Okay, so you googled how much does a website cost, and now you’re more confused than you were before you looked. You saw businesses that offered pages with copy and graphics at ridiculously low prices. So low they were hard to believe. Believe this, buyer beware. As my father has always said, “Anything that someone can make someone else can make worse!”

On the other end of the spectrum, you found sites that tell you they can build you the ultimate website to fit your needs and it will only cost you $10,000 – to get started. So, what should a new website cost and where should you begin?

Number of Pages

How many pages do you need? Do you need an about page, contact, portfolio, meet the team, and testimonials or is all you need a single serve site — a landing page to begin the lead generation journey and fill the top of your funnel. So, what is a single serve site? “Simply put, it’s a website that is one page, has a single purpose, and is accessible from a unique domain name. For instance, howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com tells you how many people are in space … right now. The utility of the websites varies. Whether they are for entertainment, information, social commentary, or no reason at all – single serving websites are an interesting phenomenon on the internet.” — TKO Tech Talk: Single Serve Websites

Functionality

What functions do you need, e-forms, e-commerce, and interactive elements? Should your site share social media buttons, calls to action, and banner ads? As far as buttons, be careful because it’s easy to go too far. “I should begin by divulging that I don’t hate all buttons, only buttons that detract and interfere with a page. For example, floating buttons, especially those vertical buttons attached to the left side of a website. You know … the ones that interfere with copy forcing you to look over, under, and around them to view the information.” — Bad Bad Buttons

Copy

How much copy do you need, who will write it, and how will it be edited? Yesterday I was looking at a customer’s site and found two misspellings as well as several grammar errors. One of the misspellings was their hometown. We all make grammar mistakes, I’m not throwing any stones here, but a website is too important to make mistakes such as these. If you don’t have an in-house copy editor, then your best bet is to retain one.

So, what should you write about? “Before you write web copy, you have to understand who you’re writing to. Who is it you want to reach? Who is your preferred prospect? Once you understand who you want to connect with you can concentrate on how to write to them. What is your audience looking for? What problems do they want to solve, and what questions do they have? Picture your audience as an individual. Talk to her as if she were sitting in your office.” — How to Write Web Copy

Graphics

If you don’t know what white space or hierarchy is then you’re not the person to add graphics to your website. Website graphics shouldn’t be copy and past clip art; they should be the work of a professional graphic designer and not any designer, but one who specializes in website graphics.

“Typography is more than choosing a font, it’s understanding hierarchy, white space, and how the human eye takes in information. It’s knowing how the CTA (call to action), USP (unique sales position) and tagline can complement the logo not distract from it.” — Why Every Small Business Needs a Professional Logo.

Hosting

Go Daddy might be one of the most recognizable hosting sites, but there are many that offer more. For example, Host Gator, and iPage, as well as hosts designed to fit your particular needs. Don’t jump too fast — do some research before you commit to a host.

(CMS) Content Management System

TKO uses WordPress on three websites; some use Tumblr; still others use one of the dozens available. The key is to find what works for you. Does someone on your team know HTML, will content be generated internally, and is there anyone on your staff with experience administrating a CMS?

But Wait There’s More

Think about this, most people complete research before making a buying decision whether it’s B2B (Business to Business) B2C (Business to Consumer) or even NFP (Not for Profit) and one of the places most of us browse is the organization’s website. When you go to a website that is unorganized, confusing, misleading, and slow what do you do? Do you take your search to another provider? I know I do.

A website isn’t something to scrimp on, don’t get me wrong you don’t want to build more than you need or more than you can afford. But what you do want to do is build the best site for your money whether it’s a one-pager or full-blown website. If we can answer any question please, let us know, contact us.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like, Why You Should Hire a Pro Website Design Team. 

Photo Credit: Public Domain Pictures ID: 163502 Provider: Pixabay

PublicDomainPicturesID:163502Provider:Pixabay