Asking a friend or family member could save you time, money, and hassle if you happen to be so fortunate as to have a trained and experienced web designer as a friend or in the family. If, however, you are considering relying on someone who has been playing around online for a few years, and managed to put a site together for himself that more or less seems to work, you might want to stop and ask yourself if you really want to trust this person with your business. Remember, although consumers expect all businesses to have a website, if the website is poorly designed and frustrates them, "it makes [them] wonder about the competence of the people in the company" (Norman Nielsen Group).

Poorly designed websites drive loyal customers away - 65% of consumers will not shop on a poorly designed website - even that of a favorite brand. Nearly 30% even cease offline purchases from a favorite brand if their online experience is poor. Only 4% will shop on a poorly designed website - and that's when the price is rock bottom. (Synovate eNation, 08/07/2003)

Unless you only want a simple site, the likely result of his efforts will be sloppy, unprofessional, and worse than not having a website at all. As a business owner you know the value of specialization. Whenever possible, it is sound business practice to hire experts in the field rather than to waste your own time and resources learning to do a mediocre job.

Rather than asking a friend or family member to "play around" and what might possibly be your most important business tool for the next few years (the Internet isn't showing any immediate sign of losing importance), you might want to consider investigating one of the new online website building tools that enable you to build your own site with the ease of typing in a word processor or putting together a PowerPoint presentation. If you still really want to get your family involved, ask them to look into using one. New website building tools like the one available at www.citymax.com are easy to use, provide you with customizable templates and all the features you want on a secure, reliable, commercial website, and cost as little as $25 per month.

For a summary comparing the various ways by which you can get a website, see Table 2.

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