It Always Depends...
One could answer "How much should a car cost?" The
answer has such a broad range, based on so many variables
that arriving at an answer may be difficult. Still, no
one wants to hear an answer like "how much can you
afford?"
because we all fear paying too much and getting too little.
We think you can begin to set your website budget by
identifying two broad categories: Advertising and Transactions.
Advertising
Advertising should blend with your other marketing efforts
so that your "Yellow Pages" ad feeds your website
and vice-versa. Newspaper ads stimulate prospective clients
to confirm your validity on your website. The other media
all talk "at" the customer. With a website
the customers talk to you, either directly or indirectly
by choosing someone else.
Therefore, the cost questions concerning the advertising
aspects of your website would be:
- Do they already know you?
- Who else might they know?
- Why should they pick you?
- What problems will they solve by choosing you?
- What other choices could they make?
- What happens if you don't do anything?
- How important to you is it to do something now?
Generally speaking, the Advertising portion of your
website will be the place you need to budget for first.
Without an effective advertising component there probably
won't be many transactions.
Transactions
The transaction aspects of your website can be as simple
as placing a free PayPal E-Cart button on your site or
as complicated as becoming your own Merchant Account
Manager. The cost difference is considerable and should
be carefully analyzed before committing to a particular
structure.
We can schedule a time to speak with you about your
needs as soon as you contact
us.
Analysis or Design?
Analysis
Many people already have websites that they are not happy about.
The websites are ugly, dysfunctional or both. They seem tired and
apathetic. Throwing money at a search engine to get more people
to the website will only increase the number of people who dislike
your website.
We can help you by analyzing your website on several
levels. Is there an organic flow? Something the client
was searching for put them on your page. What was it? How do you
measure it? Now that we have them what do we do with them?
In the 15 seconds that most website viewers give an initial viewing
was there anything compelling that convinced them to stay?
It could be audio, animation, streaming video, beautiful
artwork or a combination of all of those. But without them, they
will be gone quicker than a politician's promises.
Design
Website Development and Website Design are two different ideas
that need to work together. Development encompasses your color scheme,
philosophical ideas, functional ambitions and focused ways to measure
your success. Design is all about the mechanics of executing the
developer's ideas. Be careful that you don't let the two work at
cross purposes or you can wind up with a "camel." As everyone knows,
a camel is a horse designed by a committee.
Starting at the
End.
There's not much point in spending a lot of money on design and
development if your budget stops before the website goes
on-line. Tell your website developer the budget you want
to work with and see if it is feasible. On average, most
design firms charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $60
to $85 per hour. It takes about 10 hours to make a small
website that you wont' be ashamed of and about twice as
long for one that really sings! And that's assuming they
are drawing on a standard library of components. For a
full website made from scratch, using custom photography, copy writing
and market research it is possible to spend upwards of
$10,000. The major corporations can spend 100 times that. But then,
they buy jets for CEO's, used politicians and tickets to Wimbledon.
In the website business, size matters. Most pages require photography,
style sheet development and thematic execution. Additional
pages are somewhat cheaper to produce, provided you already have
written the copy and refined the pictures. If not, you may need
to look for more succinct ways of expressing yourself.
A well focused 5 page website can do much more for you than a 30
page tome that rambles without direction or purpose.
In the end, it is all about having the viewer contact you.
Please, contact us.
Copy
writing..
Nothing drags down a website like poor copy. It doesn't have to
be erudite or reference Poe's "tintinnabulation of the bells,"
but it must engage the reader. That can be done through
intrigue, fear or fun.
Additionally, on a website you have another level of concern: keyword
searches. If your website doesn't make judicious use
of the keywords, concepts and ideas that define your purpose in
being on the web then the search engines will ignore you.
(Yes, it works. Just click on the handle)
On days when the Elves have not already erased the blackboard,
you can engage our copy writing minds for $65.00 per hour.
Specialized Components
Because the internet is a user driven medium and not a broadcast
medium the rules are different for getting users' attention. There
are whole arrays of important aspects of website development
that many people ignore because they they either are unaware
of the power of certain choices or are unwilling to spend the money
to build a site that will really make a difference in how their
viewers think of them.
Here is a checklist of subjects that you can use to determine
whether your site is operating at maximum capacity.
- Has your site been tested for W3C compliance?
- Has it been tested for cross-platform performance for the
major browsers?
- Do your efforts for a better search engine ranking include
an analysis of your keywords and the way the clients you seek
will use them?
- How would a stranger that is looking for what you offer,
but is totally unaware of you and where you are, find you?
- What have you done about audio development?
- What have you done about animation?
- What kinds of database development have you built into your
site to track visitors, record client purchases and develop
a rapport with the people who visit you?
- Do you have a Blog? Why not?
- What about the instantaneous nature of internet communication
makes you a better choice when people are considering your services?
What about it makes you look worse?
- Who in your organization is responsible for your internet
site security? What have they done this year to make sure you
are a Hacker Free Zone?
- What outside content input do you have, such as RSS Feeds,
that automatically provide new content to your site?
- What medium do you see as the primary focus for your advertising
and marketing dollars? Where do you see that in 3 years?
- Are you planning on using affiliate programs? We can show you those that work.
-
If you would like to get paid when people visit your website
try ShareASale.com
- If you are looking to bring traffic to your site on a pay for performance basis see ShareASale.com
If you have only considered a few of these important questions
then we need to talk. Contact us.
From time to time we spot a product that really makes everyone's life better. We use these products and recommend them.
Someday they may pay us for saying so.
Spotmau PowerSuite Porfessional 2008
Looking to ad video presentations to your website? Try CamStuioIM
Already using VideoWebWizard? Upgrade to the new version at our discount.
Another really slick idea is to add video to your presentation.
Enhanced audio can add a real dramatic moment to your sites.
Moving on into video publishing? Here are some ways to optimize your videos. and enhance your visual opportunities.
Josh Anderson has a wonderfu new video component that does it all. Check it out, now.
Customized Templates ..
Yes, the expression is an oxymoron. But, if you have ever tried to use one of the complex templates available over the internet, you have discovered that they defy the average user. Each component needs tweaking. Often, what looked fabulous as a demo becomes banal when finally presented.
Let us fix them for you. We can make the presentation crisp and keep the copy from bleeding all over three different browsers.
We can remove the music that sounds like it escaped from a bad disco.
Call to discuss the idea that has excited you and let's see what it will really cost for your to be able to use it.
Want to see some good starting places? Check out the goodies at Template Monster.
So, here's a strategy for you to consider.
1). Our development rate is $65.00 per hour. Our Analysis rate
is the same with a two hour minimum.
Hire us to analyze your current web profile and suggest to you
changes that will make it better. Then ask for a "capped quote" on
getting those changes done.
It's a way that both of us can use to develop a mutually beneficial
business relationship.
Prefer to build your own website from template? See the designs at templatemonster.com.
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We can't make all the internet a better place, but we can help
you keep your piece of it pristine, if you contact us.
