Designing a website can be expensive, so it makes sense to look for every opportunity to reduce those expenses. One option that many people choose is to design their own site rather than paying a web designer or web design company. This could be the right choice for you, or it may end up costing you more in the long run.

The first half of this article will explore what it takes to design your own website to avoid the expense of hiring a professional web designer. The second part will look at the options available that fall somewhere within the middle of the DIY vs. Hiring a Pro argument, and how those options might work best for you.

DIY or Hire a Pro?

Before we discuss the technical details, you need to determine how much your time is worth. If you choose the DIY route, you’ll be investing a large amount of time to the project – which may include extensive learning. Time is money, as they say, so you have to determine whether the time you spend creating your own website is saving you money or simply preventing you from making money while creating your site. On the other hand, if the time spent is considered an investment in your future (as you’ll have added skills), then it may be a suitable tradeoff.

1. Can you take the time needed to learn the skills you need to design your own website?
2. Can you afford to not have an online presence while you’re learning how to design your own website?
3. Will this “time as money” expense be a waste or an investment?

Once you understand the time/money factor, your next step is to evaluate your technical skillset, especially as it relates to web design. Do the terms HTML, XHTML, CSS, and FTP mean anything to you? If yes, then designing your own website may be a good option. If no, then you need to understand that you’ll have to invest several weeks just to learn the basics and possibly months to really have a good grasp of it all.

The Skills You’ll Need To Learn

From the basics to more advanced techniques, w3schools is loaded with free tutorials and is the best place to learn. Keep in mind, however, that HTML, CSS and Javascript are just the beginning. If you need advanced functionality such as e-commerce, a content management system or a forum or blog, you will need to understand a scripting language like PHP as well. If you don’t have a technical background, this learning curve will be steep.

The Software You Need

If you intend to go the DIY route, you’ll need the tools to make it happen. Theoretically, you could probably rely on online tools for much of it, but the experience is far easier with local software installed on your computer. Here are the basics you need.

Image Editing Software

First, you’ll need an image editing program like Adobe Photoshop, but its $700 price tag is a huge deterring factor for many (myself included). There are alternatives though, such as GIMP or Photoscape which are free but not as powerful. (I personally use GIMP, and it works well enough for my needs).

HTML/CSS Editor

Next, you’ll need a program to edit your HTML and CSS files. Adobe Dreamweaver will give you the most functionality and is usually the easiest to learn since it works a lot like some of the software you’re already familiar with, but it will set you back about $400. If you’re trying to keep your costs to a minimum, there are a few less expensive programs available, like CoffeeCup that don’t have all the bells and whistles, or you can even use a plain text editor like Notepad (but don’t use Notepad because there are many better choices that are also free). Two of my favorite text editors are Notepad++ and Notepad2.

FTP Client

Finally, you’ll need an FTP program to upload your files to your web server. I like FileZilla, which is free.

Now that you know what it takes to design your own website, you can make a more informed decision. If you’re still on the fence, you may want to spend some time discussing your needs with a designer to see if the expense of hiring a pro and the time saved to get it done right might sway your decision.

But Wait, There’s More!

Hold on, I said the second part of this would focus on options that fall somewhere between the DIY and Hire a Pro spectrum, so let’s take a look at those options now. This is where templates, themes, and customization come into play.

DIY with a Head Start – Customizing Templates and CMS Themes

Lots of people are like me. They have the desire to learn and they have the time and capabilities to make that happen, but they have difficulty going from a blank canvas to the start of a design concept. Getting beyond staring at that white nothingness into something that starts to look like a site can be daunting.

For that reason, long ago, I began making use of the many templates and themes that are available, many for free. These templates provide a starting point that prevents you from having to start from scratch. Some templates are just wireframe type structures that are just slightly beyond “blank canvasses”, with only the layout (header, sidebar, content, footer) coded and ready to develop. Other templates are full-blown, ready-to-publish designs that could easily be put online as-is and look great. Of course, if you do choose a completely ready-to-go template, you’re likely to be sharing that exact same design with many other people around the world who also chose to use that template for their site. That can be fine in some instances, but the real advantage here is to use any of these templates as merely a starting point – a jumping off place.

Where To Find Templates

There are many places to get great templates for free, and I’d recommend starting with some sites such as Open Source Web Design and Free CSS Templates, especially if you are just learning. If you want to also get ahead of the game, and make sure you use future standards such as HTML5 and CSS3*, then I’d recommend Free HTML5 Templates.

If you are using a content management system, such as WordPress, for example, then that CMS will likely have its own assortment of templates and themes that you can use and there may be entire ecosystems of user-generated themes available online. Just use your favorite search engine to find templates and themes designed specifically for your CMS of choice.

Once you’ve found a template you like, you can customize it to make it uniquely yours. At this point, you’ll still be rolling up your sleeves and going the DIY route, but with a lot less work and time staring you in the face. You can start by editing the CSS to change color schemes, fonts, and even layout (flipping sidebars from left to right, for instance). You can swap out the current graphics and header images for ones that better reflect your personality and site’s theme. I like to use Fotolia to find images to use for my sites. Often, with just a day’s worth of time, you can end up with a completely unique design because you began with a major head start – a template.

Premium Templates + Pro Customization

There is another similar option that falls into this same middle-ground between DIY and Hire a Pro – premium templates and themes. Some pro designers offer templates either free or for a small charge (usually less than $100) and then offer customization services as well. If you see a template you love, but aren’t ready to go the DIY route to customize it, the designer will happily do it for you. While this adds to the cost of the template, the customization charges will usually still be fairly affordable, and you know the changes will be made by a pro.

Your Choice: DIY / Hire a Pro / Customize a Template

So there you have it. There are many routes you can take to get a site designed, running the spectrum from complete DIY to Hiring a Pro, with the middle ground encompassing taking shortcuts by customizing templates and themes. This hopefully helps you make a decision more easily.

* HTML5 and CSS3 markup standards are still not ubiquitous across browsers, so these templates are best for learning purposes. Also, as full disclosure, freehtml5templates.com is my own site.