Posts Tagged ‘web design’

How much does a website cost?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Chances are if you’re in any kind of sales or marketing related position, the company’s website has come up. You’ve likely been part of a team considering updating the website, redesigning the site or looking at ways to better market the site. Website costs vary.

So what do you do? Ask around for referrals, likely engaged in a Google search and even checked out competitor sites to see if there was a link to “website developed by XYZ Company” at the bottom of the site.

The proposals come in and you’re floored at the wide range of estimates. Depending on the kinds of companies you contacted for estimates – from smaller web design firms, a web “guy” or freelancer who’s done a few websites, your internal IT guy to a larger web design or development firms – there were remarkably low prices, very high prices and some in between.

This is an industry where it seems like everyone has a different approach to your website design costs.

  • Some will give you just what you ask for – a new design, with your input and brand materials, using the same content and navigation from your old site.
  • Some will make suggestions on improvements to copy, calls to action and likely address some elements of the on-page SEO (search engine optimization) elements. They may even touch on admin capabilities or a content management system.
  • Some will make a bigger deal of the whole thing. This company will educate or share with you a thought process of planning the site for your target audiences, addressing a lot more detail of the site structure for SEO(search engine optimization) and have a team to assist in your website design.

You’ll find a different answer from everyone you ask or consult with. Then look at their portfolios, work that is similar to your company or industry (or not) and weigh the pros and cons for each company.

Remember that your website is a marketing tool, and this is not an “expense,” it is a marketing investment – be sure to invest in something that will help improve and grow your business now, and well into the future. Here are a few things to consider:

  • Admin control and content management – how much do you want?
  • Current technology& access to updates – the web changes fast, will your site be flexible?
  • Video players – video is very important, what formats will your site support
  • Social media integration – your website is only part of your online presence these days
  • Great design – it has to look professional, yet be easy to navigate, think usability
  • Web success – takes more than a good looking site to make successful online

So what’s right for you? I’m not answering that for you, because everyone’s goals, needs and resources are different. Consider what’s important to you as part of your new or improved website, as well as your new Web partner. Good luck out there. I’d love to hear your experiences and insights for others considering a website update in the future.

-Rebecca Dutcher

Why "Make My Logo Bigger" Can Actually Hurt You

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

A very common statement made by clients to their design firm is, “Make my logo bigger.”  In some instances this might be a good thing, like on a billboard where your target audience is doing 70 MPH (on a slow day).  But I’m here to help you understand why “make my logo bigger” regarding your website is actually, believe it or not, a pretty bad idea.

Let’s face it.  You love your company.  With the logo being your staple, why wouldn’t it be BIG on your website?

The answer actually has two parts:  Your logo doesn’t sell and visitors really don’t care.

Now, let me explain.
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Why Should Your Prospects Choose You? Show Them You Are Worthy!

Monday, August 24th, 2009

It’s interesting to look at the process people go through when starting a new website …

Once they decide they need a site they begin to plan what content they’d like to have on the site.

The majority of the companies decide they need a page that talks about them so they add an “About Us” page to their site.

Secondly they would like to talk about their products or services so they add a “Products” or “Services” page to their site.

The most important part to the new website is giving it’s visitors the ability to contact them to do business or ask questions which is where the infamous “Contact Us” page comes from.

I could go on and on but I am guessing you’ve seen these types of pages on almost every website you’ve ever been to, so I won’t bore you.  I am sure when you decided to get your first website online you had the intention of increasing your business and tapping into the “gold mine” the Internet makes available to us all.

Heck, this was my initial motivation as well and I’m sure this is no earth shattering revelation.

Well the problem with this process of developing a website is unfortunately absolutely wrong.  No, I’m not saying you won’t make any sales or receive any phone calls by structuring your website this way.  I am just saying you are limiting the potential revenue by doing it and you could do MUCH better.
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Opportunity + Planned Consistency = HUGE SUCCESS!

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

I figured since we are in the early stages and focusing on developing the proper mindset for your online success, I’d bring up a couple things I like to focus on that get me extremely motivated. When you are first beginning to focus your attention on your Internet initiative it is exciting, and at times can seem a bit overwhelming. There are so many ways you can attack your share of the market online, it’s easy to stall out trying to decide the best way to do it.

