December Feature Article #2: If Your New Website Is Going To Cost More Than a New Lexus

If you’re building a website for the first time, or if you’re building a new site after using an old one for several years, you might be suffering from a bit of sticker shock.  That $50,000 web design estimate may have you reaching for Plans B, C, or D, but stop and take a deep breath.  Before you scrap the entire project, lay off a couple of employees, or give up on that new sedan you’ve had your eye on, remember that you have other options.  Chances are, you just haven’t shopped around enough.  Your website does not need to be expensive to be effective, and if you approach the bidding process the right way, you’ll get the right site at the right price.

The first thing you should do is figure out what you actually need from your site.  Some companies really do need a high-end site with user profiles, shopping carts, and sophisticated encryption, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.  Obviously, the more complicated a website function is, the longer it takes to build, and the more your web designers and programmers will charge you for it.  If you’re not going to be engaging in e-commerce —that is, if you’re not going to be selling products directly through the site, your needs are relatively simple, and you definitely shouldn’t be spending tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars on your site.  Make sure that you’re not spending money on functions you don’t need.

Once you have a clear vision for your site, make sure your web designers understand it.  One very simple way to do this is to provide examples from other websites.  If you’ve seen sites that have the same functions that you want, or that look the way you want yours to look, show those sites to your designers.  It will get the point across more effectively, and it will save you and your designers a lot of time.  If you find a site that’s very similar to the one you want to have, get in touch with the site’s owner to find out who did the work.  Designers are often more eager to work with customers who find them this way.  You may be able to contact another site’s designer directly, if there’s a “Designed By” link somewhere on the site.

After you’ve narrowed your requirements down to what you actually need, and you’ve made sure that your designers are working toward those requirements, you still may get a price quote that seems too high.  The solution here is to get another estimate, and another.  If your current design team can’t compete with the other bidders, it’s time to send them packing.  You may not like the idea of starting from scratch, especially if you’ve been working with the same team for a number of years, but the pain of starting over is nothing compared to the pain of paying through the nose for a website you don’t want.

If you are starting over, it’s not a bad idea to get five estimates, or even ten.  The web design industry is very large, but it’s also very new, and it’s what economists call an immature market.  There are still a lot of people looking in the wrong places for designers, and a lot of designers bidding on jobs that they shouldn’t be doing.  Things change so quickly in the web design world that it’s difficult to know exactly what a job should cost, so the only real solution is to shop around until you find someone who can do the work you need at the price you want to pay.  It may take a while, but it will be well worth the effort.

So, put that $50,000 estimate in the garbage can and start thinking about what you really need.  When you define your needs and talk to the right people, you’ll get the right website for your business, and you’ll feel a whole lot better when you take that Lexus for a test drive.