I always have a laugh at self-made websites. Suffice to say, that some are actually quite good, and there are a few examples out there, that are very well done, and I commend them for being so.
The business owner has obviously taken time out of his day, in order to make a professional looking site, for a very small outlay, time.

But....

99.9% of the time, someone refers me to a website that they have built themselves on their home computer, I am horrified.
Actually to drive this point across, usually as soon as someone mentions the words "I built it myself", without even seeing it, my mind goes through a preperation stage.

Random dark backgrounds, flashing and moving gif images zoom through my imagination, and I somehow convince myself that I just really don't want to have to see it.

I type in the url, hit the Enter button, and boom, there it is, in all it's glory.

Just as I'd feared. Flashing banners, moving and rotating gif images, the white text on the really dark background. Oh, and what is that? Is that a link to a web-ring? Oh my....

There are literally millions of self made websites on the web just like this.

This just makes me sad. In this day and age, it is unacceptable.

I asked my girlfriend about a few things the other day. She is an average internet user, uses a laptop at work, and doesn't really know the in's and out's but she loves her facebook.
Here are a few questions that I asked her.

Q. When you are looking for something, and you come across a website like this what are you thinking?
A. I guess my first question would be is, 'Is this company still in business?'.

Q. Lets say that you were looking for a restaurant to visit for the evening, which one would you choose between these two?
   (showing her 2 websites, one self made, and one professionally built by a web development company)
A. I'd definatly choose that one (points at the professionally built website)

Q. Why?
A. Well, it looks nicer, and the photos of the restaurant and menu show me exactly what I am going to see.

Q. So, what if this other one had images on it?
A. I would still choose the nice one.

Q. Why?
A. I don't know, I guess I can trust that their service will be more professional..

This is a great example, of an average internet/consumer's views on presentation and how a company represents itself.
What businesses seem to NOT be understanding, is that you CAN RUIN your business and reputation by keeping these self-made websites available.

Casual visitors / Potential Customers, begin to question you, and that is something that you do not want. Ever.

Your business, logos, imagery, flyers, brochures, business cards are all created by professionals.

Your website should be too.