Originally posted by DayTech:
I apprieciate the insight. 
This is all new to me so as far as having the skill to design it, I don't know that I do, but I'm working side by side with someone who does!
I would like to at least give it a shot before I turn it over to someone else to design for 2 reasons:
1. to be able to update the site myself after the initial design.
2. to force me to have a better understanding of what I want out of a website. My opinion is this; unless you know what you are doing; pay to have it done right. There was a recent article that basically stated how important aesthetics play in website, and most will judge your site in less than 1 second before they either stick around and see what you have to offer or click on to another.
I have seen a lot of companies post half-baked website, poor design, broken links, under construction links for years on end. Investing in a 1 time fee of $2/3k could be one of the best investments to your company. There are many free lancers that post in craiglist.com, which are very reasonable and have great portfolios to showcase.
I think most of people here; I included, who built their own site know this to be true. While it is quite simple to publish with FrontPage or macromedia; it’s quite a challenge to publish something of stature that will stand out from your competition. If you are designing your site as representation, I can not stress this enough.
