The Best Website Designer For Cheap

I see posts on Facebook all the time for recommendations on best website builder in Central Coast for cheap and it always irks me somewhat for a couple of reasons, the word cheap or just the implication of cheap, and the swash of poor comments that tend to follow.

Firstly. there's a few essentials that come with virtually any website:

1. Easy to use
   
2. Responsive, works on mobile
   
3. Found on Google.
   

Cheap is of course subjective to the party involved. I recently had a friend who bought a new BMW for cheap, whilst I struggled to see the value in just how much they paid.

Often though, as the old adage says “you get what you pay for”, and in a world where you can get cheap cars, insurance, meals, or even a cheap date, it has never been more true. The problem of course, in this throw away society of ours, does cheap get the job done in a time efficient manner?

Or is being cheap upfront actually costing you more customers and time?

Why people will spend all amounts of money on stationary, one off adverts, fancy sign writing on the car and then skimp on their primary ongoing marketing tool, the website, is beyond me. With more businesses being found online now than anywhere else, it really should be the primary focus, especially if it's your primary income, or you would like it to be.

That being said, you can definitely be cost effective when building a site, and spending more doesn't always guarantee a solid result.

Anyone that guarantees your website on page 1 of Google is full of 💩
Quite simply, what they are guaranteeing is that by typing in your exact business name, usually also your domain name, that it will appear as the first result. To be honest, this can be achieved with virtually anything, it's not a huge achievement and it's certainly not helping you grow your business the way you think.

What you undoubtedly want is people to find you in search when they are typing in something related to your business and area as they may not have discovered yet just how wonderful your business is or know the name of it.

The best and most cost effective way to achieve this is through continual updates of the content on your website.

Content is king, that is one thing that only becomes more and more true as Google refines it's search algorithms. Would you rather spend your time adding valuable content or just propping it up. Usually this means effective blogging or articles, the problem now though is everyone knows this, it's not a secret. Google's solution is to prioritise the page that loads the fastest. A fast loading website comes down to efficient use of code and the speed of the server your site is hosted on, not how fast your new NBN broadband connection is.

Back to the Facebook recommendations though, let's break down the most common Facebook comments and options and how they fit what's best for you:

There's of course the free website builders like Wix, which is a simple to use but comes with the drawbacks that free sites have like ads, no domain name or other limitations that just make you look unprofessional. You can of course pay to upgrade on a monthly basis but now you have a basic site that you're paying for on a monthly basis that still doesn't offer any effective speed enhancements. Let alone the ability to claim the GST portion.

Then there's the recommendations for Timmy, Johnny or Jenny who built someone else's site that you've never heard of for cheap. Usually someone young that has done some basic web design course while they're at school, charges $900 but isn't really interested in the subject beyond initial payment and heaven forbid you have updates to do in the future. You still of course have your hosting to pay for which is typically the cheapest slowest option. Again, is cheap really where you want your business to be seen?

3rd option we tend to see is of course some random website guy that's been building sites for years, has a respectable number of clients in his portfolio. This is a good start for your choice, but is it the best choice? Chances are he uses WordPress to build the site, as do over 30% percentage of websites on the internet, which is fine and familiar, but inherently slow and usually a common target for hackers. It also needs to be updated regularly along with the squadron of plugins the site may have which all increases the odds of your site breaking. You still have to pay for hosting with this option also, again typically the cheapest option available which will also be the slowest.

Whilst this option is the best of all 3, it's still going to cost you more in the long run.

That's like expecting your first rusty old bomb car to turn into a lamborghini just because you've had your licence a few years. It's just not how it works, and in today's environment with small business, it's your website that will very much be a major determining factor of how successful your business turns out. If your customers can't find you, they won't buy from you, it's as simple as that.

There is, and it's a best of both worlds situation, ticking all the necessary boxes plus a few more.

• Easy to use
  
• Super fast loading that Google loves
  
• Effective SEO
  
• Completely secure
  
• Cost effective
  

So why isn't it as popular as the others?

Firstly, the technologies involved are fairly new. Especially the Progressive Web App inclusion, which I explain in more detail here.
Secondly, I am just one guy providing for his family. There is no giant marketing expenditure, no offshore processing team and no overextending my work load to the point my clients aren't serviced to full capacity.

My goal at Irez is to always be able to provide the full amount of service and information my clients need to run a successful business without you having to waste time and energy on the tech side of things.

See my pricing planson just how cost effective a new website can be for you, spend time on the business, not on your website

If having a website that actually works for you in building your business is important to you then let me know in the comments or form below.