I totally appreciate the fact that you want to save a dollar here and there for your business. Getting suppliers to take their costs down is a great idea BUT seriously folks, when it comes to your website design and internet marketing DON’T get fooled by the cheaper options. There are heaps of those cheap web package design agencies to choose from where they will bundle everything up for you in 1 very low price. They might even throw in free web hosting and some SEO, BUT this is all a camouflage to get you to sign up to a web deal where they just use the same old template, without any original; thought and attempt to pass this off as design. These web companies are probably (and I can say this confidently from over 20 years experience in this industry) the worst option you could go with.
Why are they so bad?
Cause online nowadays, you have to be better, more original, much more creative, and rank higher on Google than the next guy if you are going to have any hope of generating any new leads. So, ask yourself this question: how is a stock standard, completely over used template going to separate my business from all the others? The simple answer is it wont! What will happen is that you will get all excited about paying next to nothing about a website and think that it will bring in all this new business but the reality is nothing is going to happen.
Not only will you get a crappy looking site that may have a few bells and whistles but you are never going to have any hope of ranking on Google and get the kind of exposure you were looking for.
How do I know this? Because I get calls daily from businesses all over Australia that have bought into the hype of cheap web design and are in a complete state of panic as their site is no where to be found on Google and on top of this the end design result is far from what they were anticipating. To add fuel to the fire, when the client wants any kind of small amend they are now charged a fortune. Or, even worse, when they do ring up to make a complaint about the designs they are then given the cold shoulder with unanswered emails and non returned phone calls. I hope you get where I’m coming from here and the argument I am putting together in regards to NOT USING CHEAP WEB DESIGN.
I can make another argument and that is the whole internet marketing side of things. Has your cheap web agency even contemplated how they intend to utilise your website for marketing purposes. If the site has been slapped and cobbled together in a few days then I can bet you anything that nothing has been discussed about how you are going to make your site work for you.
Did they bring up social media integration, content marketing, blogging, search engine optimisation etc? I can tell you without even waiting for your answer that none of these topics have been brought up.
So all you business owners out there looking to make a go of it online and start off on the wrong foot by using a cheap, low cost, low priced, bargain basement agency, you can forget about it. All that is going to happen is that you will end up calling us to fix the mess up. I am not just saying this to promote our web business, I am really trying to reach out to people here and help them before they make some seriously bad business mistakes. I honestly feel terrible for people who get duped and ripped off by these so called web providers who offer these silly packages.
I also before I wrap this blog up want to highlight another point. Make sure you ask these web people what content management system your website will be built around. This can be confusing BUT let me try and break this down further. See, what these guys do is quote you low to get you in the door and then lock you into using their content system which means that you MUST use their hosting.
The cheap web price is there like a mirage to get you in the front door and then they slug you hard with monthly hosting fees. It’s a complete sham and I am still amazed by the number of people who fall for this. Yes, it’s hard to know upfront about these types of pitfalls and money traps BUT after reading this blog I really hope that I have steered you in a better direction. Watch out especially for these so called monthly hosting add ons – you really don’t need them and you should be questioning this from the get go…..take my advice, spend a bit more on your website design and it will pay huge dividends for you in the future PLUS try to align yourself with some one who actually knows what they are talking about and who actually cares about your business. The rest I’m afraid are just out for the quick buck.