My advice is just do something!

The amount of people online that buy your products or services grows every single day! Not only that…those people are going to the Internet and letting you know EXACTLY what they are looking for and how often. With this information, and a little work, you can identify markets which your competitors aren’t even catering to!

The beauty is there are very few companies that take the time to focus on these facts and therefore overlook the HUGE opportunity in front of them.

DON’T BE ONE OF THOSE COMPANIES!!

Doing something will put you ahead of 95% of your competitors. Putting forth consistent effort towards a well thought out Internet Marketing plan and you can elevate your company amongst the elite in your industry. You may think this is hype, but it isn’t. You have access to an unlimited, world wide market and an extremely cost effective medium to interact with them as if they are right next door!

Keep these points in mind if you ever begin to get frustrated. The price you’ll pay will be minuscule compared to the return you’ll receive from putting forth planned, consistent effort for the next year and beyond!

Let your passion fuel your new Internet business initiative

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Alright! Now you have taken the time to determine exactly what you want with no boundaries and you’ve also taken the time to figure out what results you’ll need to produce to attain this goal. Personally I believe you should feel more excited than ever since these two foundational steps are typically skipped right over by most companies which leads to their next experience in the process…FAILURE!

Well, you know what you want, you know what it will take to get there, and you’ve given yourself ONE FULL YEAR to get there. Now what? This time can be scary since there is so much to be done. At times you’ll feel as though you have a million things to get completed and not enough time to get it done. Other times you’ll feel as if you’ve been working so hard and you don’t have much to show for it.

Know this: IT IS NORMAL to have these feelings.

Remember this: Continuous, consistent effort will get you where you want to be EVERY TIME!

It certainly matters if you are continuously, consistently doing the correct things but you don’t have to worry about that. We’ll make sure you are doing EXACTLY what you need to do.

I mentioned at times you’ll feel overwhelmed and you might even feel like quitting since “there is no way you can find the time to accomplish your goal.” These are the times you need to look back at what you are shooting for and let your passion for the attainment of those goals fuel your business.

What’s that? You aren’t passionate about succeeding on the Internet?

Come on now… for the past few years all you’ve been saying is how you wished you were making what all those other companies are making on the Web!

The real question you should be asking yourself is: Do I have what it takes? The answer to that question is: Absolutely!

You’ve already taken the most important steps in the process and you are getting ready to take off in your new Internet intiative. Don’t focus on where you are in the process, continue to focus on the end result you are looking to achieve. I know this stuff sounds basic and fundamental. It is! Some of the simplest things we need to do require the most reminders.

You are not going to be doing this on your own! We will be here for you every step of the way. If you have questions about anything you read in this blog, simply leave a comment and we’ll answer it for you. We also encourage you to leave any comments regarding successes you’ve experienced. We really enjoy hearing those.

We have helped over 400 companies with their online businesses in the past 8 years and are very excited to reach out and help hundreds more over the next 12 – 18 months. Make sure to click the link in the right hand column so you can be emailed each time we update this blog with the next steps in the process.

Developing the proper mindset to maximize your online revenue (PART 2)

Friday, March 28th, 2008

I am hopeful you’ve recognized the value in brainstorming and coming up with a “no holds barred” version of what you want to accomplish on the Internet. Over the years we all become conditioned to settle on our goals due to the obstacles which appear in our path. After numerous failures and rough spots we begin to arrive at the point where we think, “If I could just make enough to get by I’d be happy.” Arriving at this point isn’t a bad thing as long as you don’t reside there for long. You would never tell your kids to make sure their expectations and hopes aren’t too high, so why should you think that way about your future? Why shouldn’t you be allowed to accomplish everything you dream of? The only way you won’t is if YOU stop yourself from doing it.

Ok, ok let me get down from my soapbox for a minute. :) Now that you’ve taken the time and written down what it is you’d like to accomplish, it’s time to begin to take action towards the accomplishment of this goal.

The next step is to determine what it is going to take to make this goal a reality. There are a few different ingredients which will be necessary to make this goal a reality and all of these will be crucial for you to possess the proper mindset to maximize your online revenue.

