When you are looking to develop a website, it is tempting to look for the cheapest possible solution. It is possible to get great results from a cheap web design package but there are some traps to avoid. For example you might be tempted to put together a cheap site yourself, but if you want real quality then paying a web designer to create the site for you can be a great idea and a real investment. Many people make mistakes when searching for the perfect web
design, by scrimping on costs and not knowing exactly what they need. Here are the most common mistakes made by people when trying to save on web design.
- Unrealistic Expectations:When purchasing web design it is unreasonable to expect the perfect design with hundreds of features for nothing. A cheap web design service will be the best option if you need a simple website to provide information on your products and services. However, you may wish to incorporate features into your website that will not only improve the experience of visitors to the site, but will help you to run the site more smoothly. For example, a help desk could be included as an easy way by which to answer customer queries or for visitors to contact you. If you want to sell products online then you will also need some sort of shopping cart and payment process. For interactive e-commerce features such as these you should look for a comprehensive package that will suit all of your needs.
- Having No Goal in Mind:When you are looking for a design for your site you have to first work out what the goal of your site is. Perhaps it is for lead generation, or online product sales. Whether you are building a site for profit or not, there will always be some goal and it is important to recognize this goal in order to develop your site accordingly. If you are looking for a simple web presence for customers to find out about you then a cheap web design is a good solution.
- Getting a Friend to Do It:You may know someone who could design your site for you for a low cost. However, many people can claim to be a designer – including your 12-year-old nephew – but you need to ask yourself whether they really have the skills to back it up. Putting your trust in a friend can be awkward if they leave you with a poorly designed website. It can be hard to get them to make changes when they have finished, and in the end this will reflect poorly on your company, putting users off from browsing your site. There may also be mistakes which could lead to your site being indexed badly in search engines, reducing your potential visitors, such as using ‘frames’ or ‘flash’. If you want a design that will properly meet your needs as well as last for years to come then it is probably best to find someone with the right web design experience to meet your needs, which in many cases will be less than the cost of any changes that would need to be made to a poor design by a friend with little experience.
- Forgetting Ongoing Hosting Costs:One common aspect of cheap web design services are hidden costs regarding the hosting fees of your website. It is important to check the terms of any design service to see if they offer hosting as part of their design package. You should be looking for a well-priced designer who offers well-priced hosting. Not only is it possible to find an included hosting package that will provide you with a great service, but it can also cost less than $100 a year. By doing a little research into what your web designer has to offer you could end up saving a huge amount in this area.
- Forgetting Website Maintenance:When you create a website you will probably realize that it will need to be updated at some point in the future. The truth is that when you hire a web designer, this usually does not include updates to your site without extra charges. A solution to this problem is to find a web designer that offers a built in content management system. This involves software that allows you to add, edit or delete content of your website. Such software used to be expensive, but there are many cheap web design companies who will now offer this for free, making it important to shop around for one that does.
- Ignoring Search Engines:When you are setting up a new website it is important to bear in mind the difficulties in getting your site onto the first page of Google results. Depending on your specific industry this can end up costing you thousands of dollars in search engine optimization (SEO). Due to these facts you might want to search for a web developer who can assist you in basic SEO to save you dollars in the future.
- Money Back Guarantees:It can be very hard to find a cheap web design service that will offer a money-back guarantee, which means you could be left high and dry if you receive a bad design and poor service. However, do a little research and you can find a well-priced designer who is willing to offer a guarantee for their work, meaning that there is no risk when it comes to paying for your site to be designed.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many factors that can influence your choice of web designer. It is important to realize that many of these features can be included in a reasonably priced package. If you go in with the right attitude you can be sure to find a designer who will meet your needs, so long as you know what to expect from that price.
