I've always been a little bit wary of any company offering fixed-price websites based on a template. Apologies if this sounds preachy, but have you worked things through right from first principles? Ask yourself why you need a website, and what - exactly - you're going to use it for. I think it really is better to spend a bit more cash intially to be sure you get something which is going to work for you.

There's a bit of information about working with agencies here (ok, so it talks about "gowing your website", but I think the advice is still valid).

And - I can't stress this enough - absolutely make sure that whoever designs the site knows their stuff when it comes to search engine optimisation. I think the best way is through a recommendation - are there any business organisations in your area (here in the UK we have our Chambers of Commerce etc) where someone might be able to make a recommendation?

Good luck!

Dependent on how much time you have available you could buy a nice template, a copy of Frontpage and you will have plenty of money left over for optimising the site, as in my (limited) experience this is what takes the time up.

People who have off-the-shelf needs would do just as well with an off-the-shelf website. How many ways can you do a brochure site for the local plumber, for example. Points well taken about SEO, but your web designer most of the time isn't the best source for that job anyway. For your average brochure site, like the plumber I mentioned, just getting listed in the relevant directories is probably enough SEO to suit their needs.

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Peter T Davis
Frixer, Inc.
Helping people make profitible businesses on the web.

Hmmm interesting points. I completely agree that if - for instance - you were putting together a brochure site, you'd probably follow some conventions. That's what people expect, and they know how it works.

But I think in terms of design, you're going to want to look different to your competitors - and in my experience, that's where it's worth involving a designer, or at least a friend who knows a bit about Photoshop!

All IMHO of course...

All I did was look at the templates and designs of my main competitors and made sure mine was different, if you look at a lot of sites you may occasionally come across the same one but would you remember? If you dont you probably will not see it again anyway. The same applies to your customers / surfers.

There are a good number of places you can get an "off the shelf" design that is unique. When you buy at a popular site like Template Monster, you can pretty much be guaranteed that you'll find someone else using the template. Dig a bit deeper and you'll find individual designers selling one-off templates. There's a section at Sitepoint's forums for example , that lets independent designers post one-off templates for sale. Some of the ones I've seen are very good, and very cheap.

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Peter T Davis
Frixer, Inc.
Helping people make profitible businesses on the web.