Tweet

What does it cost to have a Web site professionally designed?

Written by: Scott C. Margenau

Article Overview: Well that's a loaded question - and one of the most common ones in our industry. I'll try to tackle this question and give you the honest, straightforward answer you are looking for.

What does it cost to have a Web site professionally designed?

Well that's a loaded question - and one of the most common ones in our industry. I'll try to tackle this question and give you the honest, straightforward answer you are looking for.


Like anything else in life, good things don't come cheap. It isn't cheap to own and operate a top branding and design firm, trust me. It takes creativity, technical know-how, marketing skill, and a significant investment in talent, ongoing education, and infrastructure to build an industry-leading Web site - the only kind of site we build.
Step 1: Start with a realistic overall marketing budget.






If you run or manage a company that sells more than $1 million a year in products and services and think you can get a high-quality site for less than $5,000, you need to either realign your thinking or go make a $5,000 mistake. And then revisit this article.






Your marketing budget, depending on your industry, should be between 3% and 12% of GROSS sales. This is for ongoing advertising and marketing for an existing brand. That means a $1 million company should budget a minimum of $50,000 to build its brand, and then plan to spend $30,000 to $120,000 in ongoing marketing and advertising. Here is a good article that gives more details on how to set an effective marketing budget: imageworksstudio.com/client-lounge/articles-tips/setting-a-marketing-advertising-budget.html






I'm not giving you this information so I can jack up my rates as a marketer. These costs are publicized by organizations like SCORE and the USSBA. They are benchmarks based on real statistics and actual business case studies. These benchmarks are the reason why any venture capitalist worth his or her weight will make SURE he has a reasonable marketing budget - or risk failure. Start with a realistic overall marketing budget, and you'll be ready for the next step.
Step 2: Realize that you are doing more than designing a Web site. You are building a brand.






Budget for the full scope.






Your Web site is not a stand-alone marketing tool. It is, in many cases, prospects' first impression of your brand. It is also the place your prospects go to form or validate an opinion about your company before they decide to take the next step. It is the most important element of your brand image and overall sales process. But it's not the only element.






You are looking for Web site design or maybe even a complete custom Web design for your business. But it's not that simple. Not even close. Just getting to the design phase requires an in-depth marketing discovery and strategic plan. To build a site without this plan is like building a house without a blueprint - it's going to fall apart.






Here are a few of the basics that need to be discussed with marketing professionals outside your internal team (inside-out thinking must be combined with outside-in thinking):






* Your marketing goals and objectives - measurable, specific, and realistic. (If we don't know where we're going, how will we know if we've arrived?)
* Your value proposition from the customer's perspective, and how best to reflect that value proposition in the Web site strategy.
* The step-by-step conversion process - from entry to conversion and everything in between. Consider the four major personality types and their varied buying processes.
* SWOT analysis: how the strengths and weaknesses of your company, combined with the opportunities and threats, affect your Web site strategy.
* The current AND desired position of your brand in relation to your competitors, and how that affects your Web site design strategy.
* An analysis of what your competitors are doing and how you can outperform them.
* A clear assessment of the benefits conferred by your products and services. Features are cool, but people buy benefits.
* Your sales arguments - why should people buy what you're selling?
* Calls to action - how will you get prospects to act and what actions do you want them to take?






Ah, now you're ready to start designing something - almost.
Step 3: Understand the full scope of your true needs.






To be successful, your Web site will need to include some of the following components and media. To build a site without them is like going game hunting with a pocket knife: it's just not smart.






Components and media needed for an effective online brand:






* A branding blueprint (marketing strategy as outlined in Step 2).
* A Web outline that fully integrates all navigation and makes it completely user-centric.
* Visual direction and messaging, aligned with your marketing objectives.
* The physical design of your Web site home page based on agreed-upon visual direction and messaging.
* Physical design of an interactive subpage template that will inform your visitors and guide them through your site while maintaining brand identity.
* Professional copywriting or content optimization (yes, you do need it) that allows prospects to scan information that will pique their interest and drive them toward your calls to action.
* Flash animation to stimulate interest and communicate key points without crowding the page.
* Custom-designed blog. This is critical: It's today's free PR machine and a SEO staple.
* E-mail template design that matches your new online brand. This is the best ROI in marketing - a must-have!
* Online downloadable PDF brochure, something your prospects can forward to a decision maker or read on the Metro, with easily digestible information. Yum!
* Online forms - why make it difficult for someone to contact you? Interactive forms make inquiries a breeze and data capture automatic.
* Internal search engine. Forrester Research says that users abandon sites when they can't easily find what they are looking for. This was a top abandonment complaint in 2007. A Web site search tool enables users to quickly find the information they want, without hassle.
* Search Engine Optimization(SEO) - Your Web site should be designed in a way that is search-engine friendly. By thinking ahead, you'll have a site that is well-positioned for SEO results.
* Social Media Optmization (SMO) - SMO lets you get your message, image and valuable content in front your customers through some of the most effective channels that exisit. Expect to see social media climb the ladder as one of the most effective ways to reach and influence your target market.
* RSS Feeds - There's no easier way to provide your visitors with fresh content than through RSS feeds - not to mention the SEO value!






