$200 Websites. Really?

Let's use a little common sense.

Websites do not cost $200 to build. I recently talked with a business owner who had decided to use a web company (from somewhere far away) that was going to build his site for $200. Along with the low price, there were lots of promises of high page rank and page one results on Google searches and of course all of this was only going to cost $200 per month, forever.

Of course, first I have to acknowledge that I failed to show this business owner the value of the site I had proposed building for him. I'm going to have to learn from this and do better in the future - no doubt. I also have to admit that the site I had proposed cost considerably more than the $200 he thought he was paying for his site. Also, I have to say with some satisfaction, that the cost of my site was less than what he will pay for his new site in a year and I know that my site would have totally outperformed his new site by the end of that year. I've seen his new site, though it did take a lot of searching, and it's generic.

This is the problem with these kinds of website generating companies that offer "so much" for "so little". They take a one-size fits all, or "beat it to fit, paint it to match" type of approach to site building that completely removes the personality that the site could have had. This particular business owner has tons of personality, but you'd never know if from his new site. So why would a potential customer choose him over someone else? Personality is a key differentiator, especially when you consider that many times, all else is pretty equal.

Lots of elements go into building a website that will work for you and I'm going to outline many of those over the coming weeks. By the way, when I say the site "works for you", I'm referring to it's ability to bring in new customers/clients or make the phone ring. Isn't that what a business website should do? Stay tuned, my goal is to educate, so that you can make better decisions.

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