Trying to save cash with a cheap web design can end up costing
businesses big time: in lost time, lost customers, and wasted
investment. It's better to hire a committed web developer up front
than paying for stack of quick fixes down the road.
A little too familiar
One of the reasons cheap web design has such low overhead is
that the sites are often template-based. While templates have their
time and place, excessive use produces a slew of
cookie-cutter sites. Just as you want your business to stand out as
unique, your site should be stand out
as well. Template-based designs blend in with the masses
instead.
Cutting edge graphics... from 1987
Along with looking eerily similar to several other sites, the
templates used to build a cheap site look exactly that: cheap.
Thrown-together. Dated. Even the least Internet-savvy visitor is
sensitive enough to aesthetics to know whether they're looking at
something modern and/or attractive. A good
site should incorporate sufficient amounts of "modern" and
"attractive," plus a little extra. Discount designs rarely
boast either.
"This page is taking forever to load."
Another quick and easy way to slap up a site is to build it
entirely around Flash, so a bargain site will likely be
Flash-based. Flash, like templates, is not a bad thing in
moderation, but using it as a site's foundation is a terrible idea.
Pages take many times longer to load, an updated plug-in is
required for viewing, and sometimes the content is irritating (like
an intro that can't be skipped). It's also not accessible from most
mobile devices.
Search Engine Rankings
Customers being able to find your site when they're looking for
it is a pretty key element of having a website at all.
Unfortunately, cheap web design rarely features in significant
levels of search results. This can be due to multiple reasons, like
coding mistakes or scripting errors, or because the designer didn't
know how to optimize for SEO in the first place. Also, Flash-based
sites usually tend to rank lower.
An ongoing relationship
The Internet isn't a static marketing device like a print ad in
the yellow pages. Customers expect positive interaction at a
similar level to what they'd experience from your organization in
person. Your site will need regular updating as your information or
products change, and to keep content fresh and interesting. To this
end, you'll need to stay in contact with your web developer. It's
smart to choose someone reliable and innovative up front; you're
looking for a relationship here, not a one-night stand. A good
developer will also be able to keep your site in style alignment
with the rest of your business far more than designers with limited
skills, armed only with generic templates and excessive
Flash.
First impressions don't come around that
often
What's your business worth to you? Is it worth it to save a few
bucks in the immediate, knowing a chintzy-looking site could turn
off untold numbers of potential customers for the unforetold
future? If the site takes too long to load, visitors won't want to
waste their time waiting, and certainly won't return in the future.
If graphics or layout look outdated, they'll assume your company is
too. If the content is misspelled and lacking in professionalism...
well, you get the idea. In the end, cutting corners with a cheap
web design is far more likely to hurt your business than help
it.
Did you have an experience with a cheap web design project? You
can talk to us about it!