Every web site needs to have a clean and attractive design. However, should you hire a professional or do this on your own? 

Let us talk about financial side of this issue. If you want to do the web design of your own page yourself, it will definitely cost you less than hiring a web design company.   In addition, there are many tools out there to help you do this without even having to know HTML.  WordPress is one such tool, and creating a blog, downloading a great looking theme and moving forward in that manner is very easy, and your look will come out pretty professional.

The down side to this, however, is that you are somewhat limited by the type of site you can build.  For example, if you are looking to create a web design for ecommece sites, you should either have web design and coding knowledge, or seriously consider hiring a professional.  On the other hand, if you are creating a personal blog, doing it yourself is probably the best way to go.

Another aspect to consider is time. If you choose to do a web site design on your own it can actually take a lot of time and effort.  Although there are software packages out there that will make the process very easy, and allow you to create your web design with no html knowledge, you still will have to learn to use these tools.  This can be frustrating, and if you are not a do it yourself type of person, this is another reason to consider hiring a web design firm.

The best rule of thumb we can give is that if you intend to build a business around your web idea, get a professional to take care of the web design.  If you are unsure of your ultimate goals, doing it yourself may not be a bad idea.  It will cost less, but also will give you a good handle on how things work, which will allow you to make better decisions about future web sites and designs, regardless of if you hire a professional or do them yourself.