New business needs site

[ecross4]

I'm just starting out in the business and I need to get a site up fairly quick. I'm looking at Go Daddy's website builder program where you get a free domain name included. I can do this for a year just to get my name out there, then when the business (hopefully) changes I can makes changes with hosting, site development, features etc.. Any advice on this service or others like it?

Thank you in advance for your help. Eric

[tonygreek]

Originally Posted by ecross4

I'm just starting out in the business and I need to get a site up fairly quick. I'm looking at Go Daddy's website builder program where you get a free domain name included. I can do this for a year just to get my name out there, then when the business (hopefully) changes I can makes changes with hosting, site development, features etc.. Any advice on this service or others like it?

Thank you in advance for your help. Eric

Eric, could you elaborate on what you mean by "I can do this for a year just to get my name out there"? Do you mean via getting found in the search engines, or do you mean in the general sense of your local community, and then have the web site as a piece that they can go visit based on your reference to it?

[ecross4]

Originally Posted by tonygreek

Eric, could you elaborate on what you mean by "I can do this for a year just to get my name out there"? Do you mean via getting found in the search engines, or do you mean in the general sense of your local community, and then have the web site as a piece that they can go visit based on your reference to it?

Yes, I mean getting my local community a place to land to find out about the company and what we have offer. I say 'do this for a year' in terms of the most affordable method possible, then once the company is profitable I can improve, the site with features (bill pay, testimonials, photo gallery etc.) I will also need some SEO as well. Trouble is I have no idea on how to do this without spending a ton of money. A buddy of mine has his site built by someone or $1,200, this seems crazy to me but again I don't know if that's high or not.

[tonygreek]

Originally Posted by ecross4

Yes, I mean getting my local community a place to land to find out about the company and what we have offer. I say 'do this for a year' in terms of the most affordable method possible, then once the company is profitable I can improve, the site with features (bill pay, testimonials, photo gallery etc.) I will also need some SEO as well. Trouble is I have no idea on how to do this without spending a ton of money. A buddy of mine has his site built by someone or $1,200, this seems crazy to me but again I don't know if that's high or not.

Gotcha. The reason I asked is that, while I find GoDaddy's sites to be pretty bad, and their extraneous add-on services and fees to be more than shady, with site builders it really comes down to the customization and execution that will better allow you to be found on the search engines. If you hit Google's Webmaster tools, beginner's guide, and their Webmaster Academy, you can get some insight into how to take the correct path. Also, take a look at seoMoz's intro to SEO guide.

In terms of site cost, $1,200 is by no means "crazy". Simple ROI math will illustrate this. If your site can land you one 8 month, $35/week mowing client, you've already paid for 93% of the initial, one-time marketing costs. If you add two clients, well, you're ahead. And then you factor in the long-term, continued payback and brand awareness that adds clients without adding marketing dollars, further raising the ROI of the initial investment while significantly lowering future customer lead and acquisition costs.

edit: I'd also recommend spending time going back through this sub-forum's archives as we cover quite a bit of material with each site put up for review.

[greg8872]

Originally Posted by ecross4

A buddy of mine has his site built by someone or $1,200, this seems crazy to me but again I don't know if that's high or not.

The $1,200 could be a rip off or it could be a good deal. It would me like me saying "I pay someone $50/week to maintain my lawn" Without knowing what you got for the money hard to advise. There are a ton of factors that can go into a site's price, it is rarely apples vs apples comparisons.

I'll admit, when it comes to pricing, I mainly do backed programming for money, however did work for a "high priced" web development company for several years. I worked on sites that well, coming up with a graphical design for the site alone would be more than double the $1,200 (these are 100% fully original designs by kicka** designers). Just about all sites we worked on that were a complete new design, you could buy a cheap car for the cost (the most expensive site, you could have bought a cheap house).

The big thing is you need to go into it knowing what are you wanting the site to provide you (what should people get out of your site; a simple "brochure", engaging potential new clients, interactivity with people, bill pay, etc). It is important that both you and your developer are on the same page when it comes to this before contracts are signed.

-Greg