Starting a Business Website is Expensive? We’ll a website is an essential marketing tool for every modern business, keeping in mind that potential and loyal customers alike are online. However, regardless of the benefits that come with having a website for a business, it is a surprise that most businesses are still operating without one.
Most business owners have likely come across highly-priced quotes from web development agencies, forcing them to shy away from setting up websites for their enterprises. But, before you discredit the need to have a website on the basis of the set-up cost, take a look at what goes into the value of website set-up.
Table of Contents
Website Type
The type of website for a business determines the cost business owners will have to incur to have one. Having a simple blog comes at a different cost from having an e-commerce website. There are a lot of complexities and technicalities required to build an e-commerce website, which would require you to invest heavily to have such a site. A company website with numerous web pages would also be more expensive to build compared to a small enterprise website with only a few web pages.
Website Strategy
Before website developers can get into the designing and development phases, they first invest in the website strategy. Creating a website strategy is probably the most essential and valuable phase of website development. The stage involves identification of the industry within which your brand lies.
It is the website strategy that formulates the right messaging to display your value proposition. Website strategists running a web design business will carry out a competitive analysis of your competitors by taking a look at their conversions, products, content, and messaging. They will also analyse the tastes and preferences of various stakeholders to your business. The objective is to be able to set up a website that meets the needs of your target audience by understanding the demand in your industry’s landscape.
Every detail captured in the established website strategy is what developers will use to undertake the web design project. The research and analysis done in this stage require a significant amount of money. This process is essential and investing in it is inevitable.
Web Design
People are attracted to what they see. To be able to craft a website that attracts your clients, there will be numerous design considerations that are to be taken into account. These would include typeface selection, image manipulation, user interface, themes, branding, and other design concepts. As a result, website developers spend a lot of time working on palettes, shades, textures, design treatments, and flourishes that will effectively display your company’s core business. All of these factors translate into money.
One might think that these factors are worth considering. However, these factors are essential in setting up a website that is up to industry standards. A substandard website will not only cost you customers’ trust but will lead to penalization by Google. This means that online customers will not trust your business and Google will always rank competitors above you. That’s why it’s always a smart decision to find the best web design company in Miami and to jump on a call with them and discuss your options.
Website Development
Developing a website is a costly task. The value of bringing the website strategy and design into a working web-page varies with such factors as quality, complexity, and its continuous nature. But what exactly does website development entail? Developing a website involves two key components, including the front-end and the back-end. The front-end of a website is the user experience, and the user interface that visitors interact with when they browse into your website.
The back-end, on the other hand, is where the actual operations and functions take place. It is the back-end that connects the site to a database. Each code must be perfectly crafted for the website to function effectively. Much of the website set-up cost goes into crafting and putting together the right codes.
Here is a breakdown of the key elements in website development that make website set-up expensive.
Web Hosting and Web Domain
You will need your website to be secure and fast to access, and that means having an efficient web hosting plan. Web hosting can be expensive depending on the hosting option that you choose. Whether it is WordPress hosting, shared web hosting, or a virtual private server (VPS), you will be required to set aside some money for web hosting.
Web domains are the identification strings that direct visitors to the web host that holds your website. Domains are cheap, but they also add to the general cost of your website. You will need to buy both the domain and the web host for your website to be active online.
Device Support
Web development must take into account how other devices will support your website. The more responsive your website will be across various screens, devices, visitor settings, and browsers, the much money you will need to invest in the planning and designing processes.
Content Management System (CMS)
The CMS on which your website will be built influences the custom code to be written and the level of integration to be incorporated. Content management systems such as Shopify and WordPress come at distinguished costs, which add to the overall cost of a website.
Third-Party Integrations
Depending on the type of business that your company operates in, you will need specific third-party integrations for the efficient flow of business operations. For example, if you are actively involved in online business and you would want to accept payments via your website, then your website must be integrated with your merchant account. Other integrations include linking your website to Facebook or Google maps. Every integration adds to the total cost of building a website.
Content Development and Optimization
It is not yet enough to design and develop a website. The essence of having a business website is to be able to link your business to your online clientele, and you will need the right content to do so. Your website content is what your customers will interact with before making a purchase decision. Content is displayed in the form of either video, photos, text, or even ads.
All these tools will require a financial investment. While creating your own content is great for your business website, you will need to have it optimized for you to be competitive within the online space. Purchasing content optimization services from an SEO service provider will cost you some money. However, these services will optimize your website so that it is highly ranked in search engines such as Google.
Conclusion
A modern and well-optimized business website requires skills, time, resources, and proper strategies to set up. All these factors translate into money, which you must inject into the website development process. If you are looking for a web development agency that will build you a website with high conversions, then you must be ready to pay some extra cash. Such a website will ultimately be vital in the achievement of your marketing goals.
