Have you ever heard the term “pick two out of three – Fast, Good and Cheap”? Well, Wix and Weebly are in the business of selling a blindfold that prevents the average person from seeing that as true. But it is. I’m sure, that as a small business owner yourself, you know that this is how things generally go:

Fast + Cheap = Not Good

Good + Cheap = Not Fast

Good + Fast = Not Cheap

This is no different when it comes to digital marketing efforts for your business. The trouble with “easy-to-build-a-website” services like Wix or Weebly, is they sell the idea that anybody can be a web designer. And a good, cheap and fast one, at that! At the end of the day, if you were building your own house, you wouldn’t find the first “how-to” guide on Google, buy a few palettes of bricks and cement, and crack on, would you? At least I hope you wouldn’t…because things would come crashing down pretty fast..literally!

Yes, it’s a ridiculous example, but the principle still stands. Just because it’s on a bigger scale, and the potential risks are, well…building a house that crashes on top of you, it’s taken a lot more seriously than building a website on a shoddy service that doesn’t at all care about your business.

Let’s take a look at a few good, hard facts

1. Google hates cheap website builders

You have to think about Google when you’re working on your website. Search engine rankings are crucially important to your website, and therefore your business. One of the main reasons you have a website in the first place is so that potential customers can discover you via organic search. Wix and Weebly are hated by Google’s search engine algorithm. The way these services are built, and the reason they are so “easy to use and create your own website in minutes” is because they cut corners of how a website should fundamentally operate.

You see, the way Wix and Weebly are developed, it’s a fairly difficult task for Google to read the code and decipher the important information Google need in order for your website to rank high. Not only that, but the Weebly free plan specifically states that your website will NOT be found by Google and other search engines, unless the customer switches to a premium plan. The way that Weebly offers this as a mirco-transaction is comparable to games like Candy Crush Saga or Farmville, which seem free at the beginning, but for each additional feature you want or require, you get hit with a payment gate. That’s no way to build a website for your business.

2. Wix and Weebly offer no scalability when your business thrives

There is very little to no room when it comes to scaling a website developed on Wix or Weebly. Sure, it may seem simple at the start – but what if your business expands, or pivots, or simply needs to accommodate to bigger or better needs of potential customers, and your Weebly site can’t handle it anymore. Can you pack it up and migrate it over to something like WordPress? Nope. What happens in Weebly, stays in Weebly. There are several un-verified “Wix to WordPress” converters, but the truth is, these Content Management Systems are so different, you shouldn’t expect much from any converter that claims it can duplicate your Weebly website into WordPress.

I know you might be thinking “but my business is only small” – yes, right now it is. But in 6, 12, 18 months it probably won’t be. But your website will be the same. Take a look at these 5 websites of huge companies that are built and managed on WordPress.

MTV News
Microsoft News Center
Techcrunch
BBC America
Imagine if those were built on Weebly…

In fact, if Wix and Weebly make it so easy, and revolutionary to build a website in minutes, why aren’t the biggest corporations in the world using it? Because they know they need solutions that their users will enjoy using, be user friendly, scalable and simple to maintain.

3. Poor support

WordPress powers 30% of websites. That’s over 75 million websites. Naturally, there are hundreds of thousands of WordPress experts, technicians and support teams to help you when something goes wrong. Not to mention that the majority of plugins, widgets and themes used in WordPress come with support directly from their developers. This is a different story with Wix and Weebly. There aren’t very many ‘specialists’ that will be able to help you with any specific issues in regards to Wix or Weebly, especially as there are fundamental limitations when it comes to customising your Wix or Weebly website. Even hiring a developer / programmer, those free services are so locked down and limited to functional customisation, most of the time you have to ‘take it as it is’ and leave.

4. Wix and Weebly are actually expensive

You can create a Wix and Weebly website for free. But as we’ve learnt, good things don’t come cheap. Or in this case, usable things don’t come free. The free plans will get you a website that displays ads for Wix / Weebly, and you are only allowed a subdomain (e.g. www.mybusiness.weebly.com) – by choosing that, you are sending a message of cheapness and limitation to your potential customers. It’s a solid confirmation that you are not willing to invest into the most basic aspects of your business.

