Best Content Creation In Australia
Whatis the difference between a $500 and $5,000 website?
We all know that the old adage, “you getwhat you pay for,” is true in a lot of instances. When it comes to buying ahouse, it’s likely true. The size, age and location of the house will largelydetermine its cost and the newer, bigger houses in prime locations are going tocost more.
But when it comes to buying services, thissaying is not always accurate. We’ve probably all had instances where we feltwe overpaid for sub-par service. In many cases, buying a service, like ahaircut, an hour of life coaching, or the creation of a website has more to dowith WHO you buy it from than what you are buying. You can buy a $20 haircut atSuperCuts or you could pay $150 or more to have it cut by a well-known stylistin a larger city. Is the more expensive haircut better? Presumably it is,though in rare instances you might find a rising star of a stylist who ischarging a low price because the market hasn’t yet figured out how good theyare. So, you might get lucky and get something close to the $150 haircut from someonewho is unknown but talented and only charges $20.
That probably won’t be available for long,though. Market economics always kick in eventually. In our example, everyonewill tell their friends about the awesome new stylist in town who is only charging$20. Before you know it, the stylist’s schedule will be full and then they willstart raising their rates.
The same holds true for buying webservices. It is certainly possible to find a web developer who will build you a$500 website. And that may be all that you or your business needs for themoment. But don’t be talked into thinking that you will be getting the samewebsite that you would get if you paid $5000. That’s rarely going to be thecase.
There are other differences you will likelyfind between the services at these different price points.
Individual vs a Team
Building a website is much like building ahouse in that there are a number of uniquely skilled tradespeople required topull it off. Everyone knows you need a carpenter, a plumber and an electrician.If you’ve ever been involved in building a house, you also know there are abunch of other trades that many people don’t think about, including someone whodoes the foundation and flatwork, a drywaller, roofer, flooring person, and painter.While there are some talented people who might do a couple of these jobs, theaverage single family home requires 22 different subcontractors, each with aunique specialty!
Building a professional website requires agraphic designer, a programmer and a project manager with some marketingexperience. It might also require a photographer and/or videographer, acopywriter, a market researcher, a UI/UX designer, an information architect,and a system administrator.
A single talented person MIGHT be able tobuild a modern home but it won’t be the same home that a team would build. It’sjust not possible for one person to have the same level of expertise in everydiscipline that 22 individuals have.
Likewise, there are individuals who presentthemselves as web developers and claim to be able to perform all the requiredroles. In reality, they are always stronger in some areas than in others andthe disciplines within which they have less talent and experience will be theones that will suffer in the overall project.
Responsiveness over Time
Another consideration of having a singleindividual build your website is their responsiveness over time. They may bequite responsive while they are working on your project, but what happens whenit’s finished and they’ve moved on to the next? In many cases they simply won’thave the bandwidth to handle more than a couple of projects at a time and ifyou are that client from 6 months back with an urgent issue, you might not getthe attention you expected. In part, this is because the individual only has somuch time in the day, but in many instances, the lack of responsiveness alsostems from them not being able to easily address issues that can arise overtime, so they avoid them.
For example, the sole proprietor that builtyour website might be a decent graphic designer and created a site for youthat’s very attractive. However, their technical skills are somewhat morelimited because the technical side is not really their interest or passion –they are doing it out of necessity and because, to a degree, they can. A fewmonths after your site launches, a thorny technical problem arises that youexpect them to fix. Not only are they overwhelmed with new projects, but eachtime they try to tackle your technical issue, they are unable to quickly andeasily resolve it, so it goes back to the bottom of their list and they eitherignore your calls and emails or they drag the resolution of the problem out farbeyond what is reasonable.
A team, on the other hand, is much morelikely to have someone available because they have greater total bandwidth.Also, because they have individuals that specialize in each discipline,whatever issue you have is more likely to get a quick resolution, because itwill be handled by a person that knows exactly how to approach, and fix, theproblem.
Choice of Platform
There are many website platforms availabletoday to build your website upon. While they all have their pros and cons, someare more appropriate than others for a particular purpose. For more about someof the more popular platforms and their differences.
An individual developer is more likely tosteer you towards a less complex platform because they don’t have time tomaster more complex platforms. If you just need a simple website, that may befine. However, if you intend to grow over time, your business might quicklyoutgrow these platforms and you will find that you need to start overcompletely, having essentially lost the investment you made.
