With a plethora of website design and website building tools available today why does anyone need a web designer? In fact, if you shop around, you can build a well presented web site for free. So why pay a web designer? This short article will not try and persuade you to pay a web designer, but show you why you should use a professional web designer.

A good website needs to address multiple challenges:-

• Websites need visitors and in turn it must convert those visitors into customers.
• Websites need to work across multiple browsers.
• Websites need to be accessible to multiple audiences and comply with the accessibility guidelines
• Websites require good layout, design & graphics

To bring it all together takes skill and takes a professional. But above all, websites require good content.

DIY

You can do your web design and build your own website. But then again you can do all the building, gas, electrical, plumbing and maintenance work in your home. Many choose to, many choose not to. Indeed a number of years ago you could do all of the above. But then the gas safety regulatory body - CORGI - stopped DIY gas installation and the dangerous work that went with it. And for as long as I know you have to have used qualified electricians to do work on commercial premises.

Recently, NICEIC – the electrical safety regulatory authority - went further and made it compulsory for you to use qualified electricians on domestic premises. Both of these are to stop dangerous homes and premises being created. And it is because so much DIY is being done and because the tools and materials are so readily available.

The cost of DIY

What’s this got to do with web design and building your own website? DIY websites aren’t going to kill anyone but they are going to kill some businesses. House maintenance done to a DIY level will devalue a house and potentially be very dangerous. Web design done to a DIY level will be the same. It will devalue your potential customer’s value of your business. It could be fatal to your business.

Build your own website if you must to save money. But make sure you are a competent DIYer not a messy one or a bodger. Make sure your website looks professionally built, with excellent layout, design & graphics, is accessible across all major browser platforms and adheres to accessibility requirements.

... but above all, websites require good content.

But this is just one reason for considering the use of a professional web designer. I made the comment earlier that above all a web site needs good content. This is moving beyond the web design where a professional web designer will do an excellent job for you. Putting excellent content on your website really is a job for you – the website owner. Your time and effort should be spent here – generating excellent, worthwhile content for your website. To maximise your time here you should let the professional web designer build your web site while you focus your efforts on creating and maintaining a worthwhile and sustainable source of good content for your website – this is something only you can do.

© Rugged Rhino 2005

Jeremy Curtis runs Rugged Rhino - Small Business Web Design Specialists. He can be contacted at http://www.ruggedrhino.co.uk or 0845 201 1946.

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