What does a website cost?

Actually, it is an investment. Consumers have stated that they use the Internet to look for businesses they need, and if they can’t find their web site, they won’t do business with them. 87% of online users use the Internet to access Local information (Digitrends). 68% of Internet users research products online and then purchase them at a local physical store (Jupiter Communications). That's basically 8 out of every 10 potential customers. So the real question is, can you afford not to have a web site?

Generally speaking there are 3 broad directions one could go.

Option 1: Depending on your comfort level with technology, buy a template or template based service and do it yourself. You could invest a few hundred dollars a year.

Option 2: Hire a design firm and get a Custom web design with a brochure to Flash or integrate functionality to your site with licensed components like a shopping cart. You could invest Thousands of dollars in start up and possibly hundreds a year depending on what recurring services you need-hosting, promotion, maintenance etc.

Option 3: Hire a design firm and get Custom design and Custom development. Everything-front end and back-end are built from scratch. For the small to medium size business, expect to invest Thousands, if not Tens of Thousands, of dollars in start up and possibly hundreds a year depending on what recurring services you need-hosting, promotion etc.

3 Determining factors

Factor 1: Time. How much time do you have to devote to your online presence? You'll at least need to be willing to take the time to identify the project requirements, provide needed info, testing and buy off in all 3 options to some degree.

Factor 2: Money. This factor usually trumps the other two. What will your ROI be? This will determine the value of your investment. How many widgets will you need to sell to achieve your ROI? If you don't sell a product and your site is more customer service driven. ROI could be measured in how much time you and your staff are free to focus on mission critical issues. For example, if you had an extra 5 to 10 hours a week because your site is handling redundant customer service tasks, how could you use that extra time to reallocate company resources to generate more revenue? The better you can quantify this, the easier it is to justify the investment.

Factor 3: Control. Do you have to have direct control of everything or immediate access to update the content of your website? Or are you okay to allocate responsibility out to others not under your direct control? If having total control is paramount, Option 3 is for you. If factor 2 trumps 3, See option 1.

So what option is for you?

If you buy a template to "tweak" and need hosting, and promotion, Big Picture Web Design could help. If you're leaning toward options 2 and 3, contact Big Picture Web Design to discuss the details of your project.

Hope this helps.