Getting your hands on a professional website is quite simple since there are numerous website design companies and website designers practically sitting next to their telephones waiting for you to contact them. The problem is that most of them charge thousands and thousands of dollars and spending that much may not be worth it or affordable for you.
Just because you demand professional quality, doesn’t mean you need to empty your bank account. So, here are some tips on how to get your own professional-quality website without spending thousands.
Learn Your Options
If you plan to update content and create new pages on your own, without website designing experience, you’ll need a content management system. If you want to sell products, you’ll need an eCommerce shopping cart. But do you want to facilitate orders through the shopping cart or will a simple paypal account be enough? Do you want the paypal payments sent directly through your website or will you send your clients directly to paypal? Will you purchase an SSL certificate to protect your clients’ personal information? If so, do you want the 56-bit encryption or the 128-bit encryption?
Confusing enough? Sure, it’s confusing! There’s tons of things involved when it comes to website design choices. But if you know what’s available out there, you’ll be able to compare prices. You’ll know how much you should spend on your website. Also, you’ll be able to determine if there are cheaper substitutes available for particular features. A little research can go a long way to saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your website, and you can start your research here:
- eCommerce Shopping Cart Software (OsCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart, etc)
- Professional Blog Software (WordPress)
- Photo Galleries
- Flash Websites vs Flash Components (Advantages and Disadvantages of a Flash Website)
- Capabilities of Javascript
- The Importance of a validate site and cross-browser compatibility
Mix, Match and Combine Website Components Efficiently
It is beneficial to buy website components or packages that do it all. That way, you’ll only need to pay one price and the website designer won’t have to do so much to force-code separate components to work together. For example, if you want a search bar on your website because your website will contain a lot of pages, a professional blog might be a better solution. Professional blogs come standard with site searches – a two-in-one deal.
The more you research you do, the more knowledgeable you’ll have to determining what you can do to trim down the final price for your website.
Hire the Right Website Designer that You Can Trust
It is hard to say which website design companies or website designers you can trust. Are they giving you enough consultation that helps you make better decisions for your website? Are they able to determine your needs and offer advice that saves money? If you have a bad feeling about a website designer you’re working with, you should probably stick with your gut feeling and find someone else.
Most of the time, the cheaper the price for services, the lower the quality of work. But there are website designers out there who will charge you a fair price and will help you save money where they can. And there are ways to sense if a designer is trustworthy or not.
Stay away from website design companies or website designers who ask what your budget is. This can be an implication that they want to go as high as your willing to go. High end, professional logos can sometimes range from $4,000 to $15,000, and in most cases $15,000 for a logo is worth it. However, if a $15,000 is not what your business needs, you shouldn’t be buying it.
Web design services and products should cost one price and shouldn’t change depending on who the client is or how much is in their wallet.