I understand your desire for a professional web site, but farming it out means you lose one hell of a lot of control. Every update/change, is $$$ out of your pocket, not to mention the time delays in getting it accomplished.
If you want a simple site, displaying relatively static information, it is not too difficult to create with a WISIWIG editor. I still use
Adobe Pagemill 3.0, as I don't need anything complex, or interactive, beyond e-mail links for folks to contact me. All of that active page stuff, may sound good, but, crap, it is not that difficult to copy/paste (occasionally, you will need to edit HTML, directly, as well, so
Adobe Pagemill 3.0 works quite well). Stay away from
frames -- they are of the Devil.
All things considered, if you farm it out, you will find it bleeds money, and you will lose a very great amount of control over it. If you want a forum, they are largely automated for you, once they are set up, and configured (you likely know that already, but I wanted to cover the bases, just in case). A forum can be integrated within your site, if need be, or it can be a stand-alone.
If you farm it out to a college kid, they may start out doing a great job, but eventually, they will move on, and you may be left in a lurch. I've seen folks hire a college student, who did fantastic work, until they moved on with their lives, leaving the web site owners holding the (empty) bag, not being able to make changes, or not being able to hand it off to anyone who knew what the kid did, or how to edit it.
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First, determine what exactly you want out of your web site: forum, user input/posting capability beyond a forum, or relatively static information (simpler, easier). Then shop around to see what it will cost to farm it out. Then, ask your prospective editors what type of turn-around they can give you for updates, as well as pricing; be sure to view several of their active sites, to get an idea of what your's will look like -- many of them use templates, which are designed for a minimum monitor size (on larger displays, there will be a lot of unused, gutter space on both sides). Finally, make a long, hard choice about it, and be sure to
have a contract that gives you final control over it, including full copyright -- otherwise, you may find you really do not own it, they do, and you will be at their mercy...
Even if you do not want to create/edit/maintain it yourself, you still need to be educated about it, to avoid being taken by legal thievery. Cheers!
1979 CB750K (sold, 2012, but not forgotten)
1983 Kawasaki 440 LTD Belt Drive (sold, 2011)
1993 Kawasaki Voyager XII
Jan 17, 2012; 1:20am
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