|
Design your own:If you have some computer saavy AND you have
time and patience and would like to design your own site, then
there are some excellent resources available to you. My
favorite software to design with is Adobe Photoshop
 and
Macromedia's Dreamweaver. But these are both rather expensive
pieces of software.
It is conceivable to design your site
using software that comes with Microsoft Office, such as Word
or Publisher, or you can try Netscape Composer. There are also
plenty of free HTML editors you can download.
Search for HTML tutorials, start saving
sites that you love so that you can use them for inspiration
in your design -- and give it a go! If you need help, ask at
our forum. I am sure there will be Moms
there who will have very valuable advice.
Use a template:
If you opt to use a template, you still will need software to manipulate the template with your own content and images. Commonly templates are designed for Microsoft Front Page and Macromedia Dreamweaver. I think you can get a trial of both of these on the web for 30 days to try them out.
Often times you will find that templates
you purchase require you to change certain things, like logos
and other images in graphic software. If you don't own any, or
don't care to learn that - contact us. Most often
we can do simple tasks like this for you for a nominal
fee.
Here are the nicest templates we could find on the web:
Need help customizing your template?
This is a terrific service that will help you customize your template at a very reasonable cost. If you only need certain sections of your template customized, such as the logo or the page tabs, you can contact us for a custom quote.
Hire a
professional website designer:
For most women this is going to be the
most reasonable option. It is time consuming to design a site
or use a template and there are a lot of learning curves.
Unless it is a skill that you really want to develop, you will
save yourself a lot of headaches by hiring someone who knows
what they are doing.
Depending on the type of site you need - you are
realistically looking at paying a designer between $200 -
$1,000. I urge you to explore all of your options, check
portfolios and references and be sure that the designer you
are working with is someone who will be flexible to work with.
It is also crucial that they LISTEN to what YOU want to
achieve through your website.
There are literally thousands of website
designers. I of course encourage you to hire one of our Mom's.
Check in the directory under Website Design and support a
Stay At Home Mom.
|