The premium plans vary between the platforms, but the average for a bottom range premium plan is £5 – £8 per month, which sounds very cheap, but bare in mind that’s a cost you will incur each month for as long as your business is running. Add all that up in retrospect of 5 – 7 years, and you will find that hiring a team to build your professional website on day 1 would have actually been cheaper, not to mention the value for money of a professional against a cheap service.

That’s not all, because there are limitations to what you can do even with paid plans. In Weebly’s case, if you decide a few months down the line that you have a few pages of blogs articles on your site, and a search function for your users would be useful, well..you have to bump up your plan to add that little search box into your website. Same story if you want to showcase HD video or audio, you will be taken through the micro-transaction funnel to enable a fair few features EVEN if you’re already on a pro plan.

What have we learnt?

I hope you learnt one main thing from this article, and it’s that your business website is an investment not a cost. At the end of the day, think about the long term impact of a professional, scalable and manageable website solution, as opposed to short term savings of a cheap, unprofessional website that will end up going to waste sooner or later.

Weebly and Wix sell business owners around the world the dream that anybody can be a web designer. That in fact, is not true. Just because quick and easy solutions are available, does not mean they will make a positive impact on your business. More often than not, it’s actually quite the opposite.

What we recommend

We recommend WordPress for 99% of our projects. It’s by far the most scalable, easy to manage, and gets effective results. If you feel like you need a hand with your website, get in touch with us, and let’s have a chat about the best option for you and your business.

Website costs in 2017

An online presence gives a business legitimacy.  When considering the cost of building a website there are many factors that determine the price of the overall project. Having a website built for you can be confusing, you may not know where to start, what type of website best suits your needs and how much it should cost. Different design agencies will have varying rates.  It’s a good idea to become familiar with the various stages of website design and the associated costs.

The cheapest choice in building and maintaining a website is the DIY option. Free templates for websites are available but these tend to be very basic and lack any individuality. You can purchase a simple website template for about £25, which can incorporate a basic online shop. However, for a well optimised, complex and unique website, many use a web design company to build and maintain their site.

Initial Costs

Domain Name

Every website needs a domain name, it is the address of the website.  It needs to be unique as two companies cannot share one name. A .co.uk or .biz are the cheapest options costing around £3 a year, whilst the more popular .com domain costs as much as £10 a year.  Popular domain names will cost more due to the greater demand that comes with their associated popularity. If you want a specific name that is already taken, you could potentially apply to buy it from whoever already owns it, but this might be costly.

Hosting

Every website needs to be hosted on a web server.  Hosting your site on a web server with other sites usually costs around £10 – £30 a month. To have your own server is much more expensive with costs averaging around £60 a month.

The Cost of Building a Website

Cost of a Small First Website

A first website could be made up of between one and ten pages and is great for start-ups or small businesses.  When purchasing the first website you should consider the ease with which it could be upgraded or expanded in the future if your business were to grow, or if you were to add other services or products.

When agreeing on a price for the website ensure that the price quoted is the total cost and that there are no hidden extras.  To avoid paying an additional rate per hour for edits and amendments. A website is a large project and will take time to perfect.  You should think about what exactly you need and want from your website and then look at what is part of the package offered.

Consider the following when researching your first website:

• How easy is it to reach and communicate with the designer?
• How is your website protected should something go wrong?

Fly High Media clients get the personal mobile phone of their website designer and all websites are regularly backed up.

The cost of a first professionally built website would roughly be:

Of course, the price of a website depends on the size and complexity, as well as the number of revisions and amends that are required.  If your site is for eCommerce or for a dedicated online business, then prices can increase due to the cost of the software required.

Cost of a Small Business Website

A natural progression from a first website is a small business website, which is usually between 10-20 pages.   These types of website are suitable for those wishing to redesign or refresh a first website.

