Web Design

The Hidden Costs of DIY Web Design

You may not expect a professional web designer to say this, but DIY web design does have its place. However, when building business websites, the hidden costs of DIY web design are far higher than most people think.

As a small business owner, it can be tempting to ignore these costs. They will still affect you, though — and can easily cost you more than engaging a professional web designer. So consider them carefully before falling for the hype about DIY web design systems.

When to Consider DIY Web Design

If you don’t aim to make money from your website, any money spent on it is pure cost. So then it’s wise to minimise that cost, and doing so has little impact.… Read the rest “The Hidden Costs of DIY Web Design”

Why Cheap Web Designers Often Disappear

Everyone loves cheap web design — until they learn that it takes far more than low prices and fancy graphics to build a business website that works. That can be a hard lesson about cheap web design risks, but it often gets worse. Because cheap web designers often disappear.

This can be a touchy subject though, so let’s be clear: most experienced web designers I know are talented people who only want to help. That said, experienced web designers are rarely cheap web designers.

Still, I have just spoken to yet another distressed small business owner. His cheap web designer had left him in the lurch with a broken website and no access to fix it.

Other business owners had told him this was “typical” of “flaky” designers.… Read the rest “Why Cheap Web Designers Often Disappear”

What Is Affordable Website Design?

Every small business wants affordable website design. Still, what does “affordable” really mean? Is it:

  1. As cheap as possible?
  2. Less than your current disposable cash and/or short-term savings?
  3. Whatever it takes to create something that will pay for itself, minimise risks and maximize profits, even if that needs finance?

The first definition doesn’t really help at all. The hidden costs of cheap websites generally make them more expensive than professional ones.

Similarly, while startups often prefer to be self-financed (aka “bootstrapped”), just fitting easily into your cash-flow doesn’t guarantee it’ll do the job. A rock may be cheaper than an apple, but that doesn’t make the rock an affordable meal.

There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey.

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Small Business Web Design – Common Mistakes

Effective small business web design is now critical to almost every small business. In fact, until you have your own business website, most potential customers won’t see you as a credible business at all.

Why is that? What makes a business website so special?

Small Business Web Design Matters

Your website is a key marketing vehicle for your business. It isn’t just a shop window. It’s an international travelling sales team, with the ability to sell 24/7/365 to customers in their own homes in the moments when they are most interested in buying.

Think about what it would cost to achieve that coverage with a team of salespeople. That’s the value a website provides.… Read the rest “Small Business Web Design – Common Mistakes”

Affordable Websites: How to Set a Website Budget

Small businesses and startups are often keen to find an affordable small business website design service — but what makes a website “affordable”? How do you set a website budget?

That mainly depends on whether it’s a personal site or a business site.

Why? Because while personal websites often cost money, successful business websites do not. In fact, contrary to the hype of DIY platforms and cut-price cowboys, a cheap business website can easily cost you more than a professional one.

Personal Websites Are Not Business Websites

Personal websites aren’t built to make money. So traffic isn’t their priority, and even if monetised with ads or affiliate income, that isn’t their key goal.

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Professional Web Designer or DIY Web Design?

Hiring an experienced, professional web designer offers huge advantages over relying on DIY website builders or most cheap web design services. Yet many small businesses still cripple themselves by falling for the false economy of cost-cutting on this business-critical investment.

So, put simply, here’s how the key benefits of professional web design compare to those other options:

  1. Saving Time vs Wasting Time: Time is not free. It’s the only thing you can never buy back. Professional design is not fast, but learning to do it well enough to compete takes far longer — and you are competing with firms who hire professionals. DIY site builders may look like a shortcut, but buying a spanner won’t make you an engineer.
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