Featured in the Seattle Times: Light House on Puget Sound

Website Creation 101 — Do It Yourself or Hire a Pro?

I’ve survived the creation of my “first ever” website and it’s rewarding to see it come into reality. With the guidance and help of a very talented website designer, website developer, and professional consultant, I was able to create a website that illustrates samples of my work and my approach in working with clients.

The website did not “create itself” nor was it “a snap to do”. I had to make many decisions and choices about the structure of the website, the graphic “look”, the layout, what to include, what to leave out, what to write and how to write it in a way that would be useful and informative.

Looking at the “$49.95 Do-It-Yourself” website software packages and websites that were completed with these inexpensive packages, I decided this approach wasn’t for me. The graphics were geared more toward any number of products or services – sort of a “one size fits all” approach. I decided to invest for professional website design help and I am glad I did.

When creating the website, I began to see similarities between creating a website and designing an architectural project. A novice purchasing a cheap home design software package and expecting to create a very visually appealing and functional home design the first time out seems pretty unrealistic – yet I’ve seen quite a few homeowners who have come to me after trying that approach and became frustrated in the process. My chances of creating an appealing website with no website design experience seemed unlikely – seeking the advice of professionals seems like a no-brainer to me, whether it’s for a website or a home.

While making what seemed like 10,000 decisions on the website, I realized many homeowners are in the same situation when they make decisions regarding their home design. I have new respect for their situation as they struggle with questions over layout, visual appeal, cost decisions, and having every decision raise the thought “Am I making this decision wisely?”

Having worked on hundreds of homes, these decisions seem easy and second nature to me and I enjoy providing guidance for these clients. Now that I can understand how some homeowners struggle with these decisions, it has inspired me to make the process even more enjoyable and rewarding for them, as I help them realize the dreams they have for their living space.

1 Comment

  1. Enoch Sears, AIA (@BusinessofArch) /Reply

    Carl, great insight into the similarities between home design and web design. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for!

    It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. For when you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because what you paid for is incapable of doing what it was bought to do.
    The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot; it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is wise to add something for the risk you take and if you do that you might as well pay for something better.
    – John Ruskin, The Price Perspective

    The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a cheap price is forgotten.
    – anonymous

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