For a small business website, you should write down all of your requirements to ensure that your designer can deliver the site you want and need. Consider the following:

• How many pages or sections do you need?
• What functionality do you need – picture gallery? eCommerce?
• What is the scope for future development?
• What graphics or stock images do you need?
• Will it be mobile responsive?

Here’s more information on how to write a design brief.

The cost of a small business website will roughly be:

We would also suggest for this sort of website a monthly budget for marketing campaigns that keep traffic coming to your site.

Cost of a Medium-Sized Website

This type of site is ideal for eCommerce businesses or companies with more traffic, a wider range of products, more information to impart or who require more functionality.  When companies start moving onto larger websites it can be highly beneficial to work with a dedicated partner, one that can offer all of the ongoing support that such a project will require.

Unless you have a strong relationship with a talented freelancer, we would definitely recommend looking for an agency to work with when moving onto medium and large-sized websites. This ensures you are getting the best possible service and that they understand your business.

The larger the site gets, the longer it will take to build. There may be unforeseen problems that are encountered along the way so this is not something that you can expect to be finished in a hurry. For this reason, it may be wise to agree on a set fee for the project upfront, rather than by the hour.

The cost of a medium-sized website will roughly be:

Once you move into the larger website building projects, the price gets higher so you can expect to pay over £1,000 regardless of size, requirements, functionality, etc.

Cost of a Large-Sized Website

Website costs increase considerably as you move up in scale. With multiple sections and lots of functionality, large websites are ideal for big companies or established online brands.  A larger site offers potentially greater flexibility.  However, it can take time and patience to build such a large site and costs will go up considerably.

If you are looking to develop a larger website or redesign a smaller one, you will need a reliable content management system in place so that you or someone that you employ can access and make regular amends to the site.

You also need to consider who will host your site, either a 3rd-party or on your own internal server. Having your own server can be expensive, but it does add a level of security that you can rely upon, whereas a 3rd-party hosting site might be cheaper, but if they go down then so will your website.

For larger websites, which are often eCommerce sites, it is imperative that it is mobile-responsive. In an ideal world, your designers will migrate your existing site into a new and mobile-responsive framework. However, if this is not possible, you can expect costs to mount up as a new build is required.

The cost of a large-sized website will roughly be:

Other Website Costs – Features and Components

As well as domain, hosting design and build costs, you may also have to factor in the price of future development, external plug-ins, digital marketing PR, SEO, PPC Management or social media marketing.

Key Takeaways

• See your website as investment and marketing tool, not just an expense.
• Know exactly what you are getting for your money before your project starts.
• Ensure communication is consistent with every process.
• Make sure you give the best brief possible to your agency so that the process is smooth from the offset.

1. Gains Credibility

Today, most consumers use the internet to search for the products or services they need.  A small business will gain credibility by having a website.  Without one, potential customers will choose other businesses that do.  Having a professionally designed website will provide a small business or startup with a professional image which will inspire even greater confidence.  This is particularly beneficial for home-based businesses, as the website is the storefront from which to promote products or services.

2. Saves Money

Small business owners often think they can’t afford a professional website; the reality is they can’t afford not to.  Although the cost of designing a website varies, once it’s up and running, a website for a small business generally costs under £100 a month and, in some cases, as little as £20.  It’s a very cost-effective way to promote a business compared with the cost of a newspaper ad and the potential market reach with a website.

3. Keeps Customers Informed

A website is like having an online brochure or catalogue.  It is much easier and quicker to update information about products and services on a website than in print material, making it an effective way of letting customers know about the arrival of new products, upcoming events, special promotions, or any new service offers. Unlike print ads which quickly become outdated, a website can provide current information and news.

4. Always Open

A website is always available to potential customers, providing them with the convenience of reviewing your products and services when your store or office is closed.  With the way people live their lives now, this is a great selling point when making a purchase decision.

5. It’s local and it’s global

A website provides an alternative location to sell your products and services.  As a retailer, an eCommerce website is a great place to sell your products not just locally, but globally too.

