Everything You Need To Know ... Web Site Design!

So, you have a domaine name. www.yourcompany.com is yours. NOW WHAT!

Now you need a website. Should you try your own hand at website design? Should you hire someone to do it for you? Just how much code do you need to know to build your own website anyway? Is there a program you can use? Do you have the time? And how much time does it take to design a website? This month we will answer all these questions for you.

Should you build your own website or hire a website designer?

That all depends on what type of website you need and how much time and money you have to spend on your website. Designing a 30-50 page website similar to this one from scratch would take some one who knows what they're doing about 4-6 40 hour weeks to design, test and get online. There is help available on the internet if you're not sure of what you're doing. Lots of programmers share their work, making it available via tutorials and/or "snippets" of code that can be copied and pasted into your own work. However, you need to add at least as much time again to account for research and practicing time. A simple 1-5 page website to tell your customers about your Company and the products/services you offer can be accomplished in about a week if you stick to simple html. There are a multitude of tutorials on this subject. Again, add research and practice time. Designing your own website also requires a bit of a flair for color and artistic elements that are always incorporated into any good website to make it pleasant and interesting to your visitors.

Alternatively there are programs available that you can use to create your website. Dreamweaver by Adobe is a good one and costs around $400 USD. Or Microsoft's Expression Web (formerly Front Page) is also very popular and costs around $599 USD. You should keep in mind though that Front Page requires a host (the place where your website lives) with servers that support "Front Page Extensions". A website built with one of these programs usually takes about half the time as one built from scratch. They do require some time to learn how to use but again there is help available online if you need it. Add research and practice time again.

If all this seems like another language to you or you don't have the time required, then you should consider hiring someone to build your website for you. You should also consider hiring someone if your site will require security or if customers will be making purchases on your site. E-commerce is a complex business requiring extensive security and encryption measures to protect your customer's information and instill a sense of trust. Not to mention an attractive shopping cart and/or sales page. You will also need a merchant account in order to accept credit cards and/or debit cards online. A good designer will be able to help you with all of this.

If you don't have the time AND you don't have the money to hire someone, don't give up! There are also various inexpensive "template" solutions available. This website was built with DotNetNuke which is an open source (free to use and do as you please with) program that has all of the programming already done for you. You need only add "modules" and then insert content into them. If you have anything comlicated in mind you may need to "tweak" it a little. There is extensive online support for this program and it is provided, and can be installed for you, with any hosting plan offered by DebsSolutions. There are several other useful open source programs included with our hosting plans as well. Forums, Chat Programs, Online Community Programs ...too many to mention here.

DebsSolutions also offers a program called Website Tonight, a template based program that allows you to build your website through a "wizzard" like interface. Just point and click and type in your content. Use our extensive library of images or insert your own images. If you can use a word processor, you can use Websight Tonight! Website Tonight is easy to integrate with our Quick Shopping Cart and security certificates you purchase will be installed for you. Website Tonight purchases also include free hosting and e-mail for little more than you would pay for a hosting plan alone. And don't forget our award winning 24-7 customer support!

So, there you have it! No matter your level of knowledge or budget, there is a Solution for you.

To find out more about DebsSolutions hosting plans, template programs and other website services, visit DebsSolutions' Secure Shopping or click "Hosting" on the Site Navigation menu.

For information about Website Design services offered by DebsSolutions call (250) 955-0494 between 8:30am and 5:00pm, Mon-Fri.