It’s tough to be a small business owner. In addition to wearing many hats, we have to think about company’s image and the budget. Just like finding the perfect business location, we have to invest in website design and development.
Business owners often think that quality websites are really expensive to make. But how much do they really cost? Quotes can range from 500 to 10,000 dollars and up. It’s not always clear for people who don’t create websites on regular basis why there is a such a big price difference.
Small business owners often make mistakes or forget to ask important questions when hiring a website designer. Alice Wonder Marketing often works with clients who were unhappy with previous web developers, lost time and money, and eventually came to us for help.
These are few approaches to creating business websites and the potential problems associated with each:
- Buying a WordPress template and trying to install it yourself. This is significantly harder than it looks. We often get clients who purchased a template on a popular theme site, tried to install it on their own, and got stuck half way through. In addition to programming work, a designer is needed in most cases to make the template look appealing.
- Hiring an inexpensive freelancer. If you search craigslist, you can hire somebody as cheap as $12 or $15/hr for website design. The problem here is that the freelancer may not have the skill set to complete your project or may disappear in the middle of the process because they got a full time job or another more interesting gig. Also, if you have problems with your website in the future, chances are they will not be within reach to help.
- Hiring an inexpensive company with developers and, more importantly, project managers overseas. In most cases, communication with such a team is very difficult. For example, ideas of what design should look like are very different in the United States and India. We have many clients who come to us after choosing this option and now have to redesign their website completely. They end up paying twice for the same project.
- Hiring a fancy professional marketing agency. They look glamorous online, their business comes up first when you search for website design on Google, and they have an amazing portfolio. The only problem is that building a custom WordPress site with them will cost over $10,000. Unfortunately, most small businesses can’t afford such expenses.
- Hiring a company that charges a monthly fee instead of a set amount for website design. An initially agreed-upon fee is the best way to pay for a website. It’s also best to get your own domain and hosting so you do not depend on the company that created your site in the future. Companies offer very appealing packages for websites, some even as low as a $200 monthly payments. Over time, your website will end up costing you ten times more. In some cases, if SEO is included, it may be financially reasonable, but most of my clients who got out of this kind of deals said that it was not working for them in the long run. Also, as soon as you stop paying the fee the website disappears. All the traffic and visibility is lost.
Do you remember the saying, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, just wait till you hire an amateur”. Just like going to the dentist to do a root canal or hiring a CPA for taxes, you should hire a professional website designer and developer to create your website. It’s not as easy as it looks and professional image is very important to the future of your company.
This is there we come in. Alice Wonder Marketing is a small local agency. We have great reviews. Our clients love us because we have a consultative approach in our business. We have many different solutions from inexpensive template sites under $1,000 to custom programming that runs over $20,000. We listen, we help to create RFP, we try to understand your business strategy, and match the right products with your needs.
Request a quote from Alice Wonder Marketing and you won’t be disappointed. Check out our website design portfolio. Call 206-214-8230 for more information.
