Whether you're starting up a new business, an existing business going through a re-branding exercise, or are looking for an easier to use website back-end after many years struggling with an antiquated interface, we're here to advise you about the process of shopping for a new site.
First and foremost, let's make some basic assumptions (and importantly, these are our areas of expertise).
A basic 'brochure' site will roughly have 6 elements:
- Home page
- About us
- What we do/services page
- News/blogs
- Contact us
- Testimonials
These basic elements may well have need of additional pages on further thought and investigation but let's stick with keeping things simple.
What do you want out of your website?
Even early on in discussions about a new website, it's a good idea to consider these questions (and we'll certainly ask them of you!):
- Do you want to have autonomy over making updates to your website? With a website using the Rocketspark platform provides clients with the means of updating and making changes to content simply and quickly. We can certainly make modifications at your behest but the Rocketspark CMS is easy to use and we offer training once the finished website is ready to go.
- Do you want a digital marketing campaign to run alongside the new site? Having a media presence on various platforms will give your organisation a 'voice' on social media and is a means of signposting your website and your business to prospective clients.
- Do you want to work with a partner who is able to write blogs and content? We're uniquely placed to offer both design, build and content writing. Blogs are certainly a means of driving traffic to your website and good copy can work wonders for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
- Do you want ongoing reports to assess traffic levels and online engagement? We can provide monthly reports so you can assess how the website is performing and how much engagement the social media campaign is generating.
Cost elements to get your website off the ground
Website hosting/full editing control
The monthly subscription rate starts at only £16.00 + VAT per month (an email address is extra at £3/month or you may opt for a business email hosted on Microsoft Exchange for £10/month).
Website - build and population of content
The building of the site involves the adding of images, navigation, buttons, bespoke forms and population of content - it doesn't include the actual writing or content creation - this would be an independent cost. Build will include resizing images, amending their opacity (so taglines can be read easily) and laying out each page according to best practice; at all times ensuring that the visitor is rewarded with a fully interactive experience. We will also add the appropriate meta data for SEO purposes.
Content adaptation/creation
We can provide website copy using the Flesch Reading Ease protocol. Best practice says website copy should reflect the reading skills of an intelligent 14 year old and a score of between 60 and 70 will mean we’re meeting that requirement. We can write copy for each page based on the information provided and as a result of researching search terms provided by Google. For copy provided by you, we will adapt the content where necessary for SEO purposes.
Any stock imagery may come at a cost but to give you an idea, a good quality image from iStock will cost 3 credits (£20 + VAT).
Landing page
Something else to consider would be a SEO-friendly landing page which would steer people to the site if they were to search and find you via Google. These pages are more intricate than a normal web page but we do offer to build these out for clients at a cost of £175 + VAT per landing page.
Digital/Social Media marketing
LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter - we usually work to a client's budget and keep things simple by agreeing a set number of posts per month. A social media presence is all about raising your profile and people will try to find out about your business and whether they feel they can trust you prior to making that initial contact. Once we have a clear understanding of what you do and how, we can advise you on the types of topics we feel will garner interest and engagement.
Basic website costs
So let's give you a rough idea of costs - because that's what drives us all right now:
Talk to us at The Digital Doctor
If you've been mulling over a new website or deliberating about ditching the outdated one, talk to us. We don't over complicate, we don't talk jargon and we definitely don't inflate our prices. We'll work with you so you love the end result and give you the freedom to edit post-live.
Don't believe web agencies who say website amends can only be done by them; it's your business, your website.
Contact us for a chat and we'll take it from there.