How much does a website cost?
06.12.10
This is one of the first questions most small business owners have. It ranks right next to, “Should I get Facebook or Twitter accounts.” So, I ask them back, “How much is it costing you not to have a Website, Facebook, and Twitter?” Here is the real question that needs answering, “How important are those things to your customers?”
A better question
Just think for a second here. If you know that Facebook has 4,000,000 active accounts, that there are millions of Tweets per day, and Google searches are the most popular place to find out about local business online; would you think they were important? Would you think a website was important?
In fact, most small business don’t yet. According to Vanessa Fox, Author of Marketing in the Age of Google (HIGHLY recommended), “Only 44% of small business even have a Website.”
Most small business don’t want to spend the money
This is huge! Most small business don’t think they can afford to connect with customers outside of traditional marketing. That 56% if you missed it.
56% of small businesses are not thinking about the web yet. On Google, that means most small business can get ahead of their competitors 56%.
So, how much will that website cost you? Well, it depends on what you want, who you get your website from, and what their rate is.
Now, You can probably find someone who can build you a site for under $300. Just remember, what you put in is what you get out, and I’m not talking time. Its more like, garbage in garbage out.
Before I close here, I don’t want to leave a bad taste in your mouth. I want you to get pumped! This is an amazing opportunity. There is simply no reason to be overwhelmed.
Here are a few suggestions
- Start small! Do not go in all at once. Facebook Pages and Twitter are free. Try them out right now! Go ahead, Google them… Google how to make a Facebook Page.
- Find a consultant. You don’t need to be the expert. Its important to find a good consultant for digital marketing.
- Don’t be cheap if you can help it. Have a defined budget. Know what your online brand is worth. It might be more than you think.
- Read blogs on the topic. Find a good marketing blog and follow it. Some of the most relevant people in the industry, Chirs Brogan, Mitch Joel, and Seth Godin, give their knowledge away for free.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Kevin Dees is a front-end developer hailing from SC. He blogs to help evangelize web standards and best practice. An expert at CSS and standards based semantic markup; Kevin writes about his finding on Twitter and here on his blog. He also accepts new projects at his company Robojuice.com.
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6 Responses
One thing that bugs me about small business websites is the frequency of the “garbage in, garbage out” stuff you mentioned. I think that for businesses that can’t yet afford pro design, using a simple platform like WordPress and some free themes would be infinitely better than a clumsy, awkward site. Looking generic is better than looking terrible, no?
The deal with small businesses and their websites is the fact that many use it in the traditional since. They see the site as a way to broadcast their brands. They want SEO to attract customers. That kind of site is not targeted, and your right, they are clumsy and cheap.
However, the problem is most small business are not web experts. They don’t know were to start, they don’t know how much a site should cost. All they see is art and content. So naturally a broadcast website seems perfect, because that is what they see.
We need to help clients see the web in a new light. We need to teach them about the guerrilla marketing aspects of web design and move them away form the traditional model that doesn’t work. We need need to get our clients laser beans not torches.
We also need to inform them about the technical things without overwhelming them. A lot of people say, “don’t tell them how you do it, tell them what you will do.” I disagree.
If clients don’t know the how and why, then how will they know they need us. Because we avoid the how they don’t know how technical and long it takes to actually get a good site up and running.
We need to inform them about browser comparability, web strategies, integrated solutions, and the difference between landing pages and web pages.
So, the real problem here is us! We need to educate clients on the important parts of our work. Those are the parts clients don’t know about, the ones that drive value in our work.
Than once they value our work, they will know why they need to pay; because its valuable. But, you have to let them know why its valuable.
This is why most clients don’t want to pay. They don’t understand the value of our work, they don’t know about the market online, they don’t know how to discover (not draw in) new customer online. That is our job, and we need to start doing it.
I know I have not really answered your question here… more of a tangent. I get a little passionate some times I guess. But yes, generic is better than terrible.
Sometimes free is first base for small businesses. We need to help them discover that; and we don’t need to be afraid to turn away designing. What we need to be afraid of is turning away clients empty handed.
We need to be strategic.
Than once they value our work, they will know why they need to pay; because its valuable
I think this is a key point and is a good best practice. Ideally one would run through the technical aspects of what need to be done first, and then simplify. Jumping straight to the simplify gives a “that’s so easy” impression – it’s the same reason people complain about other specialists, from plumbers to doctors.
The other problem with small businesses though is that I don’t think it’s uncommon for them to just not have the funds to hire professionals. There needs to be more entry-level options for these situations, where somebody can get a little help setting up a basic site that doesn’t look terrible. It’s an opportunity to expose them to what professionals are able to do so that later, when they do have the funds, they’ll be more willing to pay for quality work.
Your hitting the nail on its head, hard! This is were most freelancers and design firms fall on their faces.
“There needs to be more entry-level options for these situations, where somebody can get a little help setting up a basic site that doesn’t look terrible.”
Most just say, “I’m sorry we can’t help you”. What they need to say is, “I understand you have a tight budget. Lets sit down and talk about setting up a web strategy. A strategy to move you online in phases.”
What that strategy is made of depends on the client, but giving direction is very important. In fact, this is good for design companies as well. They can grow with the business.
Now, I’m not saying no client is too small, only that we need to have a game plan for small business if they are our clients. This is why I say to find a good consultant.
A good consultant can move any business in the right direction. If they say it means a WordPress blog, thats what it means. If it means building a few landing pages with an ad campaign, thats the solution they should shoot for. Not every strategy requires a big budget up front.
Its all about having a strategy, not a single solution. It’s all about knowing your goals and crafting a hand made plan to reach them. Web design is not a business solution, it’s part of a marketing strategy.
Well said. I’m not sure if there’s much I can add to that.
Just finished listening to 5by5.tv and thought I would share a link from the show about consulting. http://unixwiz.net/techtips/be-consultant.html