Courtesy Voodoo:
It’s a great question. How much should you pay for a website for your business? What is it worth to you?
I guess it’s all about expectations. How you expect it to look, what you expect it to do, and how you expect it to perform.
A simple Google search will reveal many adverts, all parroting the same, or a very similar message. Adverts such as “Professional website design only $249” and “Create a stunning website for free!” are just some of our favorites.
It’s called a dis-service. It undervalues our industry and misrepresents what real professional website designers are all about. There’s certainly a market for it! Time to get educated.
The majority of our clients are actually startups who have been fooled into wasting weeks of their time with ‘free’ website builders, only to realize that maybe there’s something more to this ‘web design’ thing after all?!
Some clients are people who’ve outgrown their starter site and are exploring ways in which technology can be put to work for them, now that they understand a bit more about it.
We love medium-sized businesses. They’ve been here before and know how important it is to choose the right web design agency. They’re also willing to invest in their success.
Budget is always a concern, especially for startups and even for established businesses. It all depends on what you expect. ‘Professional’ services for $249? You can’t expect a lot.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get an unoriginal site that looks OK. A sprinkle of generic stock photos and not a lot of well-written or optimized content. At least your phone number is on there.
The site will look exactly like every other bargain-basement website that the ‘designers’ produce, thanks to the low cost easy-to-swap-things-out template system.
While not original, it might serve as something to put on a business card at least. Perfect for many small businesses.
You can’t expect to be found on page one of Google, for it to generate leads – and you definitely won’t get any of the cool stuff like custom illustrations, 3D models, eye-catching animations or professionally produced video content.
Sadly, people overlook the importance of customer support, ongoing maintenance & plugin updates. They don’t understand SSL certificates, why professional photography is important, or how long mobile testing actually takes.
Don’t forget fast & reliable website hosting, and robust website security to protect the site once all this work has been done.
It’s unfair to expect the client to know about all of these components, or why they’re important. They’re entrepreneurs!
Our clients are usually not strategists, graphic designers, animators, video producers, marketeers or programmers.
We believe in creating value for our clients, and take a very different approach. A holistic one.
Infrastructure, dependable after-sales care, professionalism and experience matters to everyone. It’s even more important with regards to website design.
Knowing somebody who’s local and who understands your business can be very useful. Someone who you can call to fix an issue at 1am on a Saturday morning can be a life-saver, especially concerning business-critical systems.
Website design can be broken down into several main areas of expertise. Consultation and strategy will help both parties understand the business and the brand’s message. Design shapes the logo, artistic style and the website interface.
Development involves hundreds of hours in programming time to ensure that the website looks as intended, is functional and works properly across all browsers & devices.
Then of course there’s marketing. Figuring out how to connect with people, turning people into customers and re-marketing products or services to past customers feeds families.
Getting all of these components right is not an easy task, nor is it a quick one. Finding someone who can do just one of these tasks proficiently can be hard enough.
Marketing alone is a multi-month endeavor which only starts to yield results after a certain amount of time due to the ongoing content creation, link building and social media work involved. Having something worth marketing is essential.
An award-winning website goes a long way in helping to sell a product. It’s also a major factor when determining a product’s price. It changes the the whole perception of the brand.
Great design, an easy & enjoyable user experience and clever marketing will make or break a business. At the end of the day, you really do get what you pay for.
Presentation will determine the sale. Marketing will set your brand’s frequency and make it resonate with the right audience. The product is your job, right? Not quite.
Choosing the right website design team can actually serve to enhance your business, your products, improve your services and create a better customer experience.
Strategy is key, getting it right from the start will ultimately save you a lot of time and money. Exactly how fast you run in the right direction is entirely up to you.
Can you really afford not to invest in your own infrastructure?
To find out more, talk to a member of our team.
