionally-developed web presence. A bad design undermines confidence in you and your products; a good design enhances what you have to offer.
Your customers, your clients, your audience will know a poorly-designed web site when they see one and go somewhere else.
Don't forget: your competition is just a click away.