Over the weekend I was sent an email message from a friend who is the owner of a very successful business that was in need of a website overhaul. They had a look that they wanted to refresh and some functionality that they wanted to add, as well as solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive good lead generation. We talked about some scenarios and costs and then I received this aforementioned email asking me about a website he had found that was advertising a custom designed website for $ 350, and the question was essentially "Why not go with these guys?". It was a fair enough question, to be sure, and I already had some thoughts in response, but I felt it was only fair to actually LOOK at the web design company in question and see what they were really offering.
After looking through the site he had sent me, the differences between what we were offering and what they were touting became even more clear. First of all, the $ 350 only gave you a 5 page website, albeit custom produced. They were giving you some video and slide show capabilties, and metatags and titles, as well as some custom response forms with those 5 pages. Now SEO goes way deeper than tags and titles, so I clicked on their SEO link to see what they else they offered besides the basics, and the story got a little clearer.
The cost for what they termed an aggressive SEO campaign was going to cost over $ 3,000 a month for 6 months. Now, from the description of their service they looked like they were covering good bases with the program, but the question is do you have to spend upwards of $ 20,000 for 6 months of Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
There was additional costs associated with setting up a social marketing network as well, which is standard, but the point is that what started out as "Get a custom site for $ 350!" after reading the so called fine print became more like "Get a custom, 5 page maximum website with integrated social media and aggressive SEO for over $ 20,000!". What a difference reading deeper in makes! Without strong SEO all you have representing your company and brand that you have worked so hard to build is a 5 page site for $ 350.00, hardly what I would call putting your best foot forward.
The real reason, however, I bring this story up is to address the flip side of the original argument against going cheap, that being do I have to spend over $ 20,000 to get something good?? Does good web based marketing have to cost an arm and a leg?
Let me say this, is it possible that SEO could cost that much money? The answer is, yes, BUT with a proviso and that is that it depends on a lot of factors. That's the same answer I would give to someone who asks, does website design and development have to cost six figures? There's a lot that goes into answer that question, but the nutshell version is you DO NOT have to spend that much to get great results as long as whoever you are working with, or whoever is doing the job in house, understands things like:
- Who is your target segment
- Where are they (primarily local? Regional? National? Global?)
- What are their buying drivers? How do they make decisions about who to hire for your type of goods or services?
- Who is your competition really? (You may THINK that they are national 800 pound gorillas, but are they really? See the questions above.)
- How do people/companies typically find your type of business?
- What type of functionality will your website possess?
In order to find that number, the true cost of doing what you want to do, some work needs to be done upfront by the company you are engaging with. This means that a one size fits all, churn out $ 350 websites type of business is not always the great option that it looks like on the surface, and neither is a company that carries a price tag that would choke the elephant you are trying to eat one bite at a time (see original Eating the Elephant post). Sometimes more isn't better, more is just more! Just because a company charges a huge amount doesn't mean that they have any more expertise or skill to build an online marketing presence, it may just mean that they are outsourcing their work and they have to mark things way up to make a profit. It may be that they are not set up to work with the SMB market and are used to charging large rates to very large companies. It could just be that they have a well known name, a huge staff and premium office space that carries an enormous cost and they have to charge a lot to pay for their overhead.
The point is, beware of paying too little, but also too much when it comes to web marketing and all that goes with it, both can burn you, just in different ways.
From where you are to where you want to be.
Doug
