Did you build your companies website yourself?

[gotreatme]

I just wondered how many people built their own companies website or whether they put it in the hands of an agency/website designer?

I am currently wondering whether or not my website would be a lot better If I got a designer to do it for me, but obviously my budget is tight, so wondering how many people built their own.

 

[Newcott]

depends on how you define build.

I did with my sites but they are both Joomla using templates - however I customized them without any previous experience.

I know mine need work but at the moment budget is stretched elseware

 

[Faevilangel]

The best websites are those thought out by the client and designed and built by a pro. The client then gets what they want but built with the expertise of a professional.

You can get an amazing website building it yourself but build the website for what your visitors want and not what you want (biggest mistake made by people). Look at competitors sites and don't rush the site, work out what features you want, the aims of the site (make sales, get information across etc) and what your customers would want from the site.

 

[RoyaleGraphics]

I built both of our companys websites through dreamweaver. I think it depends what your looking as to whether you build it yourself or send the work out.

 

[J-Wholesale]

We built our website ourselves. But then, we had the skills required to do it in house. We built everything from scratch - ecommerce, crm, conversion tracking, as well as the site itself.

The best part of doing it yourself is you only ever build what you need - no clutter, no fluff, no extras. New features were only added when there was a real business case for adding then. Now I know people will say you can switch off x, y, and z from all the open source shopping carts too, but the reality is, people don't. When it's purpose built, you're not picking features off a list, you add them because they're required. Another bonus to keeping it in house is that making changes is incredibly easy.

Was it worthwhile?

Yes, for us. Doesn't mean it would be for you.

 

[gotreatme]

I built both of our companys websites through dreamweaver. I think it depends what your looking as to whether you build it yourself or send the work out.

Is dreamweaver expensive?

I have Pagebreeze, its free software, but need templates.

Does anyone know where I can get some good, cheap (or free) templates from?

My business is rather unique though, so need quite a unique site/template, hence why I think Im going to have to put my hand in my pocket and spend some of my student loan on a site.

 

[gotreatme]

We built our website ourselves. But then, we had the skills required to do it in house. We built everything from scratch - ecommerce, crm, conversion tracking, as well as the site itself.

The best part of doing it yourself is you only ever build what you need - no clutter, no fluff, no extras. New features were only added when there was a real business case for adding then. Now I know people will say you can switch off x, y, and z from all the open source shopping carts too, but the reality is, people don't. When it's purpose built, you're not picking features off a list, you add them because they're required. Another bonus to keeping it in house is that making changes is incredibly easy.

Was it worthwhile?

Yes, for us. Doesn't mean it would be for you.

Exactly, because Im no expert at web design.

 

[RoyaleGraphics]

I'm not sure of the pricing for dreamweaver I think it varies depending on the version you buy.

I did a short course to learn how to do the basics and then learnt the rest through google and forums as I went along. As others have said it depends if you think it would be worth it learning it.

 

[gotreatme]

I'm not sure of the pricing for dreamweaver I think it varies depending on the version you buy.

I did a short course to learn how to do the basics and then learnt the rest through google and forums as I went along. As others have said it depends if you think it would be worth it learning it.

Sorry to be cheeky, please could I have a look at your website, unsure of the URL.

 

[RoyaleGraphics]

Its not the best website in the world but I would say its the worst either

www.royalegraphics.co.uk


Theres also www.cdcalendars.co.uk which does the job we need it for.

 

[Faevilangel]

Is dreamweaver expensive?

I have Pagebreeze, its free software, but need templates.

Does anyone know where I can get some good, cheap (or free) templates from?

My business is rather unique though, so need quite a unique site/template, hence why I think Im going to have to put my hand in my pocket and spend some of my student loan on a site.

Dreamweaver is about £160 new, but can be bought cheaper on eBay.

I wouldn't use DW to be honest, for free website themes download and install wordpress. I have the perfect offer here.

If you really want to build your own website then learning xhtml & css from http://www.w3schools.com would be the first step.

 

[gotreatme]

Its not the best website in the world but I would say its the worst either

www.royalegraphics.co.uk


Theres also www.cdcalendars.co.uk which does the job we need it for.

I like the website, I think its really good AND does the job its intended too!
I think I may give dreamweaver a try, however I suspect that its how good (or bad!) I am at dreamweaver, as to whether it comes out looking alright or not haha.

 

[gotreatme]

Dreamweaver is about £160 new, but can be bought cheaper on eBay.

I wouldn't use DW to be honest, for free website themes download and install wordpress. I have the perfect offer here.

If you really want to build your own website then learning xhtml & css from http://www.w3schools.com would be the first step.

As a current user of Wordpress I am considering using it, I just need an excellent theme!

 

[Faevilangel]

As a current user of Wordpress I am considering using it, I just need an excellent theme!

Lots of excellent themes available on http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes/ or you can get a developer (like myself) to create you a theme. It will be cheaper than building you a totally new site and be easily updated in the future.

 

[gotreatme]

Lots of excellent themes available on http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes/ or you can get a developer (like myself) to create you a theme. It will be cheaper than building you a totally new site and be easily updated in the future.

I have just PM'd you, although I am going to be honest £99 IS cheap for the service your providing, but a little out of my budget range. Any student discount

 

[alphanumeric]

if £99 is to much for web design, then your stuck doing it yourself, dreamweaver is also going to be over kill for what you want, either go for a hosted service(square space has had some good reviews this year), or buy a wordpress template/framework, you can use notepad++ to edit source code, if needed.

