Thursday, 02 August - 17:50 Category: Commentry

A Web Site Costs How Much?!

SYNOPSIS: Your website is an investment. The more you invest the greater the return.

Let's be honest, we all love a bargain.

We all like to feel as though we have a got an incredible deal and we all want to own really expensive things at minimal cost. It's just human nature and its the reason why you can walk around any European city and buy Gucci handbags off the pavement!

What's that got to do with websites?

Well, I wanted to deal with our natural desire to pay a lot less than something is truly worth before I got into the nitty-gritty of my article.

You probably know the maxim "you get what you pay for". It’s true as well because in most people's experience great quality backed up by a superb service is rarely the cheaper option.

And you see, here's the problem. Very often people will perceive their website as a commodity, like their car which has a cost associated with. The only debate that goes on is how much does it cost and what will I get for my money?

This is crazy.

If you have ever contemplated spending money on your website then this is the only question you need to ask:

"How much money will my website make me in the next 12 months?"

Now you are starting to think of your website as an investment which will give you a return. That's the key so let me say it again. Your website is an INVESTMENT!

Here's an easy way to think about it. As with any investment there is a return ratio i.e. for every £1 you invest you will get £x back in return. But like any investment the more you invest, the greater the return.

It's not a straight line either. If you invest £1 you might get £5 back. However, if you invest £10 you won't get £50 back you'll get £70, £100, or more. The logic behind this is that the more you invest, the more can be done with the investment to leverage an even greater return.

So when this all leading?

Well, in order for your website to be a terrific success and generate the massive rewards you want a lot of work needs to be done:

Domain names need to be purchased which improve your search engine ranking; business processes need to be mapped; the demographics of your audience considered and then factored into an amazing design which is both interesting, ergonomic and dead easy to use; creative and compelling content needs to be generated; a content management system has to be custom-built and implemented; e-commerce may also need to be factored in (account creation, basket delivery, credit card payment, reporting, etc); major levels of technical and business consultancy need to be engaged in between you and your web designer.

And that's before we even start on Internet marketing:

Landing pages need to be created; Google Adwords campaigns built; search engine optimisation completed; e-mail marketing implemented; multivariant testing; web statistics analysis and the list goes on and on and on.

And do you need all this stuff?

Absolutely.

Because if you're reading this then you probably want a substantial return from your website and that will only happen when you put the right ingredients together.

It's the difference between an Internet entrepreneur and a website owner.

And does all this cost a lot of money? Well, it depends on your perspective. My personal feeling is that if you want a website to start generating a return for you then the minimum you should invest should be no less than £4000 to £5000.  Another way of looking at this is to take 10% to 15% of your turnover and make that your website marketing budget.

If you want to own a website then spend as little as possible.

If you want to be an Internet Entrepreneur... then e-mail me at jed@morganwylie.co.uk.

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Posted By:Jed Wylie on Thu, May 8th 2008, 17:50