|
Method
|
Do-it-yourself
|
Hire a designer
|
Use mass-market portals
|
MasterFolio
|
|
Degree
of Difficulty
|
High
Requires
time commitment to learn about web design, hosting, HTML, etc
(see how to build your own site)
|
Medium
Requires
that you know exactly what you want before you start, otherwise
be prepared to go through multiple revisions. Designer may not
help you with hosting, updates, domain registration unless you
pay extra
|
Medium
Because
they try to cover everyone’s needs, their design wizards require
lots of decisions and comprehensive knowledge of technical aspects
of web design
|
Low
No
technical or Internet knowledge required. Focus on professionals
and executives reduces choices, making the process very easy
|
|
Cost
|
Medium
Need
to invest in web authoring software. Depending on features, could
range from $200 to $400
|
High
Usually
charge per hour. Depending on your skills in defining your needs
and the designer’s need to express their creativity, costs average
$1,000 or more.
|
Low
Because
these services appeal to the mass market and are big-volume providers,
they are very cheap – sometimes as low as $10/month.
|
Medium
One-time
fee of $299 for design and domain registration and monthly hosting
fee of $18.95
|
|
Pros
|
Flexibility
Depending
on your creativity and time, you can do anything you want, at
the pace you want
|
Customization
Allows
you to have special features such as java applications, movies,
photo galleries, surveys, shopping carts, etc
|
Choice
Hundreds
of design choices to please all possible customers
|
Ease
of Use
Only
two steps to get your site up and running.
No
learning curve
No
need to know technical aspects of design, hosting, registration,
etc.
Speed
Your
site is up in 2 days
|
|
Cons
|
Time
consuming
Requires
time investment of at least 40 hours to educate yourself about
hosting providers, web design tools, domain registration, and
to begin designing
Poor
Design
Design
could look amateurish unless you are skilled in graphic design
|
Loss
of Control
Designer
may want to impose design choices to express their creativity
Over-designed
site
Designer
may want to show off skills and talk you into more than you need
|
Time
consuming
Because
they appeal to everyone, numerous design choices require that
you learn about all aspects of site design/ creation to make educated
choices in wizard
Mass-orientation
Sites
are designed to appeal to everyone, thus designs are not always
ideal for professionals/executives
|
Focus
We
specialize on websites for executives and professionals, thus
our design choices are limited and geared towards this niche market
|
