I get tons of queries every week, from both new and existing customers. One of these is the standard question “how much is a website?”. A relatively simple question, which, unfortunately doesn’t carry a simply answer. It varies greatly on what your actual requirements are, what you need the site to do, how big it is and content… plus many other factors.
My existing clients know that when they come to me for help, they will receive a professional and highly creative outcome, based upon my many years expertise in this field. Their business deserves this and so does yours. It’s crucial that your potential customers first impression of you is professional, expert in your field and perhaps most of all, that you’re trustworthy.
Your business is fundamentally trying to make money so you in turn get paid, whether it be your sole income or a side-hustle. Either way, you want to make money. To make money, you need to sell your services or products. To get to those sales, you need to attract people. This is where your mum’s friend’s nephew who works in IT and dabbles in building websites may sound pleasing to the ears and pocket when he offers to build your website for a couple of hundred quid ‘to cover his costs’. But ask yourself “is my mums friends nephew really the best person to deliver me a website that will help me pull in new clients?”. The answer is no.
Web design quotes
You were already hesitant and knew you weren’t going to get the best website design for your business. That’s your gut telling you this isn’t the right decision. That’s why you came to me and asked for a quote, thinking my price would be somewhere in the same region. I then spend a bit of time putting your quote together or send you my current fixed-price website package list (if I think it suits your needs). You then see my price is 2 or 3 times higher than your mum’s friend’s nephew and decide the best way forward is to go with the cheapest option. You’ve saved yourself a few pounds, but there’s still that niggling feeling in your gut telling you that your new website won’t be as good as it needs to be, but you still believe that the cheaper option has to the best.
Don’t let a poor website cost you your business
Several months down the line, you notice that there has been no increase in new customers, leads or sales. Perhaps you have noticed a slump. This is because all the hard work you put into promoting yourself and your business has ended in potential customers being put off by a website that just isn’t fit for purpose. It doesn’t make you look professional. In fact, it tells people that you like to cut corners and don’t take pride in your work or love the products you sell. It’s a real shame.
Invest in a great website
I’m sure your products or services are amazing, but put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes. Let’s say they’re looking to buy a pair of designer jeans that cost £500. They look around the high street and know that 2 shops stock them. They can either buy the jeans from shop 1 that has an awful front, tattered paint, cheap sign with no real thought gone into it and generally doesn’t look like a shop that sells £500 designer jeans. Or, shop 2 next door that has a stunning, modern shop front, nice, clean, crisp shop sign that has been well designed and fitted. The customer is going to buy them from shop 2 because they feel more confident in doing so, with more trust.
Your website is your online shop front. Don’t make the mistake of selling yourself short and going for the cheap option, it will always cost you in the end.
