With online site building tools like Squarespace & Wix getting popular and easier to use, small businesses are choosing to use these DIY solutions more & more. Unfortunately, it also makes the cost of a custom website seem really expensive. Don’t get me wrong. Paying $216 pear year to build & host a pretty decent website on Squarespace is a smaller pill to swallow, but it’s hurting those of us that build sites for a living & muddying the waters of what a website can do.
Services like Squarespace & WIX is a good idea for blog type sites & those needing something very cookie cutter. However, as mentioned in a previous post, once your needs exceed the confines of these DIY solutions, you find out you need a custom site. But just because you own a point-and-shoot camera, doesn’t make you a photographer. If you don’t know what you’re doing, your site will suffer.
A custom website can range from $500 – $20,000 (depending on the clients’ needs) and can take anywhere from from a few weeks to a few months. However, I’m not one to push a client into spending $10,000 on a custom website if these DIY solutions are a better fit. However, when you pay a professional or company to build your site, you’re not just paying for the site, you’re paying for their knowledge & experience.
Knowing the clients’ needs, is paramount. If you’re selling stuff, e-commerce solutions like Squarespace or Shopify is a better choice because there are a lot of things involved in an e-commerce platform (taxes, coupons, discounts, etc.).