As many of us in business have learned, an attractive and easy to use website is a must for company growth. Some people claim they don’t need them, but they are also the companies that have had the exact same clients since they opened their doors, and have done nothing else to expand or grow beyond those customers. Or they are in such a specialized field, that their clients are sent to them, therefore they don’t need to work at growth.
Today, if you have clients fill out a form asking how they learned of you, it is mostly through the internet. Either by typing what they need into a search engine, or through ads of some sort on the web. The days of newspaper articles or ads are going the way of the do-do, and even the Yellow Pages leaves much to be desired. If you are a small business, marketing will cost a fortune! Plus the more you spend, the more marketers will tell you that you need to spend. If you’ve tried pounding the pavement, you’ll find that it is not as easy as it was to walk around a city, or two, or even three, to try to get business. And now with the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) you can’t even email unless they are an existing client or you get permission before hand.
Most of our customers have advised us that they get anywhere from 85% to 100% of their queries through their website, or phone calls from people who reviewed their website and decided to contact them. So what are you to do if your website is old, outdated, or if you even don’t have one.
First, what do you need from your website? Do you only need a few pages like: Home, About Us, Contact Us, Products, Testimonials, and Current Events? If so, you should be expecting to start at about $2,500 for a Content Management System (CMS). The more pages you add in, the longer to build, so the cost will go up as well. Most website companies still work on an hourly rate when it comes to building websites. Do you need online shopping or eCommerce? Once again, it is going to go up even more. So think about it, and expect that for the first 5 pages you may spend $2,500.00, and for 12-15 pages, it may be $3,500.00. Obviously none of this is carved in stone. Many companies charge significantly more, and there is still HST.
If you get quoted $400.00 but you need a good website, you are going to be given a HTML or barely customized website and it will not be as attractive or easy to change. If you have to update it, it may cost more to change it, then get a new one. It may not be a responsive web design, where the screen size changes as it goes from device to device, therefore keeping its proper appearance. As well, cheap, poorly put-together websites are not usually very attractive and often have pages that go on and on, scrolling down a page that never ends. This is very difficult to find information, and most give up after a few down scrolls of the mouse.
A CMS site like WordPress or Drupal can be changed. They are built to be altered and can have pages added in, or subject matter changed. They can be maintained and updated without too many problems. They are also more pleasant to view and use. They cost more, but they represent you and your company, so I would always recommend it over HTML. They can also be very large, so they are not limited to simple information or a few pages as your company grows.
If you are quoted tens of thousands of dollars for a typical corporate website, this may be overkill. They will build a complete site from scratch, which is nice, but very expensive and for most small businesses, completely unnecessary. If you are CIBC or McDonald’s, it’s fine, but for Joe’s Tri-City Business, it is too expensive considering you can do just as well with a CMS.
Whatever you need, come up with a budget and then decide on who to call. All can help, it just depends on what you need and what you can afford.
At CryoDragon, we make sure you get the most bang for your buck. As a Kitchener-Waterloo website design studio, we’re focused on working with our clients, whether it is adjusting a quote to fit their needs or flexible payment installments to suit their business. Contact us for a free quote today!
