How much does it cost for a website, and why it’s not cheap!
The question we get asked most often here at Bloom Digital Marketing is, how much does it cost for a website?
There is a myth that a new website will cost you around £500.
And while there is a grain of truth behind every myth, a website that is cheap in terms of actual cost is never going to be the website that works for you.
This blog will explain why spending £500 on website is not a good business decision and why hiring a professional web design company is worth every penny, even though the initial investment is greater.
Bloom Digital Marketing is based in Cheshire, and we have lots of satisfied customer throughout the North West of England.
We have built scores of websites that are getting businesses the calls, the lead, and the search engine ranking position they’ve dreamed of.
The cost of a new website
The cost of a new website can be compared to buying a car.
Bear with us with this useful analogy.
So, the cost of new website depends on a few elements, rather like when you decide to buy a car (be it new or pre-owned).
Rather like buying a car, you get what you pay for.
A £500 car might get you to the supermarket and back for a few months. Then a few problems occur. The clutch is dodgy. The brakes need replacing. The bodywork is rusty as hell.
More than likely, this car won’t be safe enough to get you through lots of motorway driving, or for that long road trip.
Top-of-the-range cars are out of many people’s budgets and the same applies for a new website.
The big names such as Amazon will pump millions of dollars or Pounds Sterling into their website. Its slick, anticipatory and above all, easy to use.
And most of you reading this will not be at that level.
But … let’s consider a top of the range car … BMW, for the sake of argument.
BMW is a dream brand for many petrol heads.
This would be one that perhaps a customer would save up for.
BMWs are a status symbol and as such have all the gadgetry you could possibly need. The same applies to the cost of a website that will work for you, even while you sleep.
You might need to spend more on a professionally made website, yet you’ll reap the rewards.
The cost of the website is …
Let’s say the BMW car is within reach of some people.
The BMW analogy can also be applied to the new website you’re contemplating.
The website that would be a match for BMW would be a lead generation tool that you’ve always dreamed of.
The website would get you the leads you need to succeed.
However, if you can’t quite afford this type of website, then let’s say you can afford a cheaper alternative, let’s say a Fiesta.
Nothing wrong with the car.
Reliable, the parts are easy to get, and it’s nothing fancy.
The Fiesta-type website would serve you quite well if you don’t need new leads; and you’re not reliant on direct traffic to your website.
The chances are you will also replace the Fiesta in a few years, too.
The same would apply for your Fiesta-type website.
What are your business goals?
This is where we lift the bonnet of the car (or the hood if you’re reading this across the pond).
A car has an engine, that’s a given. The engine is the beating heart of the vehicle, and without it you’re going nowhere! Yet while each car manufacturer might use similar technology, such as the combustion engine or electric-powered tech, that’s where the similar ends. The ability of the car is reliant upon the engine, which, let’s face it, most of take for granted. So long as the engine starts, we’re happy! Yet it’s way more complex than this.
For the engine or the heart of your business to tick over effectively, we ask you about your business. We ask you about the add-ons. What makes you unique. What makes you better than your competitors. In short, we get to know your business. We understand your business is one of the most important things to you. We don’t need you to tell you how to run your business.
Similarly, we don’t need to be told how to build and design a website. We ask you what your business goals are. Do you want to make £20,000? £100,000? Or more? The website you have is one of the deciding factors that makes or breaks your earning potential. Achieving even moderate sales without a suitable website is an uphill task.
You won’t always rank highly on search engines. You need to do lots and lots of work to get people to even SEE your website, let alone buy products or services from it.
So why do professional websites cost more?
While the obvious answer is that you’re paying for the skills and time of a professional web designer/developer, this only provides part of the answer. The answer, in a nutshell, is that a professionally built website will have the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to help you succeed. SEO … not again, we hear you cry!
WHY is SEO so important?
Well, it’s all about traffic.
Sticking with the car scenario, a car needs a road network to get you from A to B.
Good roads, preferably, and ones without potholes and avoiding ones that are poorly maintained (rather like a good website care package … we’ll come to this later).
Now a business that is located on a good road, with lots of passing traffic, a good position, maybe in the heart of a bustling city, then passing traffic and therefore potential customers will be plentiful.
Yet if you have a business that’s located in the middle of nowhere, without a shop front, with poor access roads or a lack of rail network, then where’s your traffic coming from?
The answer is, through SEO.
If you opt for the £500 website, then chances are there’s little or no SEO.
It’s merely a digital ‘ghost’: a series of words and pictures that is a flat representation of your business.
You can work our butt off on social media, hours of time that you probably don’t really have. This social media work will push customers to your website … but will they convert into paying ones?
A website is not just words and pictures
A website does include both elements, of course. Yet not just any old photo taken from the internet. Not just carelessly written content that’s been used somewhere before, or that consists of a few incoherent sentences. Each element plays its own part in the proceedings.
Having a professionally created website will include great imagery and artwork. It will include superb content, SEO-ready, and both elements get a big tick from the search engines such as Google.
Let’s consider the epitome of car brands: Ferrari.
Yep, most of us can only dream of owning this type of car. But maybe you don’t want this type of car?
Yet you want the backstory that goes with it, the success, the credibility, the trust.
So, what you really want is a website this is of Ferrari-standard; a lead-generating website that will give you a great return on investment (which, unless it’s a classic car, is never the case with vehicles).
What we’re saying here is the cost of new website is not just for a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ situation.
What are the costs of a website?
So, if the cost of a new website is into four figures, what does this include?
Hosting is key. Without it, you ain’t got a website, period. Hosting is like the rental space in the digital space on which your website lives.
Build and design – the most time-consuming element yet the most important.
SEO – the traffic-building element that no decent website should be without.
Support and Maintenance – usually in the form of care package. Rather like a car MOT or a service, a necessary responsibility.
Professional content creation – content on your website is crucial. Written content, visual content … we’ve got it covered.
What to do next …
You’re still considering the £500 website, right? We strongly urge you to give us call today so you avoid making the £500 mistake.
It will cost you much more than £500 in the long run.
The cheap or DIY website option will be the decision your competitors want you to make. They will be rubbing their hands and just waiting to get your customers!
So, give us a call today to discuss the options available to you.
Read our testimonials.
See our different products, too.
And just think in eight weeks’ time, you could have a website that is the throbbing heart of your business; getting you leads, conversions, customers and above all, making you money.
