It’s probably one of the most common questions I’m asked.
“How much does a website cost?”
And my answer is usually another question:
“What’s your budget?”
That can sound like I’m trying to work out how much money I can get you to spend.
I’m not.
I want to know your budget so I can work out the most effective way to use it.
But before we even get to the budget, there’s a more important question:
What are you trying to achieve?
The website isn’t the objective
Nobody really needs a website simply for the sake of having a website.
There’s usually a business reason behind it.
You might want to:
- generate more enquiries
- attract a different type of customers
- stablish credibility for a new business
- get found for a particular service
- sell products online
- make it easier for customers to book
- reduce repetitive phone calls and enquiries
- explain a complicated product or service
- reach customers in a new location
- improve the way your business is presented
- or simply stop being left behind by competitors who are doing a better job online
That last one is more important than it might sound.
Sometimes the objective isn’t dramatic growth.
Sometimes it’s making sure your competitors don’t become the obvious choice simply because they’ve invested in their online presence and you haven’t.
So before I start talking about pages, designs, WordPress or anything else, I want to understand the business objective.
What do we actually need this website to achieve?
Everything else comes after that.
So, what’s your budget?
Once I understand what we’re trying to achieve, budget becomes important.
A website isn’t a fixed product sitting on a shelf with a price tag attached.
Two businesses might both need a five-page website, but what goes into those websites could be completely different.
Strategy, content, design, photography, search engine optimisation, booking systems, integrations, ecommerce, hosting, ongoing support and dozens of other decisions can affect the work involved.
That’s why asking “How much is a website?” without any other information is difficult to answer.
I’d much rather you tell me what you’re comfortable investing.
Tell me what you’re comfortable investing, and I’ll work out the most effective way to spend that money to help you achieve your business goals.
That’s the important bit.
A smaller budget doesn’t have to mean a bad website
If the available budget is limited, the question becomes:
What should we concentrate on first?
Perhaps we launch with fewer pages.
Perhaps we focus heavily on one service that’s particularly valuable to the business.
Maybe we use photography you already have and replace it later.
Perhaps you provide some of the content yourself.
Maybe a process can initially be handled manually rather than spending money automating it.
Or perhaps we build the website in stages.
These aren’t necessarily bad compromises.
They’re decisions about priorities.
I’d rather spend a limited budget doing a few important things properly than spread it across a long list of things the business doesn’t currently need.
And if the budget genuinely isn’t enough to achieve what you’re asking for, I’ll tell you.
Working within a budget doesn’t mean promising something that can’t realistically be delivered.
Sometimes we need to reduce the scope, tackle the project in stages or reconsider the budget.
The technology comes later too
I’m sometimes asked what technology I use before we’ve even established what the website needs to do.
Again, that’s putting the solution before the problem.
Most websites I build are based on WordPress. It gives me enormous flexibility and allows me to choose from a huge range of proven tools depending on what a particular business needs.
For ecommerce, I generally recommend Shopify because it’s a platform specifically designed around selling products online.
But the client shouldn’t have to arrive knowing which platform, plugin or piece of technology they need.
That’s my job.
Your job is to tell me about the business, what you’re trying to achieve and the resources we have available.
Then I can work out the appropriate solution.
What if the right solution is outside this month’s budget?
There’s another distinction worth making.
Budget and cash flow aren’t always the same thing.
You might decide that investing more in the project makes good business sense, but paying the entire amount at once isn’t convenient.
That’s why I can also offer payment arrangements where appropriate, allowing the cost of a project to be spread across monthly payments.
I’d rather have a sensible conversation about that than remove something genuinely valuable from a project simply because of the timing of the invoices.
Don’t start by asking what a website costs
Start with:
What am I trying to achieve?
Then:
What am I comfortable investing to achieve it?
From there, we can have a much more useful conversation.
I don’t start with a website package and try to squeeze your business into it.
I start with your business, your objectives and your budget.
Then I work out the most effective combination of strategy, content, design, technology, tools, services, training and time I can put behind that budget to move you towards those objectives.
Because ultimately, the website isn’t the goal.
The business result is.
Is it time for a chat? Click here…