If users want to create a website and have a basic idea of what it needs do – eg. online presence and promotion for a real world business or selling goods (ecommerce) but have no idea how to go about it and has little previous design experience then professional assistance will be required. A look in the local phone book will provide professional companies to your local area which is often the method many firms and small business use to design their new website. That way a face to face meeting between that businesses staff and the web designers can take place to go through what will be needed, they can extract relevant information, and get to know the business and provide quotes to undertake the job. Many internet service providers (ISP) that supply the actual internet connection or graphic design companies may also provide local website design and website storage (hosting) services.

Just do not expect professional web designers or programmers who will basically take care of all aspects of the new web project from initial planning through to full set up and even ongoing maintenance to be cheap. Web designers are the tradesmen of cyberspace and charge for their valuable skills accordingly. Some projects may be less common and require more unique program scripting and coding to get that site to perform as required. A quick Google search from will reveal no shortage of different companies in what is a very competitive industry. As a general guide for a basic 3-4 webpage with logos, a few images, text and graphics the price would be $500 upwards. Most of these packages would also include website hosting, domain registration and technical support. For a website that is more detailed say 5-8 pages and requires some sort of shopping cart incorporated to accept online payments, image galleries, contact forms or interactive aspects then prices start at $1500 upwards! Shop around and get quotes from many different companies before coming up with a final decision to eliminate the chances of over paying.

For want-a-be website owners with some past experience or those wishing to have more input into the webpage design and theme then hiring a freelancer may be an option. A freelancer can be an amateur, partially qualified or professional web designer who can be hired to do certain specific aspects of the project and even act as general expert overseer. Typically a freelance web designer or programmer allows users to contribute more to the process, provide information, images, content and in doing so may be able to save a few dollars. Tasks a freelancer may be hired for may be modifying an existing template, fixing bugs or errors, customizing scripts/software, uploading the site to run on a web server, help with domain registrations and most other related activities.

There are many good reputable places online which provide a meeting place for skilled IT related freelancers with users who require work to be done . The process will often involve joining the site, requesting or listing the desired works to be completed and the desired date of completion. The freelancers then contact you with their best prices for the job outlined or put in bids like an auction process. Hiring a freelancer may have the potential to save a little bit of money but they often request hourly rates for work, part upfront payments and require placing trust that they will carry the works as promised. Be cautious of designers who charge a fair price in the quote then bump up the rate for additional works they claim were not outlined in the original deal. Request a written quote listing what exact tasks they perform and what will classified as extras in the price outlined.

Our next option is to buy turnkey or turn-key websites which have been pre-designed, set up on a server and are fully functional on the world wide web. Starting at just $30 this may be a great alternative for the budget conscience and those with no web design knowledge or desire to learn programming. The problem being which this method is that the topic or theme of the website has already been determined. Often they are ecommerce websites which sell particular products and services with basic shopping cart or paypal payment processor configuration included. Some packages include free domain name but usually web hosting is a separate monthly or yearly fee payable.

Turnkey web business sites are popular with the work at home generation who buy them in the quest to generate extra income in spare time. They are essentially targeted at newbies looking to work from home and often promise easy profits for little work. Turn-key websites may be fast to have set up and running but are mass produced simple HTML or PHP coded templates, often lacking unique content with the exact same site sold to many different users. The biggest seller online are auction sites like Ebay where turnkey sites are listed at a massive rate by sellers who have little web design skills, are web hosting companies trying to get new customers or people just trying to make a quick buck. Many times, it’s claimed that these sites are established, making huge monthly profit, get thousands of visitors each month and can consequently reach final auction prices of $300-$400 plus.

At the very least this is a misleading process praying on inexperienced newbies looking to make their way into the scene for the first time and could be even seen as a scam. Auction listings showing images of false payment processor receipts claim to from the website can easily be modified with graphics software as well. The turn-key websites sold at Ebay are often nothing more than a common inexpensive template with some minor changes and a little time spent setting it up on a web hosting server. Other common problems include lack of technical staff support if something goes wrong with the site, substandard or inadequate web hosting service and over charging for that web hosting for resources that are not required. Tips to avoid this trap include trying to research the website and seller before buying, ask for proof of income like Paypal statements, traffic statistic history, and check the Google page rank and check its Alexa rank. In order to do this, just search your favorite search engine for “rank checker”, “Pagerank Checker” or “Alexa rank checker” and you will see plenty of free options.

If a website has been established for sometime, like more than 3-4 months it should show up in search engine results. It should also get visited by search engine spiders which analyze the web site’s programming code and popularity, and gives it a ranking accordingly. No ranking or Google page rank of 0 means it has probably only just been created and has yet to be submitted. These types of tests can help develop warning signs as to whether the offer is genuine. Bear in mind ‘one only gets what they pay for’ so be careful buying that turnkey website promising thousands of dollars income monthly.

The final alternative for creating a website and perhaps the most cost effective is using an online company which provides HMTL website builder and editor software. Site builders provide an all in one solution to making, publishing and hosting a website or blog. This option is great for those people with creative flair and those wishing to have a role in their website design. Many web hosting providers offer site builders with their paid host plans and this gives a great way for users to learn how to build a site. Site builder software aims to have a easy to use, friendly interface, range of HTML web templates, font styles, theme styles, colors, image library and inbuilt WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get). This editor makes it easy to build quality websites without programming knowledge, and its simple point and click technology is similar to writing an email. Templates provided can be also be quickly and easily modified to a unique design.

Some website builders are better suited to creating basic 1-3 web pages or blogs but are developing constantly to be better equipped for complex web development. One of the latest versions of the advanced website design software is RV SiteBuilder Pro by Global Soft. Ltd. This gives users the power to create quite complex and good looking sites in short periods with publishing it live as easy once mouse click. It has over 200 royal free templates, 750 image gallery pictures, site banner headings, photo album support and multi-lingual support to display the website in any language. One web hosting provider features RV Site Builder Pro free with all its paid server host plans which start at just $2.79 per month. The other great advantage about buying from a reputable web hosting company is the technical support staff which come with it and is only an email away if assistance is required.

Never has there been such a plentiful number of accessible and affordable methods to build web pages then at the present time. Ultimately the purpose of your web site will determine the options available. But be sure to do your research first about any company, seller or web designer before committing to buy. The price will obviously be a major consideration in the final decision but remember to be aware of potential hidden costs that can spring up and surprise. Don’t be afraid to learn or try to take on some tasks of the website design process as not only may it save a few dollars and hiccups may occur but the knowledge acquired may be priceless for future projects.

Thank you to Bradley for your assistance with this "Creating a website" article.

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• Web Design Resource
  Website introduction and home page which includes item 1 of the business web site design resource checklist which is about Identifying your target market, their needs, how you will meet their needs, and how you will attract and then keep your target market coming back.
• Web Site Design Resource
  Step 2 and 3 of the business web site design resource checklist. These steps include information on identifying your place in the market, as well as identifying your competitive advantage.
• Business Web Design
  Step 4 and 5 of the business web site design resource checklist. This page gets you thinking about marketing and customer service when starting an e business.
• Web Site Design Tip
  Web site design tip is step 6 and (coming soon) 7 of the business web site design resource checklist and will review important topics such as transaction processing and writing web copy, when creating a web site.