websites...DIY, or hire ?

This is a huge subject, so I'll narrow it to this:

I bought some domain names.
I want a website (or two) and add my own content, and update it regularly.

Should I.....

Hire someone to do it all, including maintenance and updates ?
Hire someone to assist me in setting it up, and update them myself ?
Learn Dreamweaver or other program, and do it all myself ?
Or..use a super simple "design your own website" service, choosing from blank pre-formatted pages/styles, adding my own content ?

I will not be selling items from these sites...yet.

thanks,
FB

It's a hard thing to do from a cold start.  There are so many things to learn when doing websites.  I started doing websites when the internet was young and I got pretty good at it for a while.  Just when I thought I had a handle, I made the decision to stick with my website as it was and it was quickly rendered obsolete and I was never able to catch back up.  At this point if I had the money I would certainly let someone else do it for me, but you have to watch out, everyone thinks they can build websites but only a few can really build nice and tidy websites.

The templates that you can buy are good starters if you can find one you like but you'll need software to edit them, dreamweaver/flash/etc.

Remember that you need to be able to support all browsers and your code *might* need to smart enough to adjust itself for each one because what looks good in IE might not look good in Chrome/etc.

speaking as a webbuilder/programmer I would say hire or ask someone. as with a lot of things web-designing and -building is a craft which is not always that easy. If you want to manage and update the website yourself you can use one of many free available CMS-systems or use a custom-built one (like the one I designed.. ). Just hire a designer and a programmer (for CMS-installation and template-hookup) and you should be up in running at minimum cost.

Buy this  Artisteer (http://www.artisteer.com/Default.aspx?p=purchase)  it gives you the CSS layout.
Run this Joomla (http://www.joomla.org/).  It's a decent CMS with tons of plugins and documentation.
I don't know where you bought the domains from but host it at godaddy (https://www.godaddy.com/), they are the cheapest.  Confusing website but they are cheap if you don't buy any of their add ons.

DIY... my man...DIY.

I feel I might be a little biased being that I own a marketing firm that does a lot of website development, but I feel it depends entirely on what you're looking for. With the wide selection of pre-made templates, as well as page creation services such as wordpress, it is more accessible than ever to create a website by yourself with little or no programming knowledge. Will it, however, look like a professionally designed and developed web presence? Never.

I see many very well put together e-commerce portals popping up around here and I'm terribly impressed by the quality of what I see, but they are all very obviously out-of-the-box templates with features that may or may not actually apply to the situation. As a firm that somewhat specializes in web design we have designers, database developers, coders and SEO specialists; I would never claim to be personally capable of any of them.

Another point is that if your site is built efficiently and intelligently maintenance could be a non issue, with everything easily up-datable via an administrators interface requiring no back-end knowledge whatsoever.

I'm trying to avoid having this sound like a sales pitch at all, forgive me if I have trouble keeping it at bay. If you're looking to put up a simple but functional web store for use by members of the DIY community to purchase smallish runs of boards or parts, there are many very capable template ecommerce systems. These can be easily slapped together by someone with marginal programming knowledge or a strong will to learn. On the other hand, if you're attempting to launch a large scale project that needs to portray a bold, consistent brand while incorporating comprehensive functions such as an automated inventory system, you'll save time and money in the long-run by hiring a professional.

PS: Be wary of "web development" companies using template systems themselves, I see a lot of people selling cheap $1000 websites that you could make yourself...

Hope that helps.? 

Matthew Sommer
www.brolik.com

I'm usually of the attitude that if I can do it cheaper myself, I should.

Dreamweaver is really easy to get going.  I started by going to my local library, getting a Dreamweaver tutorial book (which contained a demo CD of dreamweaver - I think it'd work for 2 weeks or 30 days) and figuring it out as I went.  It wasn't my original intent, but I'm up to managing 3 different websites, one of which sells stuff.  A little information can go a long way and it's always good to learn a new skill/program/etc.

Build it, get opinions, refine.
Last thing - if you buy dreamweaver see if you can get a student/teacher/educational discount - it can save you a couple dollars more.

Hello,

I made my studio's website using webcreator 5 http://www.webcreator.fr/

it's a very easy to use software it as loads of option and is really inexpensive

it's making updating your website very easy .

You have lots of template to begin with,....

I would recommend this ! (I'm in no way connected with those people  ;D I just enjoyed it )

the english version is here http://www.lmsoft.com/