You’ve come to terms with it. You need a website.
You’re not really sure how to go about getting one, or who to talk to.
So you reluctantly start the process because you know “every business needs a website” or one of your prospects went with your competition because they actually had a website.
Very quickly you discover there are three ways to go about your new project.
- Do It Yourself
- Hire an ad agency or web design company
- Find a college student to do it for you
Does this sound familiar?
Sometimes web companies have to turn away smaller clients. It feels horrible. There’s something to be said for having someone take you by the hand and coach you through a process a you’re not at all familiar with.
Like developing your own website.
Does every business needs a website? Absolutely, yes! Does every business needs to spend a minimum of $4,000? No way Jose.
If you’re in the not ready to spend $4,000 on a website, but you’ve tried the cheap and free website builders and find them to be a black hole, read on.
The real costs of DIY web design
DIY is very tempting. It’s low cost, the populated templates look great, and the allure of a tool that does the work for you is very attractive. But what are some of the drawbacks you need to consider with DIY web design projects?
- Lost time. You have to learn a new system, which takes time. You have to come up with content, which takes time. What kind of pictures are you gonna use? How do you lay out all the information on the website, and what pages should you create?
- Lost design. At the heart of it, a website builder is only a tool. If you don’t have the vision and the know-how of design principles, you risk taking a professional design and making it ugly if you don’t know why or how to make a site function and look well.
- Lost customers. Going beyond design, how you communicate on your website makes the difference between your visitors choosing you, or going with the competition. It’s an online business card showing that the business owner is either a) cheap, b) out of touch, c) doesn’t care if you would like to learn more about a business through their website, and consumers can make other assumptions.
- Lost expertise. Expert advice is no longer a phone call away. You’ll have to learn some design with some good old fashion Googling and books. When you hire a web designer, you’re not just getting an attractive website, you’re paying to access his knowledge and experience.
It’s important to consider how this decision will impact your business. While DIY websites can be a cheap alternative, the time you have to invest often costs you more than you bargained for.
But that doesn’t mean you have to spend thousands of dollars on a custom website design.
Why you don’t need to start with a $4000 website
At 8 Signal, not only do we like doing things the right way, we are compelled to. It’s just what makes us tick.
We always push ourselves to do things right.
So is a $4,000 website always right? No, absolutely not. Let take a look at a few scenarios where you can look at a smaller investment.
1. You’re an established business
You’ve built your business and now have a consistent flow of clients, steady revenues, and don’t see the need to spend thousands of dollars on a new website. However, you know your website needs to be updated.
It’s hard to justify $4000 on a website at this stage of your business life. If only there were a practical alternative?
How can your web company help?
With client retention. What impression do you want to continue leaving with your existing customers? When they need information about your business, the vast majority will turn to your website before picking up the phone.
There’s real value in having a company like 8 Signal equip you with a professional website and content optimized for educating and converting your clients.
2. You know how to write good content
You enjoy writing because it comes natural to you, and you know how to be persuasive. Design-wise, you don’t consider yourself an expert but can create something in Publisher or even Photoshop that is professional enough to get you by.
You also have more marketing experience than most of your competitors combined. You understand what it takes to get new customers through the door and existing ones to keep coming back.
When you do need a web company in this scenario:
Time and technology are your Achilles heel. You know what you want, you know how to make it look right, and you know exactly what to say. Now if only you could just get all those graphics aligned, the text to center correctly, and get that content into 3 columns instead of having the 3 paragraphs stacked on top of each other.
You just wish you had an alternative that was under $1000.
3. You’re a new business
Starting a business is a big deal, and a big investment. New lease, remodeling, equipment, inventory, etc., etc., etc. You know you need website, and you also know that the website that you really want you can’t afford today. In fact, it could be a couple of years before you can afford the website you really want.
The easiest, though not the best option is finding a college student that can quickly create a website for you. Otherwise, you end up losing hours and getting stressed with a free website builder.
Why you need a web company!
You only have one chance at a first impression and you’re website is also gonna get a lot of traffic because of the novelty of your new business. That means your website is gonna get a lot of attention in the beginning and may not have that later on.
Lynn Arnold, The Retreat Center
“Before learning about 8 Signal, I hired a one-man shop web designer who took a large down payment and then stopped taking my calls. Then I went with a well known national bargain brand, but they never took the time to learn about my business. I paid twice for a website that was never finished… until I met 8 Signal.”
4. You know technology or someone you know does
This ain’t your first rodeo. You know WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or even know how to code a website by hand. You don’t need an expert to do the thinking for you on this one.
In this case, you bring the expertise, can manage the project, and can even wing it when it comes to writing the content for your website. You’re also happy with the images that you have access to and have a good grasp of the timeline to finish the project.
When you do need a web company in this scenario:
The only reason you would hire someone to do this work for you is because you’re really busy running the business. You just don’t have time to get this done yourself and this is one area of the business that freeing you up is of far greater value than the cost to do it yourself.
But investing $4,000 when you know you’ll get the results you want at a 1/4th of that just doesn’t sit well with you.
That’s why we’ve developed the 5 Day Quick Launch Website
Every business needs a professional website. But not every business needs the expense of a fully-custom website design. Before, you were stuck with one of two options:
1. Use a free or low cost “solution.” This option is like being handed an implant drill kit and expected to know how to perform dental surgery.
-or-
2. Hire a web designer for a fully custom website, i.e. buy a Ferrari when a Toyota would work just as well.
Neither option makes sense for most businesses. Bottom line, you don’t want your website to win artistic awards, you want to win clients. Now you can finally have your cake and eat it too.
8 Signal has taken the best of the DIY websites and merged it with the best of professional web designers. Low cost, professional design, and access to our marketing experts. The 5 Day Quick Launch website:
- You’ll get resources and a coach to guide you stick to pleasing graphic design and follow proven marketing strategies
- We handle all the technical work for you
- Get 2 hours of custom programming to customize a pre-built design just like you want it
One of our long time clients recently took on a new business. After proving ourselves with her employer, she came to us to help her with her personal project. Here’s what she had to say:
It would have cost me way more in time, effort and overall quality if I’d done it myself – Morgan Switzer, NM Vintage Wines
I have the capability to work with the simple site builders like WIX. I chose 8 Signal because I had way too much going on while starting a new business. I needed to use my talents to start my business rather than mess with process of learning to use a site builder.
I didn’t have a love of money to spend so the cheap options were appealing. But I also didn’t know how reliable they were. I knew there would be a learning curve to use those programs while also making the site look the way I wanted it to look.
I just wanted something simple and clean. I gave 8 Signal the pieces and it was done. It was nothing I had to worry about or spend my precious time fiddling with. 8 Signal is also very responsive and their team is very knowledgeable. Any edits I wanted were taking care of in a very timely fashion.
The other thing that I like is that I own the content. I have the ability to change the content if I want to, but I can have 8 Signal help with that as well. I didn’t have a lot of cash to work with overall. 8 Signal worked with my budget and gave me a site that was way better than I could have ever been able built on my own, and you did it with minimal stress.
Time and mental wherewithal is limited when you’re beginning a new business. The the cost of buying the quick-start website was nothing compared to the value of my time being spent in other places. It would have cost me way more in time, effort and overall quality if I’d done it myself.
Do you need a website without the high price tag? Give us a call at 915-585-1919.
