Throughout the first three posts in this series, we’ve been careful to point out that more often than not, it’s worth it for business owners to think ahead spend a little bit more on the “extras” that can make their websites more competitive.
But that doesn’t mean you should go spending like a sailor on shore leave.
For one thing, there are still immediate bottom-line considerations to take into account. In other words, you don’t want to go overboard if the short-term expense is going to mean you have to cut back on other important parts of your budget. While websites tend to pay for themselves pretty quickly, for example, they probably won’t render your off-line advertising obsolete on the first day, so it wouldn’t make sense for most businesses to spend so much that they can’t market themselves anymore.
At the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm visitors to your site. At a certain point, adding more features – and especially aesthetic ones – goes from being interesting and artistic to just more “noise.” Always make decisions with your customer in mind. If you get the feeling that it’s “too much,” listen to that gut feeling.
A third reason not to go crazy is that a website is only the first step towards a complete online marketing plan. You’ll want to save some in your budget for other things, too, like: search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, social media marketing, and so on. Skipping on these is like building a new facility and then not having electricity installed.
And finally, you don’t have to get every single feature possible on your next website because there’s probably going to be another website after that… and another, and another, etc. Because the design and online marketing industries are constantly evolving, as is your company, you can be sure that what you want in a year or two isn’t going to match up exactly with what you want today. That’s all right. Just get what you need now, along with some things that can help you make more money, and then come back to the other things later.
To sum things up, it’s not always easy to decide what you should spring for when you’re having someone do a website for you. But a good rule of thumb is to pay a little extra for the features that can probably help you boost your bottom line in the short and long-term, and then save the much larger investments for later down the road, when your new site is already bringing you tons of new revenue.
Want to work with Calgary’s best web design and online marketing team? Contact eKzact today to see how we turn Internet dreams into bottom line realities.
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