Shopping For Website Services? This Article Will Save You Money
How much does it cost to have a successful web strategy? In preparing this information, I jumped on the internet and searched for "web design Asheville" to see what other web services are charging. I saw offers for custom web designs ranging from $199 to over $3,500.
So, What's Happening? I started brainstorming some options, and here's what I came up with as some possibilities.
All the custom web design services are almost identical, and some businesses are wasting money.
The $199 web design takes advantage of the typical business owner's lack of knowledge about something complex.
The web designer offering a site for $199 is desperate for work.
The $199 custom website is for small businesses that don't need something advanced, and the more extensive packages are businesses with more advanced needs.
The $3500 design package offers some essential features that the $199 web design doesn't address.
The $199 web package outsources their work to places like India, where labor is cheap.
There is one item that can be checked off the list of options immediately.
The web designer offering a site for $199 is desperate for work.
I only focused on paid ads on Google when doing my research. For web design-based paid searches, the average cost-per-click is roughly between $12-$20.
This means that both the $199 website package and the $3500 packages spend a lot of money advertising. If we are optimistic about their closure rates of 10% and assume their ads have a high-quality score and are only paying $10 per click, then the immediate overhead of each project is $100. For the $199 package, this leaves $99 to build the actual website. The $199 may be considering the client's lifetime value, but the recovery to positive ROI would still be around 6-12 months with minimal overhead and very cheap hosting.
Being in web development for 20+ years, it is not likely that a custom web design agency would stay in business with this model, so they are not genuinely building custom solutions in the traditional sense.
Example of an actual ad selling cheap services
Instead, they are likely cutting corners by:
Using poor hosting and overcharging for it.
Not building custom websites and selling something that "appears" custom.
Limiting customer revisions and customer input.
Using open-source (free) images.
Not offering or limiting customer collaboration & consultation.
Not establishing client goals before building the site.
Limiting the amount of content so much it will never rank organically, and paid ads would be too expensive due to poor ad quality scores (part of ad quality score relates to the landing page)
Outsourcing the web design to other countries or using unqualified freelancers.
Not performing competitive research.
Not building a proper architecture using a vetted keyword analysis from SEM Rush or Google Keyword Planner.
Not evaluating competitors using industry-standard tools.
Using free or easily hacked plugins and resources.
Relying on the customer to set goals and provide the plan to reach those goals.
Working at $10 per hour would only give 10 hours to complete a custom website if you don't include professional licenses and software to perform a proper analysis. They are likely creating something that looks nice but lacks substance. This is like providing a photo of a house but selling the image as an actual home.
But does this mean the $3500 website is the better option for "web design Asheville" or any other keyword? The answer is, "no." Just because a designer charges more money doesn't mean they can or will use the resources in a meaningful way. Many agencies and resources that charge more money have a bloated overhead or simply charge more.
So, what's the answer?
First, you need to do a lot of research and ask the right questions. Second, you need to find out if the web designer has the proper certifications and invests in the right tools to properly analyze and build a plan to leverage your opportunity for success. But the most critical aspect is to not decide based on price or emotion. Integris Design offers award-winning, certified experience backed by industry-leading research tools, hosting, and much more. In addition, we are known for providing qualified advice based on the client's best interest.