Hello and welcome to our inaugural ‘This Week On The Web’. The series that brings you some interesting links that we’ve come across. We like to consider it as a good source of material for that lunchtime break or bedtime reading.
Now I’m going to have to come clean here, this is actually a couple of weeks worth of links. The weeks have been going so fast that I didn’t get a chance to share last weeks collection. Now, with that confession out of the way, on with some links.
This question has been asked for nearly as long as web design companies have been in existence. If you spend 5 minutes doing some research on Google, you will find the answer lies somewhere in the vicinity of FREE to upwards of $100,000.
I’m not sure this helps with making an educated decision as a consumer.
Having met over 200 small business owners in the past few weeks as part of the Achieve More Online workshops, I’ve seen first-hand some extremely bizarre website pricing and fielded many a question about what an appropriate cost might be.
The extreme
Unfortunately, I came across a business (single operator, home-based) who had shelled out over $7,000 for a basic templated web site with 4 pages (Home, About, Photo Gallery, Contact) by a Perth web design company who shall remain nameless. They had also paid for a content management system (CMS) which they had not received. The site would have taken less than a day to put together.
On the contrary, there seems to be an expectation from the SME sector that a high quality website should be somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000 or less.
The price is right?
While I don’t think there’s an easy general answer to the title of this post, here at The Frontier Group we have our own reasons on why our websites are priced the way they are.
The breakdown of a typical small business website:
Research – This is the first stage in the project, where requirements and the purpose of the website are determined. A website needs a real business reason to exist, and we need to know what that is.
The website needs to pass the what, why, how, what if? test. ie what/who the business is, why they should deal with you as opposed to a competitor, how you work, what the benefits are of using your product/service or alternatively, the downside of not using your product/service.
Content – This component is often overlooked or left until last. How can your website be effective in communicating to your customers without content? Just what content you want your website to have will determine how the site will be designed and structured. Knowing and planning for this upfront is key.
Think about the problem/s you’re actually trying to solve with a website and how that might potentially need to look, do some research on competitors who have successfully achieved a similar outcome in your industry.
Accessibility – Now we’re moving towards the design phase, so it’s time to start thinking about accessibility. We’re committed to complying with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 when it comes to developing a website for all. This makes sure online information and services are accessible by people with disabilities. We adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, which covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible.
Most people designing their own website or using an online site builder will miss this step completely. On the other hand, there’s plenty of companies who will also leave it out, or fail to inform you about it due to price or ignorance.
Wireframing & Visual Design – At this stage in the project a designer may present wireframes of the concept ideas to develop an outline with the customer. Once a layout structure is agreed, they then develop the visual design of the website. At the completion of this stage images or “flats” are produced for each of the individual page types.
If you’re after a unique business look and feel, don’t succumb to the temptation of a templated site. While this may reduce barrier to entry, chances are, there’s a hundred other sites out there that look identical to yours.
Prototyping – We produce a prototype website for our customers allowing them to view it in a web browser. This allows them to “click around” the site and get a better representation of how different effects or transitions will appear. At this stage, cross-browser testing and necessary website code validation occurs.
Check that the site functions correctly and give it a thorough test. Select a handful of your best customers and give them the option to test it for you.
Deployment – The website is then deployed to a test server, so the customer can approve that the website has been produced to the required standard.
Hosting & CMS – Domain name, Email and Website hosting needs to be considered at this stage. Also licensing and setup of a CMS product for content management. For our customers a CMS is non-negotiable, as it enables the customer to make basic changes to their content on an on-going basis. This negates the need to contact us and pay for changes.
Watch out here for vendor lock-in. If you want to pick up your site and change hosting company or web designer, can you do so?
Other Considerations – You might think that the website is now complete, but a website needs constant revision and updating to remain relevant. Other options at this stage involve setup of specific analytical tools, search engine optimisation techniques, email marketing tools and maybe a complete online strategy.
The answer
Armed with all this information, how much would you now pay?
You should be able to make an informed decision as a consumer that you are indeed getting what you paid for. If you’ve got a specific budget in mind, you need to appreciate and understand what that will get you from a reputable company. The value of the website to your business is the single most important point to remember.
Finally, I’ve included a guide to fairly common pricing structures by companies who follow this similar process for small business websites:
$0-$3,000 – Simple templated design or inexperienced student or freelancer.
$7,000-$15,000 – Small business website with a unique business look. Reputable company/freelancer.
