Knowledge Base
Creating A Website Yourself Vs. Outsourcing
One of the issues raised at the planning stage is whether the IT department of the business should design the website or whether it should be assigned to an outside web designer. THe advantage of haing the work done in-house is control over the entire project. Also, company staff assigned to the project will be familiar with the details that will fit the company's image and product. The flip side of the coin is that effective web design requires experience and expertise that often is not available in-house.
Giving the web design to an outside consultant or to a web designer has many advantages. The consultant can help you determine the audience, shop for the right Internet Service Provider (ISP), set up the website, design and post the webpages, advertise the pages, and provide a varierty of solutions dealing with logistics and traffic congestion, as well as web performance monitoring.
Whether you design in-house or outsource the project has much to do with the amount of time it takes your in-house people to the work well, the cost of their time, and how quickly the job can be done. If the web project is going to the handled piecemeal and you have a ready audience, you need to think of the opportunity cost of customers going elsewhere to buy competitive products while your site is under construction. In any case, professional firms are available to evaluate your site and help you make the necessary changes to improve overall performance.
If you want a site to attract users and crush the competition; if you want a slick, bells-and-whistles site; and if you want to sell products online, there is a price to pay. The cost of the design package is only the beginning. Depending on which approach a business takes, it needs to consider setup costs, establishing a merchant bank account to which purchases are credited, credit card verification services and software, monthly site hosting fees, fees for a designerm, and support personnel.
The procedure for planning the web design begins with looking competitors' websites, thinking about how your proposed site can improve upon those already in existence, and generating a list of the features. The next step is to locate an able designer.