And the list goes on...






Since most of the above items cost $2,000 to $5,000 or more each, you can quickly see that building a highly successful online brand and custom Web site is going to take a serious investment. Yet, a Web site that is built correctly will grow revenues and awareness of your brand more than you can imagine. Who wouldn't invest in building and marketing their brand when the result increases sales exponentially?
Whatshould you look for in firms that can build highly effective online brands and sales conversion processes?






It's not about design, so don't hire an art major. It's not about coding, so don't hire a developer. It is about building a brand and being able to persuade prospects purely through their online experience that they have a substantial interest in your products and services. You need a firm with a full-time creative staff, marketing experts, graphic designers, Web marketing specialists, project managers, Web developers, copywriters, and a network of proven contractors to help facilitate the many areas of successful branding.
OK, OK, I get it! So what does it cost?






The cost should easily fit into the budget guidelines mentioned above. The bigger your company, the more you should invest in your online brand and the more features and functionality you can afford to enhance your online presence. If you invest the way a $5 million company does and you're a $45 million company, you're going to fall behind your competition and fail to impress your customers. Allbusiness.com (see link below) states that a name and logo alone by a professional agency costs between $25,000 and $40,000 on average. Yes, that's just the name and logo! allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/branding-brand-development/1040-1.html






Madison Avenue and other high-profile agencies will charge mid-six figures and more to build an online brand. On the other hand, you could hire a freelancer or a small Web design team to build something for less than $10,000. But that would be more likely to hurt than help. Putting the right assets in place to build an effective brand is costly, but the rewards are substantial and ongoing.






Depending on the size of their company, our clients typically pay us $25,000 to $100,000 to build their offline and online brands. The determining factors are which branding elements will be required, the features and functionality of the web site and the complexity of each. For example: a FLASH animation for a online tour of a product could eat up a substatial portion of a budget, but could also be a huge conversion tool for valued prospects.






Remember, your ongoing budget for advertising, search engine optimization, Web marketing, social media, print advertising, trade shows, direct mail, PR, etc., should be based on a percentage of revenue multiplied by your industry multiplier, as referenced here: imageworksstudio.com/client-lounge/articles-tips/setting-a-marketing-advertising-budget.html
The power of your new brand:






Hopefully, you now realize what it takes to build an effective and conversion-oriented custom Web site and online brand. The rewards will be tremendous. Here is what you can expect with a Web site done right:






* Your employees, prospects, and clients will have confidence in your brand.
* The number of prospects who visit your site will substantially increase.
* Visitors to your site will be impressed, making them more likely to want to learn more about your products and services.
* Measurable results will be obtained that can be used for online improvements.
* With an actual system to convert prospects, you'll be able to take advantage of the 80% or more of prospects that have a "buy later" mentality.
* More referrals will come your way.
* Your investment will be paid back in spades, and then some, resulting in substantial revenue growth.






Scott Margenau is the founder and CEO of ImageWorks Studio, an award-winning Web design and branding firm.

