Should I use my friend or a professional?...

- hidden "building blocks" added to your website in order for the designer to assemble and disassemble the website for editing. Therefore, you will be paying larger hosting fees  for a larger size site that adds nothing to your website presentation and... increases the time for your website to display!

- the website builder to disassemble and reassemble the website in order to make even minor editing changes (when they can't write HTML code). This means more time lost in making website edits and changes resulting in larger maintenance fees.

Before you decide, here are some questions you should ask your "friend". Will they be able to "maintain" your site, acquire competitive hosting costs, and what would they expect the those fees to be on a long term basis?

You should also determine if the friend has the capability of "full service" graphics. That means, are they able to photograph, scan, retouch, resize, and position photographs in the proper format. Can your "friend" design graphics, animated gifs, floating banners, logos, and customize what is necessary to make your page attractive to viewers. Do they have graphics compression software to make digital graphics smaller in size so they will appear more rapidly on the screen.

Do they know how to do tables, mapping, frames, CGI-coding, install security measures, and use appropriate META TAGS? Are they able to build forms, install passwords, compress and encrypt the coding?

Do they know how to register your website with internet search engines.? This will be necessary in order for internet users to locate your site. This should not be overlooked if you are expecting to increase your business income with your website.

Therefore, if you only need a website with a white background, a block picture, and simple text - you might use your friend. If you require more, it may be wiser to choose someone more professional.