$20,000+ – Custom website with unique requirements. Usually requires a large amount of additional programming.
I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below, as a customer or web design company dealing in this area.
One of the bigger factors to consider when designing a website is whether or not to incorporate photographs into the design. You have the choice of no photography at all, utilising stock photography, or using a professional to capture photographs specifically for the website.
Certain industries and business niches really thrive with the inclusion of professional photography in a website design. Whether to convey to the customer or shareholder the true nature of the business, or to show professionalism, or perhaps to make something instantly recognisable to the website viewer.
We try to use professional photographs as much as possible where the client will allow it, as it can really bring a website to life.
An oldie but a goodie
This website for Caudo Group has been around for a few years now, but the inclusion of high quality photography (taken by one of our team members), really helps this design stand the test of time. We captured photographs of their brand new office at the time, and some of their equipment.
Supplied photography
These photographs really emphasize the nature of Helix Resources, and the industry they are involved in. These photographs were supplied by their team, but are still of a high enough quality to really bring the website to life. This website is about 18 months old now, but once again retains a fresh feel thanks to some high quality images.
When stock is best
Some websites and industries work better with stock photography. Either the service is disconnected from the place of business, or there might be no images to work with. For a professional feel that still reaches out to particular demographics, stock photography can be used to great effect. In the case of Ironmonger Financial it is used to connect with the website visitor to show them that the content they are reading is relevant to them.
As you can see, using high quality images in a design can really work wonders.
It’s certainly not the rule, however an attractive, professional website goes a long way to showing your customers the care and professionalism that you apply to the business. An integral part of how you represent yourself to clients, customers and the world at large!
A business missing out on this, or having a low quality website is positioning themselves behind the eight ball, giving their competitors an easy ride to market share.
Let us pick up where we left off last time. I had just begun examining the Facebook fan pages, and how you can apply them to your business. In particular we discussed the advertising platform. Advertising is just one aspect of these pages that can really drive your business. Let’s discuss the other potential areas of benefit now.
Company Announcements
If you have an important announcement to make, what’s the quickest and easiest way to get that information to your customers and followers? With a Facebook status update of course. Lets say you want to advertise your Holiday trading hours, or you have just launched a new product, or service. In 30 seconds you could have pushed this information to your customers. Anyone who follows you on Facebook will see this message on their home page.
Customer stories
You can write status updates that encourage customers to write back to you. Writing an engaging status update is a good way to start discussions. Once you get some traction with this method, you will soon be cultivating a community around your fan page. The more interactions with your page, the more likely it is that your page will get noticed. You know the rest.
This can also give you some valuable feedback on exactly how you deal and respond with your customer base, or with what you are doing in the market place.
Surveys/competitions
This is one area where having a fan page can really work for you. Coordinating a fan-centric competition is relatively straightforward, and this can be a great way to generate some buzz around your brand. The frameworks are already in place for you, and you just need to know what sort of competition you want to run, and then you can be on your way. The viral nature of sites like Facebook mean that your competition can get large exposure, without you having to spend the earth.
Likewise, conducting a survey can be a great way to improve areas of the business, and encouraging fans to participate in your surveys is as simple as setting up the survey, and posting a status update.
You can also use Facebook Ads to generate interest to either your competition or survey.
Linking to blog
If you’ve just written a great blog post, you’ll want to get it in front of as many eyes as possible. Having sustained readers on your blog is always a desired outcome, and Facebook gives you an opportunity to direct readers to your blog. When you write your post, make sure you follow it up with a succinct and catchy status update attaching the link to the blog. That way your fans will be driven to your blog and hopefully become regular readers.
Instant feedback
This is probably one of the key areas that Social Media can have a real impact on your business. The moment you do something that someone loves or hates, you’re going to hear about it. Having this sort of feedback at your fingertips is something that money can’t buy. We’re moving in to a world where you will be connected with your customer base (and critics) whether you like it or not. You can use this to your advantage.
Hopefully you’re really starting to see the potential for this in your areas of business. If you need any more information or have any questions on just how Facebook can expand your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Next week, we’ll be moving on to Twitter and how you can leverage that platform for your business.
A few weeks ago we launched the new website for Marine Protection Systems (MPS). MPS are the industry leaders in electrolysis control and prevention devices. The site is connected to our content management system (AuroraCMS) allowing MPS to edit and control the content, menu and news sections of the site on their own.
MPS were very happy with our work and we look forward to working on projects with them in the future.