 

[themullet]

Something like joomla or word press will do the job.

You just then need to tweak the design to the template of either cms.

 

[gotreatme]

Something like joomla or word press will do the job.

You just then need to tweak the design to the template of either cms.

I have decided to use WP

 

[british steve]

Is dreamweaver expensive?

I have Pagebreeze, its free software, but need templates.

Does anyone know where I can get some good, cheap (or free) templates from?

My business is rather unique though, so need quite a unique site/template, hence why I think Im going to have to put my hand in my pocket and spend some of my student loan on a site.

Try Wordpress. Even I can build a site with this (just)

 

[gotreatme]

Try Wordpress. Even I can build a site with this (just)

I love wordpress & thats what Im doing

 

[bdw]

It really is quite simple.

If you build it yourself chances are that you will get a website that looks as though you built it yourself. If you think your type of business can stand that then go ahead.

If you want to promote your business as a proper, professional business then get a proper, professional web designer to do it for you.

£99 IS cheap for the service your providing, but a little out of my budget range.

If you are trying to start a real business and £99 is outside your budget range for a website you will probably struggle.

 

[keyideas]

Hiring professional web designer and developers is a good ideas because they will provide you quality and they are working by instruction of SEO consultant that is helping for indexing in search engines

 

[kcampbell]

It better to get professional services. Hiring a professional web developer will custom design your website from scratch and will set you apart from your competitors.

 

[stugster]

www.themeforest.net

 

[OpenSure]

I have mentioned it before but it bears repeating ;-) Weaver 2.0 by Bruce Wampler is a great theme for customizing and getting started with understanding how the templates work.

Much of the customization can be done in the panel and even code snippets injected in without the need to get too deep in the struture.

Other than that there are good theme frameworks to use to help build good quality themes such as Thematic by Ian Stewart.

Both of them are available free in the Wordpress themes library.

Enjoy!

 

[bdw]

The vast majority of website DIY'ers would not know a theme framework from a garden fence or a code snippet from a barber's floor.

.

 

[Brad Haddin]

totally depend upon your budget. that's it

 

[OpenSure]

@BDW LOL! Perhaps, but everyone has to start somewhere!

 

[itzy]

I built mine using office live (Microsoft)

I've been getting great reviews and compliments and it hasn't cost me a single penny!!

Try it!

It's so easy to do..

 

[KateCB]

We built our website ourselves. But then, we had the skills required to do it in house. We built everything from scratch - ecommerce, crm, conversion tracking, as well as the site itself.

The best part of doing it yourself is you only ever build what you need - no clutter, no fluff, no extras. New features were only added when there was a real business case for adding then. Now I know people will say you can switch off x, y, and z from all the open source shopping carts too, but the reality is, people don't. When it's purpose built, you're not picking features off a list, you add them because they're required. Another bonus to keeping it in house is that making changes is incredibly easy.

Was it worthwhile?

Yes, for us. Doesn't mean it would be for you.

We did exactly this, that said, we have a technical architect, software developer at our disposal, however when we FIRST started, the site was built using frontpage (then went to dreamwaver) with asp shopping cart attached......

 

[henryc]

i used a well-known site to design our website, i've designed it, setup the hosting, emails etc and maintain it. Then for our online shop, installed magento and added the products. Should be online in about a week

 

[bdw]

The problem with DIY website design is that you don't know what you don't know.

.

 

[Jonathanus]

Something like joomla or word press will do the job.

You just then need to tweak the design to the template of either cms.

 

[DesignerNick]

I am a bit of a website snob when it comes to things. I wouldn't ever use a company who's website had a stock wordpress theme as to me it seems like they couldn't be bothered and shouldn't have bothered at all.

It really depends on the line of business you are in I guess and what you need from a website. The amount of Web Developers and Web Design companies who's website is just a Wordpress Install with a Purchased theme off the net is shocking.

 

[MASSEY]

I am a bit of a website snob when it comes to things. I wouldn't ever use a company who's website had a stock wordpress theme as to me it seems like they couldn't be bothered and shouldn't have bothered at all.

Haha wow.

It really depends on the line of business you are in I guess and what you need from a website. The amount of Web Developers and Web Design companies who's website is just a Wordpress Install with a Purchased theme off the net is shocking.

Scary isn't it. Web site makers could become extinct soon with people wordpress tweaking.

 

[DesignerNick]

Haha wow.


Scary isn't it. Web site makers could become extinct soon with people wordpress tweaking.

When I mentioned the company, I meant a biggish company

 

[MASSEY]

When I mentioned the company, I meant a biggish company

Do you check to see if they w3 validate though before you decide to call

 

[DesignerNick]

Do you check to see if they w3 validate though before you decide to call

Ha, I should do!

If they are designed in tables I will use their competitor!

An example was a marketer who called me and made a point of saying "look at my site" and it was still the stock Wordpress theme (Twenty Ten) which to me is a bit lazy! Wordpress is great for quick sites but as long as they aren't identical to 10000's of others out there.

 

[Team Leith Training]

I used Serif, Web Plus to build mine, i have a pro working on one at the moment, he's using Dreamweaver.
i think the tool use gets the job done, but i guess it shows!

 

[Dominic Taylor]

We did ours but it's now getting a bit dated/cluttered so have someone doing a new one.

Certainly the girl on our homepage was a nice idea at the time and something we intended to rotate and then decided to start an entirely new site, but then ran out of time to do anything but run the business. New site should be online in a few weeks finally! (Half done by us, the rest by our new full time web designer)