Overview

There are many places across the Web which provide for people and businesses FREE websites. So, why even think about hiring a web designer to do it for you? Well, the value of a website is basically defined by three things: accessibility, functionality, and image. The free site templates you will get through Office Live, Geocities, or any other service of its kind will be greatly lacking in all three of these areas.

Accessibility

A website is not built with a convenient drag-and-drop tool of some kind. Each site is made up of a lot of code which each Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) will read and display. Unfortunately, though there is such a thing as web standards, not every browser complies with those standards. In other words, one browser may display a line of code differently than the next. Therefore, each site must be designed so that no matter what browser a person is using, they will be able to view the site correctly.

In addition to the number of browsers to accommodate, every website should cater to anyone with a disability. Web users who have no sight at all may utilize a screen reader, which reads the content of the web page, or rather the HTML code, back to them. Users with partial or poor sight need to be able to enlarge the text on web pages. It is estimated that one in 12 men and one in 200 women have some form of color blindness. Some users are deaf and unable to hear audio content. Some may not be able to use a mouse, which means the site should be set up for keyboard-only users.

What should also be considered is technology. With users surfing the Web with everything from cell phones to TVs, from wide-screens to older monitors, each should be able to view your site with ease. Whether a website offers this kind of total accessibility all depends on how the site was constructed. This is what a professional web designer can be sure to do when he/she builds your site.

Functionality

Each site should provide functionality for users and the owners alike. Of course, most business owners don’t want to learn web code or wait on a web designer to make every change or update they need to make on their site. This is why a free site which offers the ability to change content and images very easily seems like a great option. But a web designer can build you a website using a content management system (CMS) which will give you the same options with much greater functionality. The options are almost endless using systems like Joomla or Wordpress. The owner can log in the back-end, make a change (even to layout and some design elements), and it’s instantly published.

Image

If image is everything, what does your website say about you, your business, or your organization? You will never find a freebie site on the Web that will offer personal identity. Keep in mind, “free” does not always mean free. Let me give you an example.

Office Live website ($20/mo. hosting):

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