How Much Should A Website Cost Anyway?
A small business is often run on a shoestring budget with one person multi-tasking and wearing many hats. As such everything you do needs to be effective.
In this situation it is vital that you are as effective as possible. Same goes for your website. This cannot just be some fancy branding exercise. It needs to produce measurable results
* The primary purpose of a small business web site is to generate more business *
You need a web site that will do this, or its just not worth the bother
If you go to a web design company that only deals with big corporations chances are they wont understand your needs or operate within your budget either.
Pick a web designer who understands what a small business needs ie one that runs a small business themselves
There are a few things to check for though, regardless of who you get to build your site:
1.You need a website that is affordable and preferably without monthly charges and fees. There is nothing worse than getting hit with hidden expenses when you’re already on a strict marketing budget
2.It must look good. It doesn’t need to be a stunning work of art though, so you can skip the expensive graphic work for now
3. It should include all the extras needed to get online. Things such as hosting and domain name. This saves you time and saving time saves you money
4. Know how much it will cost before signing anything. It might even be best to avoid web design companies that don’t even put indicative prices for their services on their own web sites.
5. The site should be well optimized to rank well in the search engines. You want it to be found after all and the best way to get traffic is through Google, Bing and Yahoo.
And the last thing…
6. Make sure you understand what is happening. You might feel silly asking “dumb questions” – but you are not. Any web designer worth dealing with will be able to explain in easy to understand terms.
And really finally this time if you want to read some more about what makes for a successful website I’d recommend the eBook mentioned in the resources box below. It’s free. Plus I know the author well (it’s me). It’s called Web Designer Secrets
regards
Richard C Law
Web Design Australia
Visit Web Design Australia, for a web design quote that you can afford. And you can also download a f ree copy of my eBookWeb Designer Secrets. It is packed full of useful web tips.
