Affordable Web Design For Aura Local Businesses
What is affordable web design? I would suggest that everyone has their own opinion on just what affordable is, however the point I am making is that there is a big difference between affordable and cheap.
We believe that cheap web design is not a viable option for any business website because the only way this can be achieved is by creating a website as quickly as possible and with the least amount of outgoing costs for the web designer.
As a web designer it can be difficult to convince some clients that spending more will benefit their business in the long run, we often get asked if we can just use images found on Google or they will just take them on their phone.
I believe it is better to educate clients of the advantages a quality website will bring, even at a slightly higher cost.
Web Development Costs
Below is short list of some of the costs involved in web development and design:
- Time – spent with your client finding out what will actually help their business
- Time – spent on design and development
- Functionality – integration and set up of software to improve engagement/workflow etc
- Usability – Mobile responsive design – Can the website be viewed on mobile devices?
- Graphics – custom designed professional logos and other graphic elements
- Photographs – stock or the cost of a professional photographer
There may be other costs associated with different projects but the main costs are critical to an effective website that delivers a professional and engaging first impression to visitors. Cutting out the above mentioned costs will prevent a quality end result, and you will get a cheap website that is not going to be effective and will not give the impression you desire.
For example, if no time is spent finding out the details of what your business is about and who your customers are then as a designer we would be limited in providing an effective website that is suited to your industry and target market.
Additionally, if there is any hope for an effective SEO strategy this would be need to be considered during the design stage and followed through once the website is launched.
We have all seen websites with poor colour choices and little or no thought given to navigation. Couple this with photos taken on an iPhone and graphics made in a word processor and you have a recipe for disaster and a cheap website. Professional photography on the Brisbane is affordable and we highly recommend millsphotography.com.au
Mobile Responsive
Cheap websites are most often not mobile friendly and cannot effectively be used by visitors on mobile devices. In 
the past you may have “gotten away with it” but not anymore, there are increasing numbers of users surfing the internet with mobile phones and tablets. It is estimated that more than 45% people are searching for products and services using mobile devices.
Why would any business owner ignore this? If you are hoping to save some costs by choosing cheap web design that isn’t mobile responsive you are making a big mistake, in fact it will more than likely cost you more! This is because you are ignoring a huge percentage of the market and you will not be found in any mobile search results from Google.
Considering that every minute 2 millions searches are performed on Google you would be excluding your business website from a massive amount of potential customers.
Your business simply cannot afford cheap web design!
Affordable Web Design
Affordable web design shouldn’t be considered as a compromise between expensive and cheap. It is providing a high quality product at a price which allows the web designer to deliver a professional website within a reasonable budget.
What is a reasonable budget? That is a good question and doesn’t have a straight forward answer because of the variables involved in different businesses. The best response to this question would be, it depends what you want included in your website and if you require it to have additional functionality.
As an example including an eCommerce solution or shopping cart will require more setup and development than other websites and would cost more. Our thoughts are that if a client requires certain functionality that will help drive sales and increase profits then it is a good investment.
We also subscribe to the point of view that having a smaller well designed website is more desirable than a big cheap one! It is worth considering a few things here to further illustrate my point, if you try and include too many pages on your website you will face the following problems:
- Your navigation will be more difficult to use
- You may make it difficult for users to find what they want
- It will be more expensive to include these pages
- You will incur more expense with including images and/or graphics for all of these pages
We work with our clients to discover the relevant information that their customers are seeking. By only including selected useful information we are able to reduce the size and number of pages used. This helps in a number of ways, it reduces the cost and it allows your customers to find what they want quickly and easily. Having professional photos or graphics on your website is critical to the overall look and feel you impart to visitors.
Images and graphics have a cost whether you purchase stock images or hire a professional photographer. By reducing the number of pages we are also reducing the amount of images required to compliment your text without compromising on quality.
Building a website that is mobile responsive means it can be used by all of your customers. If you ignore this fact
you are potentially missing out on up to 50% of the market and you will be excluded from all of Googles mobile web search results! Although it is a little more costly to build a mobile responsive website, you should easily recover this initial outlay when it comes to capitalising on all areas of the market, particularly those 45+% of users browsing the web with mobile devices.
If you have decided to build a website for your business or if you already have one that needs a renovation, consider what we have mentioned above before going ahead as this will save you stress and money!
I hope this short article has provided some useful information, if you have any questions or comments please contact us
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