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Should You Buy Web Site Design or Get it for Free

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Web Site Design

I want to ask you a question first: What if you, as a sales person, visit a well established organization to promote your products, but your outfit doesn’t represent you as a professional sales person? Do you have a chance of making any sales? Most likely, you won’t be perceived as a serious individual or a true professional and you will return empty handed. You won’t, of course, buy and wear cheap clothes before you visit your target audience, so will it be a good idea to give a cheap and non-professional look to your web site design? No, certainly not.
Website Project

Free Web Site Design and Your Business Model:

The point is: If cheap clothing is not good for professionals, how can a free web site design be good for a professional web site? A free web site design won’t match your business model as each business requires a custom made web site design to look convincing and represent itself professionally and attractively on the World Wide Web. Your web site design depicts what sort of business you are running. Can a free web site design help you achieve that? I certainly don’t think so.

Free Products Don’t Provide Quality – What About Your Web Site Design:

What is free in the world? Well, nothing at all. We all very well know about the quality of complimentary products. So, how can a web site design that is available online to download for free can provide quality and represent your business in a professional manner? The answer is: It cannot and it never will. Downloading a web site design to use it as your own web site will help you create your online presence, but it will never enable you to make a powerful impact on your target audience. Your web site design should have the ability to grab the attention of your visitors and make them stay on your web site and, eventually, convert them into buyers.

Your Web Site is Your Shop – Decorate it Professionally:

There is no doubt in this fact that your web site serves as your shop and your web site design is the decoration around your shop. When someone types your web site URL, they enter your shop. When they browse your web site, they don’t just see your web site design, but how you have actually decorated your shop. Thus, it is crucial for your success to have your web site design appealing and eye catching.

Web Site Design Created by Professional Web Site Designers is the Key to Online Success:

If you want a web site design that will reflect your business model and depict quality work to ensure that you succeed online, then you should ask a professional web site designer to create a web site design for you. You can now easily decide whether you should buy one or get one for free.

Web Site Design Cost:

Are you worried about how much it will cost? Don’t worry. In today’s competitive business world and unstable economy, there are numerous professional web sites that are offering web site design services at nominal rates. Long gone are the days when you had to spend thousands of dollars to get an attractive web site design. Now, you can get the job done at a fraction of the cost.

About

Ben Johnson is the Alliance Manager at Logoinn, a logo design company. He writes about the effect of design on marketing and brand identity and helps small businesses find design solutions for effective marketing.

