Between Christmas and New Year, I went out to dinner with some friends and a couple of clients. Inevitably we discussed business. One client used to provide a few referrals to me but they have dried up.
When asked why, my client replied, "Fraser is too expensive". I should have responded or justified myself there and then but I let it pass.
So I'd like to talk to you about the Price and the Cost of website.
If you have a good look around the web and search far and deep enough, you can find someone who will build you a website from prices that range between £200 and £200,000.
Yes the gulf is huge. A multiple high street retailer can expect to pay £200k for an e-commerce system that is totally integrated with it's in-store till systems, it's warehouse and store stock.
At the lower end of the scale, you have small business owners getting courted from Yellow Pages and every other telesales company flogging them websites for a low set up price and a set price per month.
So let's say you are a small business owner and you take up a website offer from a telephone directory to build your new website.
You are paying out £20 a month. A year down the line the site hasn't done anything for you.
Now let's say in a parallel universe you decide to pay the price of someone with a business brain to build your website.
Let's say, you've just paid £3,000.
However at the end of the year your website is generating 30 web enquiries every month and your telephone is ringing more often than before; you've got tracking in place with your website.
So, you sit down and work out the business generated from these website enquiries and phone calls. (You sell a product at £99)
30 web enquiries x 90% conversion x 12 months x £99 per sale = £32075
20 phone calls x 12 months x £99 per sale = £23760
£55835 in revenues
So, that website is costing you £55,835 in lost revenue.
Taking the cheap route is costing you a fortune. So why the gulf in the price of a website?
Go and do a search for a website designer or a web developers and haggle with them and get the price you want.
They will build you exactly what you ask for. I can tell you our clients don't exactly know what they want which is why we are unlike others out here.
Let me explain what we do. I am using Platonik as an example of how to build a website for business as I don't know anyone else who builds from a business perspective.
1. The starting point is always the consumer perspective. What are people searching for? Is there a current demand for your company, your product, and your type of product?
2. The competition. What's the competition like? Can we get you website traffic based on consumer demand or the amount of competition?
3. Your product and price? Yes I will discuss with client their product and price proposition. I've told one client he is selling his product inexpensively. He has a monopoly in the market therefore he could charge a higher retail price.
4. What you look like. A chap asks for my advice on his website 2 years ago. I tell him, shut it down, and start again. I don't understand what you are offering, what it costs and I would not trust you. He was offended. "You asked for the truth as to how to build you a business online". We totally revamped the look and feel, his proposition, made it trustworthy and an authority in his sector, changed how the website was structured, made it seo friendly and put our seo guy onto increasing visibility and positions in the search engines.
Within 2 years the chap wins a Young Entrepreneur of Year award.
5. Where else are you getting traffic from? If you have a shop in the high street, then promote your website in-store because people use the Internet in the evenings.
6. Then we look at the journey or the experience a customer has on your website.
If you're sole aim is to generate website enquiries, then we look into devising the least possible steps to get a customer to fill out an enquiry form.
If you are selling online, again we get the shopper from the shop window to the online checkout through all your products in a great experience with minimal fuss. Go check out our portfolio of work »
Final Words
I'm reading Steve Jobs biography at the moment. I'm at the bit where he has just going back to Apple after 11 years and he tells the company what is wrong with them.
"The products are shit"
And since that point in history, Steve Jobs created innovative products which revolutionised the music, movie, telephone, and Internet and retail industries. And every single one of his products is priced well above the competition.
Your website is mission critical to your current and future success. If your website is not delivering for you in financial terms, then by Steve Jobs definition it is shit. Harsh but true.
So have a think about price and what your website is costing you.
Top 10 Mistakes when selecting a web developer or company (1538 KB)
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