How To Set A Budget For Your New Website Aug 5th 2013, 15:08
The truism "You get what you pay for" is as true as true can be when it comes to building a company website. When small firms fail to budget properly, one of these nightmare scenarios is likely to ensue: The site ends up costing two or three times more than expected, causing all-important post-launch marketing activities to be cut back or eliminated. The site ends up having half or a quarter of the desired functionality, rendering it nearly useless. The site ends up as a series of compromises in design, content and functionality, making a mediocre impression on customers and prospects. The underlying problem, as these three scenarios suggest, is under budgeting — or not budgeting at all. What's the best way to set a budget and lay the groundwork for a site that meets your expectations? Step One: Create Site Specifications Setting a realistic budget starts with having an idea of what you want the site to do, so let's start there. Important things to consider include: Design. How much customization do you want? Will a standard WordPress theme suit your needs? Do you need a custom design from the ground up? Something in between? Do you have imagery for your new site, or will photos need to be taken? If so, how many photos (or other imagery such as charts and diagrams) will be needed? Content. How much unique content will your site need? 10 pages? 100 pages? Will it be easy or hard to write? Do you have the ability and bandwidth to write it, or will you need to outsource copywriting? If outsourced, will the writer need to do extensive research to write the copy properly? Functionality. Do you need more than a basic contact form? Do you want to offer downloadable PDFs or other information? Do you want leads from various forms to be tracked? Will you need e-commerce, and if so, what type of payment options? Are there any other functional requirements, such as integration with internal systems or third-party e-commerce sites? Do you want to optimize your site for search engines (SEO)? Will you need W3C or other compliance? Do you want Flash design or a customer portal? Step Two: Seek Proposals Once you have a rough list of desired site specifications, you're in a position to solicit proposals. A web development agency (or freelancer) will need these inputs from you to provide a reasonable estimate. The proposal might match up precisely to your specs, but more likely, it will have modifications based on practical considerations or the agency's capabilities. This is OK; often, a developer has ideas that reduce cost and yet meet your needs.
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