Everybody has a website. And there are so many businesses out there selling website space, website design, social media solutions, and more. You can build a site for free with some services, or spend tens of thousands with others. What’s the right way to go? Well that depends on what you’re willing to sink in to your website investment.
And you have to know, your website is an investment. Often I think people don’t know what an investment is, so let’s take a look at the dictionary definition:
Investment – Noun: A thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future. An act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.
Your Website Investment – Your time or someone else’s?
Barges aren’t cheap, they’re an investment. But without them a shipping company could make no money at all
A well built and maintained website has value. If your website drives new customers to you, those customers and what they spend with you are your “return on investment.” Sadly, many websites today aren’t returning anything to their owners. That doesn’t mean “websites don’t work,” it means that the proper investment in time and effort wasn’t made when the site was constructed. Maybe it was a DIY site on WIX. Or maybe you got the neighbor’s kid down the road to whip a site together…..
Now let me ask you, do you really believe you made an investment in your website for $500 to the kid down the road? Do you really believe that? Of course you don’t. If you need to expand your operations and move into a larger building, are you going to build it yourself, or hire a pro? Maybe that 15 year old kid down the road is handy with a hammer……
A well designed online presence covering your actual business site, a social media plan, search engine optimization, e-commerce, and the other components of a well rounded digital outreach program take time. If you decide to DIY it (Do it yourself) and you actually want to see results, you will be investing a good amount of your time. And your time has value elsewhere…..you know, running your business maybe? So choosing to go the DIY route will cost you by requiring you to invest your time learning, building, and fine tuning. There comes a moment when you realize your time has more value in doing what you do best. And that’s when a well rounded agency comes in to play.
Website Investment Sticker Shock
Often potential clients get sticker shock with us. We’ll hear, “I had hoped this would cost only $1,000 to $2000.” And we hear this while the potential customer lists off all that they want their website to do. E-Commerce, page one of Google, triple their business, security, backups….. All of that takes time, knowledge, and expertise. We’ve invested our time in honing our craft just like our clients have spent time becoming experts in theirs.
Bottom line? If a well built online presence increases your revenues year by year, the initial investment in your online presence has a lot of value. Our normal customers see increased guests in their parks, more visitors to their stores, and more revenue. So if I asked you to spend $5 to make $20 in the same month, would you really think that was a bad investment, or would you try and talk me down to $1? Once your online presence is built, it will last for years and years. While the initial investment might be more than you thought it would be, if your returns over the next 5 years increase then the investment was well made.