How much does a website cost?
This is probably our most frequently asked question, and it is the most difficult to answer. We don’t build “canned” websites here at Mandalay Solutions. Every website we build is custom designed to suit the client’s needs. With that in mind, obviously, the cost of a website will depend on what the client’s needs and desires are.
You might be thinking to yourself “I can create a web page in Word or Publisher or PowerPoint or Front Page in a matter of minutes, why should I pay you to do it for me?” There are many things we do that take considerable time and add cost… but also a considerable amount of value. Here are a just a few things to consider:
- Proper page layout, design and site navigation – We have years of experience building websites. We know what works and what doesn’t. We know that visitors to a website will NOT tolerate a slow website, a website that is difficult to navigate or a website that is not visually pleasing. Will the user complain to you and tell you what is wrong? NO! They’ll simply move on to a better website and never look back. We can help you capture and keep the interest of your website visitors by planning and building a website with a pleasant design, logical layout, and efficient navigation to present all that your business has to offer.
- Search Engine Optimization – We have tools that we use to research what search terms people are actually using to find businesses such as yours. We can identify those terms and optimize the pages of your site so that users will find those pages in their favorite search engine. To be effective, your site has to reach its target audience. We can help you not just increase the traffic to your site, but increase the RELEVANT traffic and ultimately increase your revenue.
- Images and Graphics – We have photographers and graphic artists on staff who can take photos of your facilities, products and people or produce custom graphics to represent your business. We also have many sources of stock photos and art available to choose from. Or, if you supply us with your own artwork, we can use that. We can apply images and graphics from any source to your web pages to add to their appeal and help “tell the story” of your business.
- Website Hosting and Email – We have stable and secure web servers and mail servers available for all your hosting needs. Yes, you could host your website with another company for a little less money. But, when it comes time for updates to your website, things will go a lot smoother if we have control of and easy access to the server. Also, consider what happens when there is a problem with your web hosting service. If your site is unavailable, you’re likely to call us to see what’s up, we’re likely to troubleshoot the problem and find that your web host is at fault… and you’ll get a bill for our time. The money you might save on hosting could easily be consumed by time wasted on your part or ours. (we’re sorry, but we do have to bill for our time!) However, if we are hosting your site and there is a connectivity problem with OUR server, we will take care of the problem as quickly as possible at no additional charge.
- Dynamic Website Content – Our programmers can create database-driven content management systems to meet any need. We can provide you with the means to make content updates to your site regularly, such as a web log, news releases or other periodic updates. We can create web-based contact management and scheduling systems. We can provide complete e-commerce solutions to allow you to sell products or services online and collect payment via credit card or PayPal. Building complex custom database systems can get very expensive due to the time and expertise required, but we have programmers who are ready to handle any project, large or small.
So... what does a website cost? From your cousin Joe who just took a class in HTML? Maybe $500. Nothing against Joe, but you get what you pay for. Good luck with that. From Mandalay Solutions? Realistically, a basic 6-8 page website with proper search engine optimization is going to start in the neighborhood of $2000-2500. Again, you get what you pay for. We’ll build you a professional-looking website that will present your business in the best possible way, and optimize it so that it can be found in the search engines. The bottom line: We’ll help your business grow.
In the Internet age, the question is not whether you can afford to have a nice website, it is whether you can afford NOT to have one. Let us help you take that step.
|
How many pages does my website need?
Like most of our frequently asked questions, the answer is a hearty “it depends”. There are some guidelines that we try to stay within, however. We believe that every website must begin with three standard pages. The Home page is the “landing point” of any user who types your domain name into a browser. It is the most important page of your site, it should give a good overview of the main focus of your business, touching on main areas of interest, but saving most of the details for specific pages.
The other two “must have” pages are the About Us and Contact Us pages. The About Us page is where you define who you are, how you came to be in the business you are in, and why folks should want to do business with you rather than your competition. It establishes your credibility with your website visitors. The Contact Us page is simply where you provide whatever means of contact you want to have with your clients. An email address is critical here, if people found you on the internet, they expect to be able to contact you via the internet. You may also want to include your phone number and mailing address. You can even go a step further and include a contact form to help you collect relevant information from visitors who are contacting you. (name, address, phone number, why they are contacting you, etc)
We sometimes have discussions with our clients about why they need so many pages, can’t they just put everything on one page and call it a day? Well, you could do that, but we’ve found that these pages are what today’s web users expect to see. It’s what they’re used to. The Contact Us page is a good example. You can put your contact info in obvious places on every page, but when a user comes to your site and is specifically looking for “Contact Info”, the first thing they’re going to look for is a link to “Contact Us” or something similar. It just makes good sense for you to make that information easy for them to find!
Beyond the three main pages, you’ll want to include pages that relate to the major areas of your business. Many sites will also include pages like client testimonials, photo galleries, and Frequently Asked Questions. Typically, most business websites will have about 5-8 pages. If you have a need for more than 8-10 pages, a multi-tiered menu structure is advised. Properly organized, this will make it easier for users to find what they seek on your website.
What information do I need to provide?
This is a question that unfortunately does not get asked enough. A website is nothing without good information. Everything revolves around the content of the site, so we can’t build an effective website without that content. Ideally, the basis of this content should come from you because you will have a great deal more familiarity with your business than we do. However, please keep in mind that you’re not doing yourself or us any favors by promising to provide content that you don’t have the time or creativity to write. If you say “I’ll provide you with all of the content” and don’t get around to it for a few months, the production of your website will be delayed.
The amount and quality of information that you provide to us will determine how much time we have to devote to creating and optimizing your pages. If you or a member of your staff are good writers, we can begin by mapping the pages that your site will have and what the key points of each page should be and let you run with it. All we’ll have to do is proofread the content, optimize it for the search engines (if you wish to pay for that service), copy it to the web pages and style it to fit the design. Your costs will be minimal, but you must carry the burden of creating that content.
Another approach that we recommend for many clients is that you provide an outline for us to write your content from. Give us the information for each page as simple bullet statements, just the facts. We’ll take some additional time to embellish that information and present it in a more readable format, with optimization and styling as above. This will take a lot less of your time, and could help us to complete your website in a shorter timeframe.
We can be as flexible as you need us to be, all we ask is that you are honest with yourself and with us about how much of the copywriting process you need us to do. If you need us to come to your place of business, spend a day or two touring the facility, observing your business, interviewing employees and clients so that we can get a grasp of your business and write all of your content for you, we can do that. It would add significantly to the cost of your website, but there is simply no substitute for high-quality content.
Do I need to provide photos and graphics?
You do not need to provide photos and graphics, but you can if you have them available. The visual aspect of your website is almost as important as the content (see above), so you’ll want to give this some thought. If you have a good business logo that you can provide to us in a usable format, we will always want to use it. That, along with any other graphics and images you can provide will be helpful. There still may be some costs involved in using the graphics that you provide, however. Most images will require cropping and resizing, some will require color correction or other modification to blend with the site design. Logos and graphics may require a change or removal of background color in addition to resizing.
If you have no photos or graphics to provide, we can create graphics (including a logo if you need one) and either find stock photos to meet your needs or have our photographer take photos for your site. Stock photography is always less expensive than custom photography, but if you have a unique facility or product to present, or you just want to be sure that your website uses photos that can be found nowhere else, custom photography is the way to go.
We recommend at least one photographic or graphic image on each page of your site to compliment the content of the page. Humans are visual creatures, relevant images help to “tell the story”.
|