TIME ALOTMENT

Alright, in this “microwave world” everyone wants everything immediately and without much effort. If you happen to be searching through Google to find the latest, greatest GET RICH QUICK scheme…you’ve come to the wrong place. Success is arrived at by paying a price and there is no true way to avoid paying the price. The Internet certainly presents an opportunity to arrive at success much quicker than any other medium in existence, but it still takes time.

I will assume you followed the instructions of PART ONE thoroughly and your goal is fairly lofty. If that is the case let’s approach PART TWO accordingly. I want you to plan on investing the next one year towards accomplishing this goal. I am not saying you’ll need to invest every waking hour of the next year into the accomplishment of this goal. I am simply saying you will need to commit to taking steady actions over the course of the next twelve months towards the attainment of this goal. You may find yourself doubting whether it will happen or not (especially in the beginning), but I believe if you do these first two steps properly, and truly develop the proper mindset, you WILL MAKE IT! This simple process is absolutely 100% tried and true and has helped thousands of people succeed on the web. The only way you won’t join the ranks of the thousands of successful companies, is if you give up.

Now that you’ve committed to work toward attaining this goal for a minimum of ONE FULL YEAR, let’s look at what it is going to take. This is simply a math equation and once you complete it, you’ll have the basic foundation set and you can begin to take steps towards making it a reality. Let’s, for the purpose of this post, choose a goal of generating an additional $500,000 of revenue through the website. I am sure for some of you, this isn’t a very lofty goal and for others this may seem like an overly aggressive goal. If you are thinking this is “overly aggressive,” please go back to PART ONE and start over. :) Remember you are supposed to suspend disbelief and determine what you truly want, not what you think is realistic.

Ok, back to ingredient two. Now that we’ve determined the goal to be $500,000 of additional revenue let’s break that down based on incremental goals.

Monthly Goal – $41,666

Weekly Goal – $9,615.38

Daily Goal – $1,369.86

Hourly Goal – $57.07

I am sure now that you’ve broken those numbers down they don’t look nearly intimidating as the initial number of $500,000. Better yet, you get to use every day of the year to establish these numbers. Unlike your normal business, the Internet not only doesn’t take a day off, it doesn’t take a minute off. It is easy to take the stance of, “come on now…hourly income goals? That seems a bit silly.” REMEMBER: This is a process and right now we are only on the planning phase where we are getting in the correct frame of mind. Not only that, we haven’t even completely determined how we are going to use the Internet to generate this revenue.

Alright. Now that we’ve decided what our goal is and broken it down to very manageable, measurable goals based on the next twelve months, let’s look at how your current product offerings come into play. The best way to do this is to figure out how much annual revenue each of your clients is worth. This is a simple math equation and can be figured out by using the following formula.

Total company revenue in past 12 months (divided by) Total clients billed in same time period (equals) average client value

This formula needs to be based on total sales and not simply what you’ve done on the Internet. It doesn’t matter if you don’t even have a website, this information needs to be established. Let’s say, for example, you generated $500,000 within the past twelve months and you billed a total of 120 clients over that time period.

$500,000 / 120 = $4,166 average annual client revenue

I am sure you’ll find some clients that generate close to zero revenue and others that account for a large portion of your total revenue. The 80 / 20 rule always applies. The important thing is to figure out how many clients it will take to hit your goal. Once you’ve determined this number you can break it down in the same way we did for the the revenue.

Monthly goal – 10 customers

Weekly goal – 2.3 customers

You’ll see we didn’t go as far as we did with the revenue, but I am sure it looks very manageable! Remember this, we’ve done this exercise based only on your CURRENT company product offerings! As we work through this process we’ll soon uncover some additional revenue generators which you may have never thought of.

First things first though….

YOU NEED TO HAVE THE PROPER MINDSET or you’ll never make it anywhere. If you’ve done these steps for your own company and now feel as though you are ready for the next step…let’s go. If you are feeling even one bit of “doubt,” go back to PART ONE and start over. I cannot put enough emphasis on how important it is to begin in the right spot mentally to avoid many frustrations and the temptation to quit.