Why Pay for Website Design?

If you’re starting a new business and need a website or are looking to update your website for an existing business*, it’s very tempting to go the DIY route. And there are many platforms that offer nice looking templates at an affordable price (or even for free). But if you need even a little bit of functionality for your site, we highly recommend paying for a professional website design.

4 Reasons Why You Should Pay for Website Design

1. Your time is valuable. Sure, you can plug in some content on a generic template, but if you want your website to stand out from the crowd, you will need something a little more complex. While you could always teach yourself HTML, we have a feeling that your time is better used elsewhere–like on your own business. As we’ve discussed before, outsourcing the things that eat up big chunks of your time is crucial to building a better business.
2. A cheap, outdated website can be worse than no website at all. Think of your website as an online representative for you and your business. Would you show up to a client meeting in a baseball cap and wrinkled shirt (depending on the industry, this might fly–but you get the point)? Even if your business has nothing to do with the digital world, it is still the way that many, if not most, of your customers will first encounter your business. Hiring a professional web designer will ensure that it expresses who you truly are and the stellar services you provide.
3. Professionals know what to prioritize. Your website should be built with SEO, conversion rates, and responsive design in mind. (If this sounds like gibberish to you, all the more reason to pay for website design!) If you are designing your own website, you likely won’t have access to the back-end tools necessary to ensure search engine optimization and responsive design and the customization required to improve conversion rates.
4. The possibility of hidden costs. Too often, a business owner will design their own website on a “free” platform, putting in hours and hours of work, only to realize that they will need to upgrade in order to truly achieve the functionality they need. Upgrading to a premium package can mean that you end up paying just as much over time as you would have for a custom web design. And we guarantee that you won’t have as much flexibility and support.

How Much Should You Pay for Website Design?

The answer to how much you should pay for website design varies greatly, of course. If you are selling a product online, if you need a large number of pages and professional-sounding copy to go on them, if you want to truly see an increase in business, you should expect to spend several thousand dollars on your website.

If this seems high to you, try to reframe the cost in the context of what your website can potentially do for you. It is a powerful marketing tool, and you might even think of it as a kind of super employee. Your website acts as a 24/7/365 salesman for your business. So yes, you could find someone to build you a website for $500, but generally you get what you pay for. If you want a website that will do all that you want it to do for several years, we highly recommend making that initial investment into your business.

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We work with several impressive (and affordable) website designers to build custom websites for our clients. If you would like more information on how a professionally designed website will boost your business, please contact Niki at [email protected] for a free consultation.

* If you are still asking if you even need a website at all, the answer is a resounding YES!