What Should a Web Site Cost?
To that question I answer “whatever it takes to succeed!” I understand clients have budgets and that they are cost sensitive — I get it. But most, in my experience, have unrealistic expectations of what a quality, effective and successful online business program costs (and they have their priorities about what should be spent where mixed up) both in dollars and time.
If you are investigating Web site developers or WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) applications, the costs are all over the board. From next to nothing to a bunch of zeros. This certainly doesn’t help those investigating Web site costs understand what is involved and what the costs may be, and why, for their particular project.
I explain why this happens in my article: Average Web Site Costs where I detail how each site is unique based on goals, market competitiveness, functionality, size, etc.
This is why business owners need to get educated about the variables available to them so they can make wise decisions. Web sites are serious business in today’s environment and while there are less expensive avenues you can investigate, you still have to be prepared to make an investment equal to your stated goals if you are serious about online success. If you want to cut costs on development; then you need to be prepared to learn what you don’t want to pay a pro to do.
It’s true, with the availability of professionally created site design templates and CMS applications like WordPress, site owners can save on the front end development costs as well as the deployment time involved to launch. But you still have to spend and learn — no way around that.
While templates are a great option for those on a budget, if you don’t know code you’ll have to pay a consultant or developer to customize the template for you. And even as easy as WordPress is for those who do not “know code”, you still will have to learn how to use WordPress properly. Then comes the marketing — marketing will cost additional time and dollars.
Many start investigating their new Web site with the opinion that it should cost very little and not require much of a learning curve. Then the site launches and just works. These perceptions are simply wrong.
If you insist on shopping for a Web site based on price alone, you may find you’re off-line in no time due to lack of results. Now that’s one way to save money!
At your service,
Judith
You may also enjoy:
- Web Site Cost Overview
- No Such Thing as No Budget!
- Average Web Site Costs
- New Web Site Design & Development
- Web Site Investment vs. Expense
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