What type of website is right for your business

Many businesses struggle with finding the right type of website for their company. What features are needed to effectively engage your customers? Do you need to incorporate social networking? Do you need to have a E-commerce storefront built to sell your product online? There are thousands of features and functions that can be added to your website, but which ones are right for your business.

Since there are so many variations of websites that it is hard to list “types” of websites that are built. I will list the sites that I most commonly work on in the hopes to offer a little perspective on some common types of websites, and the pros and cons of each.

The business card or brochure website:

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These websites are basic and informational in nature. Their purpose is to convey simple information about a businesses products or services. Most often these sites range from 1-5 pages and cost between $200 and $600. The Pros of this type of website is that for businesses that are just starting up, this process is low cost, allows the business to present information, and offers a means for potential customers and clients to contact the businesses. The Cons are that there isn’t much interactivity or functionality. These sites are usually built with  static .html pages and often require someone with website development knowledge to update and/or make changes to.

E-Commerce Website:

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An E-commerce site is a fully functional online store that allows you to sell your products and services.  This type of website starts around the $2000-$2500 and up to $10,000 depending on the scope of the project. Before I get into the pros and cons, there is a little industry background that is important to consider. So many businesses are starting to realize that there is a lot of money to be made online, and they want to expand their business to the internet. The U.S. Census Bureau (department of Commerce) reports E-Commerce trends, and one can see that it is quite evident that online commerce is consistently growing, and isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Chart Source: US Department of Commerce

Why is this important? Well because it is aims to inform a business decision that needs to be considered when planning to build a website. An E-commerce website can take your business and the products/services you sell and make them available worldwide. The Pros are that a  well-built E-commerce system can not only allow you to sell products and generate revenue online, they can also assist in procedural efficiencies as well. Such as Inventory management, tax calculation, shipping calculation, and also allow you gather important information about your customers to more effectively market to them, and keep them updated on important product releases or specials. You can also sell digital products like music (.mp3′s), digital books, and photography. The Cons to an E-Commerce storefront is that they are a pretty robust system, meaning that there is usually training that needs to be done to learn how to properly manage the store. Sometimes the learning curve can be steep (like learning a new computer program), but isn’t that big of an obstacle for a business serious about growing their business online. One other aspect of this type of site that often raises concern for a business, is the cost associated with it. While the costs of an E-Commerce store are considerably larger than most, it is a decision that needs to be weighed with goals for future expansion and viability of the business.

The Blog:

Blogs are a great customer  relations tool for businesses, and also make for great online journals for personal use. There are hundreds of places you can start up a blog for free. Services like AreaVoices.com, WordPress.org, Blogger.com, and more. The other option is to create your blog from scratch and pay for your own hosting. The Pros to a free solution are obvious, (It’s Free), and the sign-up and commitment level is relatively low if not 100% certain you’ll follow through. The Cons are that you don’t have as much flexibility in what you can do with your blog. Hosting is usually only $5-6/ month and can offer you many more possibilities for future expansion should your blog become successful.

Custom  Designed Website with Content Management System:

Last but most certainly not least, is a website custom designed site with specific needs in mind. This type of website is for businesses that have a certain niche set of needs for their website and are usually heavy on content. Many sites like this include custom configurations to display media (Video, Audio, Photos, etc)  and text content (Articles, Tutorials, etc). These sites can range anywhere from the $1000-$10,000 range. The reason the gap between the high and low is so large, is that there are too many possibilities with web design and development these days. There are numerous open-source content management systems that can help keep your overhead costs low. The best way to figure out a price for a custom site is to request a quote. I’ll give you a no hassle or follow-up quote by clicking here.

In Closing, the best way to find out what website is right for your business is to sit down and set some goals for you and your business. Then find a good web developer to sit down with and discuss your options. The web presence you build is essentially an online division of your company, so make sure you create an effective strategy, and then make the tools (the website) fit the job.