How Much Should I Spend on My Web Site

NFNCMG Dollar Signs We get this question a lot. No seriously, an awful lot! Unfortunately, the only answer that will apply to each and every customer is "It Depends..." ... and customers HATE to hear that answer. With this blog entry, we'll give you some things to consider which should let you know if you need more or less budget for your company's web presence.

Your company's website has the ability to be a 24 hour marketing machine and workhorse for your business by:

answering customer's questions for you
speaking about your business for you
taking orders for you
scheduling appointments with clients for you

Your web site can do all these things while you are working AND while you sleep! These benefits and conveniences will come at a price, but the price does not have to break the bank. Keep these major points in mind when deciding how much to set aside for a web site and you will get a very good idea of the budget necessary to pull the project off.

Web Site Complexity

The following items will add to the complexity of a basic static web site, and hence, increase your budget for your site:

Customized user experience (my.yoursite.com)
User registration
Data storage (ex. content management sites)
Updated frequently by either in-house staff or outsourced writers
eCommerce capability
Flash capability
Language choice (ex. PHP, Java, ASP.NET)

This list is just a short list of items which can add to the complexity of your site and will more than likely increase what the company is charging to build your site for you.

Web Site Expected Traffic

How much traffic will your site receive? If your site will get lots of traffic, then expect to pay more to get the site built and hosted. Most sites which are built extremely cheap are NOT scalable. They will need to be rebuilt again and again as traffic to the site increases.

Give the site's design and purpose great consideration in the beginning and you will save lots of time and money in the longrun by getting the right site built the first time, instead of the 21st time ... YES, the 21st time. It can be that bad if you don't plan properly!!

Web Site Marketing

Marketing, SEO, etc ... buzzwords will be thrown your way over and over and eventually one of the companies will come with the right pitch to get you to really consider the marketing for your site. There are cheap marketing techniques out there, but most of these techniques will hurt your site more than help your site. Do not go cheap and cram "keywords" into your site where the keywords don't fit. Don't go cheap and have a company reword all your phrases and sentences to get a high ranking when it ranks you highly for the wrong searches! What good is a #1 ranking for a particular word when the word brings in the wrong type of potential customer?

Web Site Budget Summary

Many factors go into deciding how much money to set aside for your web site. The number grows with complexity, expected traffic, marketing, infrastructure, and more. Put a great amount of thought and planning into your site's first design to get as close to what you really need as possible. Redesigns and rebuilds will cost you more in the future versus getting it right the first time. When deciding on companies to build your web site, 99% of the time, you get what you pay for! Choose carefully and ask LOTS of questions. If the company refuses to answer or can't answer, mark them off your list and go to the next company!

ALWAYS have 2 or 3 sites you like which look and/or function like you want your site to look and function. With examples iPuryearn hand, the company building your site can give very accurate quotes. They can explain to you the things going on with the example sites that will raise or lower the price of your site's design and implementation.