Related Articles
  Basics of Web Design Services
  Enhance Your Web Design With Graphic Design Services
  What is the Right Web Design Software For Me
  Free web site platforms
  The Owner’s Son Handles the Website

Article Tags: brandingagency, marketingagencyfirms, strategicwebdesign, webdesigncompany



Related Forum Posts
Re: Outsourcing Software Development India - Outsourcing projects to Romania, India, and Pakistan have proved to be fantastic in quality and overall value. We've outsourced specific financial suites to Indian firms over the last 5 years and have seen tremendous results. We benefit from being able to have the same software completed over there for a fifth of the cost it would cost to be designed here in Canada. Kudos to you and your firm, all the best in the future!
Re: Hi, Horse Racing TIps site here - CP, Obviously a very well designed site. Is this your own site or an affiliate site? I'm interested in how many ways you monetize it as well. All in all I'll have to say pretty nice. Cheers, Zac
Re: Change can be good - [quote="BizLoanz4u":dvailgb8]My first website was pretty good and everyone I know thought so to. I designed it myself, kept after it often and made sure everything was up to date. I manually submitted to search engines and basically did EVERYTHING myself. However, after about a year or so, I decided it needed an overhall. I left it up to the pros this time around (less time consuming for me) and it REALLy made a difference. The new site was launched in September 07 and the traffic has really increased during that time (except when December came). This month is slow too, but getting back up to par as each day npasses, it seems to do a little better. I do not regret giving it an overhall. But I do regret wasting a lot of my time on the first one...had I only left it up to the pros a year ago![/quote:dvailgb8] Hi Michele, Would you be able to share with us the URL, approximate cost of the upgrade and percentage of traffic increase? More importantly, can you tell us what the professional web designers did to give your site an overhaul? (i.e. did you change your site navigation, aesthetics, SEO tactics, etc?) Thanks
Re: Does a New Company need a "Big" PR firm? - I agree with Kevin [quote:3b8fyubd]I think the most important factor is whether your press release will reach the most number of your target audience or not.[/quote:3b8fyubd] You dont a big company that will charge mega bucks as Im sure they will even add a %age to the cost of the press release. Im sure if you approach New York Times, the LA Times with every thing presented professionally I think it will still stand the same chance. I would start advertising online, then locally thats when the NYT can see what there missing out on! And to test the water first!
Let expert write for you - The content of your site tells a whole lot about your website. They will basically describe what your site is about and also tell people what your site has to offer. Articles and website content makes a whole lot of difference in your site because they can catch the attention of your website visitors and keep them in there. With good website content you get the benefit of clearly depicting what it is you want to share with people. Also, good content and articles can lead people to your site. With more traffic, you get to earn more from your site making it profitable. A sites success, be it for profit or not, is the number of the flow of traffic in your site. So how does good content and great articles get you traffic? Well, many search engines rely on the keyword and keyword phrases of a site to put it in their results list. If your content contains a good number of keywords and keywords phrases, it may be chosen to be a part of the top listed sites in the search result pages. But before you think of just plastering your site with all the keywords and keyword phrases it could hold, search engines also filter out that abuse. You must have good well written articles that incorporate the keywords and keyword phrases properly in their content and articles. There are many of those who cannot afford the time to write their own website contents and articles. While writing content and articles specifically designed for the internet may take some getting used to and some researching and learning, there are many writers that can be found all over the world who could do it for you. Many of us do not have the time to learn web content writing and article writing designed for the internet. There are writers who have great experience in doing this and charge only a minimal fee for such work. Writers like this can be regarded as experts in this style of writing and can greatly help your website to get that coveted spot in the search engine rankings. Other than getting your site in the web results page of search engines, they can also provide your site with meaningful articles and content that can impress your website visitors and entice others to view your site. Every website could use the extra traffic website visitors could invite. Then there are those who need papers to be done either for their school or office work. Top writers around the world are very knowledgeable and do extreme researching to get a job done right. They are also very adept in many writing styles that are needed to best suit the client’s need. Many writers around the world charge a minimal fee depending on the type of writing job needed and the number of words needed in the content. Usually, a two hundred fifty worded article would cost from 4 to 8 dollars depending on the writers experience and ability. This is a small price to pay for having a content rich site or for a well researched and written paper. There are also many sites that can offer you these services with their team of well trained and experienced writers. They offer many writing services to cover any writing needs. A writer can be based anywhere in the world and are guaranteed to offer good contents and articles. Each one are doubly checked, edited and proofread so that you would get your money’s worth. Finding a good writer or a site that offers these kinds of services is simply done by searching for them in search engines. Type down your keyword or keyword phrase (e.g. Content Writers, Article Writers) and you will see a long list of sites that offer these services. The top sites would probably be the best since they have done a good job of keeping their content at a high quality to get them high rankings. But you may also want to shop around and read some of their sample work to get an idea of how much it will cost you.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How Many Buckets Do You Need for Retirement?

20 MORE Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools

Winning Market Share in a Tough Economy

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.