I’ve been exchanging e-mails with a prospective client for a couple weeks. He wants to know the price for a website. Try as I might to get him on the phone and discuss his needs, we continued playing phone tag and he continued looking for a price.

We don’t have a price list on this website nor can we provide a price to a customer without consultation. And I suggest any web design company that does is a company to run away from. All businesses are different and have different needs. So are their marketing efforts. Sure I could sell someone a package with default content, features and pages to reach a certain page count, but would that package meet their needs, represent their brand, or generate additional customers and revenue for their business?

Initial Consultation.

When a customer contacts us about developing a website, the first thing we do is sit down and talk.  We can do it over the phone or we can do it in person, but the purpose of the conversation is the same – we want to understand your business.  During this conversation we strive to understand the following:

• What do you expect to accomplish with your website?
• Who is your target demographic/market and how we can reach them?
• What bells and whistles do you want?  Which ones do you really need?
• Will you provide content or do you need a copywriter and/or photographer?
• What are your existing marketing efforts?  How can we develop a site to work in concert with your marketing plans?
• How hands on you plan on being after the site is complete?  Do you need someone to work with you in an ongoing basis to maintain your site, grow your content and enhance your site’s search engine placement and market penetration?
• If you are planning on updating your site yourself?  Will you really do so?

A good website is organic.  It is born out of the company’s need, works in conjunction with the company’s brand, and evolves based on the company’s growth.  This can not happen in a vacuum.  One size does not fit all.

Think about building a house.  Much of the time is spent planning long before construction ever begins.  How many rooms do you need?  What features do you want?  How big will it be?  Do you need a three car garage?  Should your bedroom window face the sunrise or the sunset?  Once you decide what you need, an architect draws up the plans, and often things are amended again.  And you still have to choose materials, finishes and even a building site.  The actual construction time is minimal so long as your plans are firm up front.  Most of the time that went into that home’s construction was the prior planning.  Planning that was necessary to make that house your home, one the fulfills all of your wants, needs and dreams.

What would happen if you built the house without all the prior planning?  Would you have multiple change orders throughout the process?  Could inspection or construction problems crop up along the way?  Construction jobs without proper planning often mean longer build times and budget overruns.  And when construction is finally complete, people are less pleased with the end result or the process.  And what if you didn’t interview your contractor upfront and he didn’t understand your needs?  Do you think the end result would be your dream home?

Just as one home doesn’t fit all, one website does not either.  This is your business online.  It is the first, and potentially last impression some prospective customers will ever see.  Will it represent you or your brand?  Will it sell your product or service?  Will it act as a 24hr salesman on your behalf or is it just there?

Contact Maxwell Sydney Design Group today.  Let’s talk about your website needs and develop a strategy to help you achieve your goals.