After you've planned the design and layout of your website, you need to decide on how you're actually going to build the website.
This will usually take up a lot of time and hard work, but once you get your site up and running, it should be well worth the effort, considering the potential profits you may reap.
There're basically 2 options: One is to build the website on your own, the other is to hire a web designer to build it for you.
In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of each option, and help you decide which option is the best for you.
Build The Website Yourself If you have some programming skills and are well versed in HTML or PHP, you should definitely choose to build the website on your own.
The benefits are:

You have the greatest flexibility in customizing your site.
This means you get full control over exactly which components you want to include on your site and where you want to place them.

Since you'll be testing a lot and restructuring your site frequently when your business is just starting out, you can manage all the changes yourself without needing to approach your web designer again each time you need to restructure your site.

You can maintain your site on your own.
Each time you need to make small updates to the product catalogues or new promotions, you can make the updates on your own without difficulties.

You do not have to pay the hefty fees of hiring a web designer.

Thus, as you can see here, designing the website on your own is definitely better than hiring a web designer to build the site for you, if you're willing to spend more time learning HTML and building the site.
If you've decided to go ahead and build the site on your own, you have two choices - to learn the HTML and construct the site from scratch, or to use a HTML editor.
Some resources for learning HTML can be found here:

http://www.
pagetutor.
com

http://www.
htmlgoodies.
com

http://www.
davesite.
com

If you plan to use a HTML editor, on the other hand, you may want to consider the following software:

Microsoft Frontpage.
This software is very user-friendly - you can get your site up and running in no time! It comes together Microsoft Office, and is readily available on most computers.

Dreamweaver.
(http://www.
adobe.
com/products/dreamweaver) This software contains more functionality and is capable of designing more professional-looking websites.
The price is steeper, however, and you may need more time to learn all the intricacies of the software.
Currently, the latest version is Dreamweaver 8.

Of course, graphics and logo design is also integral to web construction.
Apart from having a HTML editor to structure the website, you also need a graphics editing software to create your company logo, navigation buttons, or banners.
The graphics editing software I highly recommend is Adobe Photoshop.
(http://www.
adobe.
com/products/photoshop) It has the capabilities of creating stunning images and effects, allowing you to create professional-looking websites.
However, for someone who has no prior experience in graphics editing, it is more difficult to learn how to use the functions and tools.
Hiring A Web Designer If you're not IT-savvy, the best option is definitely to hire a web designer.
Not only do you get professional web design services, you also save lots of time designing your site and learning how to design it in the first place.
There're actually many web designers out there willing to build your site for very competitive prices.
When selecting a web designer, it's crucial that he has a good understanding of internet marketing, for the following reasons:

Your website must be entirely focused on getting your visitors to close sales.
Your web designer must understand the tricks of optimizing your sales process and delivering a professional layout focused on user-friendliness.
This is definitely superior to a flashy, attractive website with fanciful graphics, but does not deliver sales.

Some web designers well versed in internet marketing may even offer to write your salescopy for you when designing the site.
Salescopy are the words on your site that draws the visitors in with enticing benefits and convince them to close sales.
Such salescopy is instrumental in converting ordinary web visitors into paying customers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
SEO is the process of optimizing your website such that it ranks high on the Search Engine Results Page for your selected keywords.
Much of the SEO process is done when building the website, like the keyword density, META tags, title tags, header tags and image tags.
Web designers with experience in SEO can also offer added value in this aspect.

To conclude, if you choose to hire a web designer, you need to ensure that the sales process on your website is optimized for the highest profitability.
If you cannot afford the extra budget of hiring a web designer, it's usually advantageous to design the site on your own.