How much for a website? Well….

How much for a website?

If we had a dollar for every time we were asked that, we’d probably all be retired. We’ve come up with a pretty solid reply to that, these days: “How much does a car cost?”

carsThat always puts the person in a tizzy: Well, that depends, there’s so many different cars – from Porsche to Kia, from Bugatti to the used 1987 Honda Civic rusting at the corner dealership. The same holds true for websites. They range from a single one-pager with your most basic of info to cloud-based reservation or e-commerce solutions.

The question we ask (once we’re finished being wise guys) is “What do you want from your website?” Planning is key. Almost everyone thinks they should have a full e-commerce site with full-screen video and an awesome song playing as soon as the site loads (yes, really – some people still think they should have that) and complete interactivity with a little 3D cartoon character that walks you through where you want to go and… Well. Sure. We can do all that, but is that what you need? Do you know the costs associated with all of this?

Another problem that comes about with a lack of planning is trying to go from simple to more complex. The scale, contents and design of a site are agreed upon, which then leads to considerable time spent coding the site. Everything is almost ready, when suddenly it’s decided to add another “key” feature that wasn’t necessary a few weeks ago. To go back to the car analogy, it’s like building a Toyota Prius and then deciding you needed a v10 engine and the ability to haul plywood. The project is now out of the original scale, and the costs will increase. The design will need to be altered and no small amount of time is going to be needed to change the code of your site.

We try and avoid all of this right from the start. Taking a little extra time with our clients to meet up and discuss, brainstorm or even sketch out a few storyboard ideas of what they’re really trying to achieve makes all the difference in the world. It’s your website – of course you want it to be perfect, and we understand that.

How much for a website? Let’s talk.

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