6. Showcasing Work

A website is a great place to showcase products or services.  By including a portfolio or image gallery, as well as testimonials, it builds trust with potential customers.

7. Saves Time

Providing product and service information to customers takes time, whether it’s on the phone, face-to-face, in a brochure, or in emails.  An online website provides lots of information to customers about the products and services provided.  When the website is up and running, it is available to customers indefinitely, saving you time.

8. Improves Customer Service

A website can be used to improve customer service, for example, a business selling environmentally friendly products might want to share tips on how to recycle, or perhaps an accounting firm wants to give their clients advice on how to simplify their bookkeeping practices.  A well-designed website could include a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, or articles or even a newsletter to answer customers’ questions and can keep them up-to-date.

Need 8 more reasons why your small business needs a professionally built website? Send us a message!

It’s a crowded and highly competitive field, with small businesses fighting to attract the attention of potential customers.  A good quality website is essential if you want your business to punch above its weight.

Unfortunately, at this point there’s some good and bad news.  On the positive front, a survey of 10,000 British micro-businesses has shown they’re more digitally aware than previously thought, with 81% running a website.  Up until now, estimates tended to be around the 50% mark.  However, despite their enthusiasm to get online, most of these sites (80%) are simply not fit for purpose in today’s digital age.

The vast majority of micro-businesses are using sites that are based on out-of-date technology. They tend to be “static”, limited to five pages and offer no content management.  Hence they can’t perform the basic but essential marketing tasks, such as posting photos and publishing customer testimonials.

The end result is their site ranks very low on search engines – and even when they do attract visitors, they rarely convert them to paying customers as they project a poor image online. These businesses are effectively operating off-line and are missing huge opportunities to grow.

Most small businesses don’t know how they can start the process of improving their online presence, without spending thousands of pounds.  Fly High Media, is a digital marketing agency that specialises in developing websites for start-ups and small businesses at relatively low cost.

There are nearly 130 million websites in the UK alone, so the internet is becoming a crowded marketplace.  It is therefore important for small businesses to be visible to their customers and being search engine friendly.  Web design companies, like Fly High Media, know how to help small businesses optimise the pages on their websites, so that search engines, like Google, rank them highly.

In summary, competition is tough for small businesses, if they are to succeed then they need a high quality, visible website that attracts visitors, builds customer engagement and sells products.

In this blog, we’re going to guide you through the brief writing process. Understanding a brief is the best place to start. The aim of the brief is to provide summarised information to the web design team that will provide them with: a guide and instructions on what is required from your new website, the target market and any further relevant information you wish to provide.

A brief can be a few sentences, a single page or hundreds of pages long, depending on the nature of the redesign or build.

Researching is the First Step

Before you begin writing the brief, you’ll need to gather relevant information.  We suggest you look at other relevant websites online, perhaps your competitors’ websites, with a critical eye and explore how they work.  Establish what you like about their design and functionality and create a wish list for your new website. Try to make your wish list clear and concise.

Writing the Brief

Using your wish list begin writing down your requirements in the following format for a website design brief format:

• An introduction – An outline of the task.
• Background – Information about your business or service, the market it operates in. 
• Requirements – Specific information that you want to be included in the website, for example, eCommerce functions, a blog.  
• Supporting information – Any information that will support the website build, such as branding and marketing materials, details of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, any technical information you have regarding your current website (hosting for example) and examples of websites that you dislike or find inspirational.

Discussing the Budget

The final task is to approach the subject of budgeting for your project. There are two choices available:

• Provide your maximum budget – Your web designer will then be able to provide you with solutions that fit within your budget.
   
• Omit your maximum budget – You may end up with a high quote that may be out of your budget and require you to make changes to the brief to fit within your budget.

We advise talking about the budget early in the process so that the agency is on the same page as you early in the process.

Now you have all the information you require to write a website design brief.  With the brief, you’ll be able to approach website design agencies and gain the best value for the investment you’re about to make. 

Contact us today for your website design project.