The website equation: balancing cost, quality, and functionality
By Nikki Dunbar, founder of Nix Collective.
Your website is the cornerstone of your business’s online presence and a vital part of your marketing strategy. Driving traffic to a site that feels outdated or clunky can be a major waste of time, money, and effort. Performance is key and it’s essential that it’s user-friendly, fast, and informative in order to engage and convert your audience.
Websites tend to have a relatively short shelf life of approximately 2-3 years – what looks good and functions well today can quickly become outdated. However, creating a new website doesn’t need to break the bank. For most small to medium-sized businesses, a reasonable budget will do just fine. Investing tens of thousands of pounds is generally unnecessary unless you have specific and complex requirements.
The focus should be on four key areas – design, functionality, SEO, and performance.
A great website isn’t just about how it looks, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. While that’s important to make a great first impression, it also needs to feature a clear, intuitive layout to help users find information quickly and one that encourages them to take an action, whether it’s reaching out for a chat, downloading more information, or filling out a contact form. Plus, it’s important to prioritise SEO optimisation, both from a content and technical perspective, to ensure your website ranks well on search engines.
If you have outsourced your website build, or plan to do so, then ownership is key. Make sure you’re in control of your domain and hosting to avoid any future complications – while things like server settings or troubleshooting may be handled elsewhere, it’s always good to know where everything is located and have access to it.
Always check on the Content Management System (CMS) and make sure that it’s being built in one that can be used by another agency, as well as non-techy people. Making simple updates should be able to be handled in-house where necessary. While a fancy custom solution might seem cool, it can tie you down to one agency or developer and end up costing you much more in the long run.
If you’re handling maintenance in-house, make sure that your team has the necessary skills to manage the website effectively. Be mindful of ever changing SEO trends, whether that’s keywords or content requirements, as well as technical aspects and the big ‘no-nos’ that can slow down your site, such as uploading large photos or videos.
Outsourcing on the other hand allows your website to be taken care of by a team who keep up with the latest trends, updates, and keyword strategies, and can make timely updates and amendments, keeping your website current and competitive.
Finally, it’s important not to squander resources on a site that feels outdated or cumbersome. That’s essentially just a sticking plaster and won’t benefit your or your business in the long run. Invest in a user-friendly and high performing website with the right developer or agency to be certain that it serves as the centre point of your online presence, for the duration of its lifespan. Not only giving you ROI, but allowing you to make the most out of your other marketing activity and resources too.