Web Design, Not Just for the Experts Anymore

While a degree in web development will no doubt be helpful for business owners launching their own websites, these days you don’t really need an advanced degree to build a legitimate site.  With the pervasiveness of free online web design programs, anyone and everyone has this ability at their fingertips.  Yes, there are still experts that may be able to spruce up your site but these can be costly.  Why pay for something you might be able to do on your own at no cost? 

WordPress is a popular program for frugal web site designers.  The web has been abuzz about the upcoming release of WordPress 3.0 which promises some new features to its already impressive repertoire:

·         New custom menu options giving you more choice in the order of your pages

·         Up-to-the-minute stat tracking highlighting which SEO terms are sending you visitors

·         Built-in text editing/formatting and image uploading integrating Flickr and Photobucket

According to their website, “WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as a full content management system, and so much more through the thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes [it] is limited only by your imagination.”  And if ever your imagination needed a jumpstart, you could always check out video tutorials on YouTube to further your web design vision.

Whether or not WordPress or other programs like it are the best choice for your web ecommerce goals is ultimately up to you.  As a business owner you and you alone know your business best.  But it might not hurt to see whether or not you can sidestep hiring a pro beforehand.