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{ 24 Responses }

  1. Dan says:
    Obviously if you have a project in mind that is a database driven social network, or requires some fancy php for integrates web tools or something like that, your going to need to pay a web development firm. Free tools only go so far, but I like the post!
  2. Tej Kohli says:
    Basically , I buy the design or try to make myself , Usually Free design can be found on many websites and I want to stood away from the Crowd
  3. Dennis Edell says:
    Cheap clothing - I gotta say, that's the best analogy I've heard for it yet. And of course I've read hundreds of these articles. Good job!
  4. TJ McDowell says:
    I agree that free is not the way to go. You'll be paying for free without realizing it. Whether it's ugly banner ads or something equally undesirable, you're not getting off with a great deal at $0. As far as cost, I think there may be some decent options without dropping more than a thousand, but the best web designers get the best rates. Even if you're paying 5K for a website, it may be well worth the price if it's going to bring in plenty of business.
  5. Dean Saliba says:
    I'm a cheapskate, I want to pay as little as possible for everything. If I ever sell my own product I'll offer it for free or a very cheap price. :)
    • Ben Johnson says:
      hehe, Dean I don't think anything in this world is free, and that gonna be good for you clients than, not for you :)
  6. Leo says:
    I guess it depends on your target audience and also the designs available out there. If you promote free or cheap products it may not matter so much if your website design is not the slickest out there. For expensive/luxury products the opposite applies off course! Also WP offers many free themes that are very professional and free, so the CMS that drives the site is something to consider (in the what free designs are out there)
  7. Mani Viswanathan says:
    It's better to have a custom website design, rather than going for the old templates. Free is not always good. Sometimes we need to the pro - way.
  8. Jarret says:
    I think at the very least, people should buy a premium theme and have a custom logo designed. The cost of a premium theme is nominal (usually far less than $100). You can also get a decent logo designed for $30 with a logo contest at dp forums--I wrote a post about that here at Famous Bloggers. I guess it also depends on your skill level with WordPress. Many people I know don't have much of a clue about how to do basic things like edit CSS. I've created a theme before myself though I lack much in the way of design flair particularly with creating custom images for textures and backgrounds for the css. Finding designers that do quality website work for reasonable prices is a topic in and of itself. Back when I was using the Hybrid Framework for WordPress, I found a great designer and asked them for a quote. They quoted me a price of around $13,000.00 which was far beyond reason for a site generating revenue from advertisements. We're not talking about a site that gets Mashable type traffic here, lol.
  9. Kerry says:
    Ben - I agree with you, it does make sense to get a professional website design if you can afford it. However, there are some free website designs out there that are very effective and have a professional look and feel to it.
    • Ben Johnson says:
      These days there are many companies who are offering professional websites in very affordable prices, starting from $100 depending on your customization. But the question is how to choose a company? I will advice everyone who is looking for any website design company, first check their portfolio and reviews that how they are doing, do they have satisfies customers or do they have good credibility in the market. After evaluating this criteria you can order your website design and one more thing in the end that you should have to follow up the whole design process till the end of the job, and it is better to do that over the phone.
  10. Andreas says:
    If you are on a budget it is always a good idea to start with free design, this enables you to setup and sell your products quickly. However if your business grows, it is better to go with a unique design to start branding your business. Free designs are used by many people and chances are that your site will not stand out.
  11. Alex says:
    I think you had a bad experience with free themes or designs. First of all I saw lots of great themes/templates which are free and I also saw a lot of custom made designs that s..., look awful. First of all you have to establish yourself like a professional and trustworthy person, and like in the real world and on the web you can do this by writing great content, professional etc. Ok, this doesn't mean that you can write something add a crappy theme and gain the trust of others, but like I said there are free themes that look professional.
  12. Kesha says:
    Excellent article as I tell my clients this all the time and use analogies to get my point across. It's funny how the saying "you get what you pay for" applies to everything else except when it comes to their website! LOL However, for those types of clients, I try to help them understand ROI and how they should proceed based on their budget so they can at least have a great looking online presence that is functional and affordable, even if I have to send them elsewhere! I will be sharing this article as maybe prospective clients will listen if they hear it from somebody else ;-)
  13. Tinh says:
    My answer is very simple that I paid $164 for thesis license and over $100 for design :-)
    • Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:
      Same here Tinh ;)
      • Tinh says:
        But I am happy as my blog design in unique now LOL
  14. Melinda says:
    I think the design is very important for not only branding but showing the personality of the company. Colors and design can instantly give someone a certain feeling. It also makes it easier to remember you if you have a unique look rather than a plain default. Very important.
  15. Patricia says:
    Hi Ben I agree that first impressions count. After all you only have one opportunity to make that impression! Often it is the cost that is prohibitive when someone starts out. If someone is serious about their site being where they will present their business, it needs to be factored into their business plan and budget. I got a web guy to do my store too; although I will get it redone later on as I really needed a graphic designer to do the photos. The quotes were astronomical and way outside my budget! That's what stops a lot of people. The cost! Patricia Perth Australia
  16. Blogfather says:
    Comparing to cheap clothing, I don't think is suitable. Rich people wear cheap clothes too, so it's not really that. The issue is that a free website sucks because the person behind it is not professional. Then there's also the case of the semi-pro web design company who only do half to thee quarters of the real workload required. Though that's not their fault, it's a problem for the person who needs their website to work. My cousin recently paid in the range of $8000 for his website, and I haven't got round to telling him how much it sucks, but it does.
    • Ben Johnson says:
      Your cousin must be a rich man mate :)
  17. wasim ismail says:
    Thanks, I think the website design should be bought, and customised according to ones requirements, as its your shop front, and probably the first place many customer would look at your services. So having a website layout customised and designed from scratch is a good start. In regards to costs, you can find many companies and designers that would do a design for you at a very affordable price. At the end of the day it your identify and how you want to portray yourself online.
  18. Rahul says:
    Very Clear Thank you for sharing this topic :) i thin talking about themes is very helpful since designs and appearance is important these days :)