jeff adams

The reason for this blog post really is to educate clients on what they can have as part of their web design projects and why they are being quoted every different numbers from different designers or agencies.

1. The Cheapest

If you have a really tight budget, going with the cheapest isn’t necessarily such a bad idea. You will only get an average looking website, and chances are if you ever want a redesign you’ll need a brand new site again rather than being able to tweak what is already there.

Not a good option if you want to be able to upload your own content, have online shops or rank well in the search engines.

Why are they cheap? This could be a number of factors from them being based abroad to them being in the mum and dads back bedroom - this really doesn’t make a difference but with these kinds of designers the quality of their work should really be checked out.

2. The Most Expensive

There’s nothing wrong with charging more than others in the field if you have a proven track record of delivering great websites.

Agencies will often have higher overheads, but they’ll deliver your site quicker.

Finally, the most expensive might be thinking about your website and business as having all bells and whistles when it comes to the latest technology. Pay for what you need not what they want to line their pockets with.

3. The Freelancer

I’m bound to be biased towards this type of designer being as I am one myself, but even so there are clients that just don’t gel with freelancers adn these are often he larger businesses who expect to treat them like employees - and it jus doesn’t work out for this very reason. Micro-management and design by committee is a guarantee that the website will fail.

Where the freelancer wins however is when they can give you, the client, a one-to-one relationship and make sure you are getting what you want. Often, they’ll only have 2-3 projects on at a time and the passion is usually evident in there work.

Recommended for all businesses that appreciate that they are hiring an expert in the field, not jus someone to rearrange some images on a page for them.

4. The Family Friend

There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING wrong with having a family member or family friend do your website for you - for all I know, they could be awesome!

By Family Friend, I mean the type of designer who oftentimes isn’t being paid and lets face it you get a sub-par site but you get it for a low-price

What Do You Need?

So with these in mind, you have to really ask yourself what you need?

Most websites fail to attract visitors because oftentimes there is not enough quality content for the site to work or the client expects the web designer to provide the content - this is like asking your bank manager to provide the money for the account he is handling for you, it’s a no brainer.

Content is King

You can Google this as much as you like as there will be hundreds of blog posts about how good quality content will bring visitors and it’s true. Take my website for example - I created this blog because as a freelancer, I didn’t have the content to showcase immediately so to showcase my expertise in the field I decided to write these posts. Simples.

Conclusion

The reality factor is this - you get what you pay for. If you skimp on your website, you’re effectively throwing the money down the drain since most people look online these days anyway.

Write content from day one. If you are planning on selling items, you’ll need descriptions for the products, you’ll need introduction text for the site, the about pages need to be written. Starting these as soon as your projects starts enables you to see it online and then make the changes you need before the site goes live - content really is king. Plus, it gives you a few months for Google to crawl your site and index before you officially go live.

Good designers aren’t cheap, but they really are worth their weight in gold - they’ll advice you of what they think you will benefit the most, but also be mindful of people who try to up sell you things you really don’t need.