Many small business owners struggle with deciding on how to make the right choice for designing their website. They search the internet for help with their site and discover that the decision is harder than they thought. Presently there are (literally) millions of websites who claim to function as professional web designers. However, an individual has to be careful in selecting the most appropriate person or people to trust their business image. In the following guide, I will try to categorize web designers into manageable groups, and educate the reader the difference between the types.

Web designers fall into four general categories: freelance amateur, freelance professional, Web Design Company, Web Development Firm.

Freelance Amateur

The majority of web designers that you will encounter, particularly searching the Internet, are freelancers. That is, individuals who do web design but aren't utilized by a web design company. Some are self explanatory professionals but most of these freelancers are amateur-hobbyist types. They find a copy of FrontPage™ came with their MS Office™ Suite. They discovered how fun it could be to make web pages so that they started telling their friends that they can"design" webpages.

The"pros" of using an amateur is they are extremely cheap. The"cons" are too many to mention, but I'll point out a few. They have no training; they've little understanding of what makes a good website work; they don't know HTML code or CSS but only FrontPage click and point; they don't know general design and design concepts and they have little actual experience. The largest reason they should be avoided for the serious businessperson, is that their work looks amateurish, which makes your company look amateurish. Who wants that?

Freelance Professional

An expert is often defined by simply being paid. People today think that if you're compensated for something, then you're professional. Maybe that is true in the Olympics, but for the business services globe, you aren't a professional until you're established and respected as one by your own clients and clients. Freelancer professional web designers are a giant leap from the amateur in that they've created a portfolio of respectable work. They have some type of training and experience and they have credentials which may be confirmed by contacting references. They've a good reputation with their clients and other specialists. In general, a good freelance professional web designer may be great person to own doing your site. But they're tough to differentiate from the amateur once you're just searching the net.

The upside is, if you find a good one they are significantly cheaper than an internet design firm. But that is usually the only upside. If the budget limits you, then a freelancer will do for a little job. But anything critically important ought to be left to a professional company.

Some disadvantages to using an independent pro are that they're usually part-time, meaning they're limited in how long they can devote to your project. They are also limited in what they can do for you. Most freelancers are experts in 1 field and generalists in every thing else. Some have no abilities in anything except their one specialty and frequently you'll have to find others to fill functions. In addition, freelancers are not always cheap although many of them are aspiring to create their own business; a few are highly sought after and charge $100 per hour or more for their job. My advice is, if you've got that much to spend, go with a company which has a team of professionals to find the task done in a timelier fashion.

Web Design Company

This is the next step beyond a freelance professional. The web design company provides the"whole show". They supply real project management and have pulled together a team of web experts to acquire a larger selection of jobs completed. A business could supply a much higher degree of expertise in web design, programming, content development and much more.

Such a business is usually very small, yet large enough to manage larger scale projects. Compared to the highly qualified freelancer, a company has a diversity of talent and collaboration working for them. The end-result is generally a higher quality product.

The only real downsides are on the one hand, the web design company is pricier than a freelancer because there are several more people on the job. However, you get what you pay for rings true. On the other hand, for very large projects or long-term development, web design businesses could be too little and usually don't have the human recourses to adapt that $500,000 contract. In the end, for serious business people looking for quality and professionalism and who can not afford the big company, this is the thing to do.

Web Development Firm

As the title implies, a web development firm is similar to any traditional company. They have a team of office workers, they've owners and officers, and they have a group of talented professionals that are paid a good salary for their job. They frequently have a sales force that do indoors and outside earnings. The caliber of the job goes without saying, as you might not be quite as well-established by performing shoddy work. These companies provide teams of very gifted professionals working on your project and get the work done in a timely and exceptionally efficient manner. Additionally, they generally cover all aspects of website development including marketing and advertising. They might have teams of experts that they can deploy to your place and work in house under a temporary contract. The possibilities are endless.

If price isn't a problem and the highest quality work is necessary, then this is who you would like to do the job. For smaller budget businesses, a quotation by an established web development firm might knock you off your seat, but know that firms who have job requirements that reach hundreds of thousands of bucks know the score. Thus, the only real drawback for a web development company is that they are normally quite costly. Then again, price is relative and larger companies prefer to work with larger businesses.

In conclusion, the decision is yours. I'd recommend for the serious businessperson, which you budget a decent number of dollars to correctly design and execute a professional website. I'd avoid the amateur and outsource to a individual or company with good experience and affordable rates to create my web presence. If money were no object, I would only take care of established firms and cover the big bucks to get the job done right and done well.