Everything has a cost.
This, most would agree, is a fundamental truism in business. The cost might be in capital (money), time (labor, money), or in opportunity cost (the cost of choosing one course of action over another).
Paying with capital is pretty straightforward. The cost of a new printer, for example, is $XXX.XX. But, now add the cost of installing and training people to use the printer, and the cost goes up. Now, imagine you purchase an unreliable printer or one with high toner costs, instead of one that is more reliable and has lower toner costs. Now, the cost of the new printer has suddenly gone up substantially.
Now, consider the cost of making a website. If you hire a company like Kona Impact, your money costs are clear when you begin. We give you a price quote, which is your cost (as long as the project does not change after we begin). You also have some time costs preparing the content, meeting with us and providing feedback. As professionals who have worked on hundreds of websites, you can be reasonably assured that your website will be completed expediently and with high quality.
If you decide to make your own website, which many people do because they think they are saving money, your costs will mostly be your time and opportunity costs. Your time includes researching what is optimal for your business, figuring out how to do it (how to make a website), and making the website. There are many templates and online software systems you can rent (you never own them), and with some focus and patience, you can come up with a website. Add this time to your cost.
The bigger costs is the opportunities you’ll miss. The look of a website is only part of what makes a website successful. The appearance is not, however, what will help you be found online. Knowledge of content creation, search engine optimization and search engine marketing are key here. If you don’t have a good understanding of these issues and the choices that come from this understanding, you will have a huge opportunity cost–your website will not be found!
We always tell clients that, sure, we could fix our own refrigerator or dishwasher if we took the time to get a manual, read it, and acquire the tools and know-how to use them. It might take tens of hours to do this. This time might result in a fixed appliance, or it may not. The fix might be substandard. It might not. Or, we say, we could call the repair person and pay him to fix it in an hour or so. Would the cost of doing it ourselves be less? For sure, the total costs would be much more!
We always encourage business owners to look at the total costs: how much would they spend in money, time, and opportunity costs? We believe that having a professional website design company do the work will result in lower overall costs and much better long-term results. If you agree, or if you just want to explore the options, give us a call at 320-6077.
