Looking for an agency to support the design and build of a new website is a lot like shopping for a new car. When you get a new car, you first consider budget, then safety, style, color, gas mileage, will the kids all fit, and how long you hope it will last.
An agency and a website project’s decision-making process follows a similar path. You’ll consider timeline, agency experience, work examples, price, strategy, and approach. While all the consideration factors are important — the ultimate decision lever is almost always cost.
With cars, anyone can go to Autotrader and buy a used beast for a thousand bucks, and you’ll get what you paid for. Maybe it will last a year. More likely, you’ll end up paying for repairs that will cost more than the car itself. On the flip side, you can stroll into the Lamborghini dealership and drop $350k on your dream car. No repairs, no quirks, no problems. This will be a car that lasts your lifetime.
It’s a pretty similar story for digital agencies that build websites — there’s a massive range of potential costs. Your wife’s cousin can whip something up on Squarespace for a thousand bucks in one week. You won’t like it; it’ll probably break, isn’t responsive, has no valuable SEO, isn’t accessible, and doesn’t show the value of your products or services. Unfortunately, this is the route many people take — and then immediately regret.
Every marketer has bought (or made) a cheap website at least once in their lives. You have to learn the hard way. And, any one of those marketers will tell you, if you have the budget, do it right the first time. Laying a proper foundation means you’ll only have to update your site every 3-4 years, and not rebuild it completely. Buy once, cry once, and save on website development costs.
We have a saying at Major Tom (that we shamelessly lifted from the Navy Seals), “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” This means that the best way to move quickly is to take your time and do the job right. If you do it right the first time, you don’t have to fix it the second time.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are the Lamborghini agencies — the ones that will give you a dedicated team of 10 people with a hundred years of collective agency experience. The ones whose website development costs are reflective of this experience ($150k-$500k).
Again, you get what you pay for. These high-end agencies may meet several times with your senior leadership team, your consumers, and your stakeholders. They will (or at least, should) build you a custom, state-of-the-art website — one that is certain to win a plethora of awards and dazzle your customers with a truly memorable lightning-fast pixelated experience. All with the numerous benefits wrapped into the website design cost.
Of course, in reality, the vast majority of people opt for something in the middle of these two costs ($75k-$150k). You shop around a few dealerships, speaking with swanky overdressed car salespeople who shower you with confidence about the fantastic features of the BMW. It’s not a Lambo, but it’s reliable, beautiful, safe, secure, and feels amazing, especially for the first few years.
And, with regular upkeep, your WordPress website maintenance costs are extremely reasonable. Keep optimizing and shining your SEO, fix the odd aspect that becomes broken, and your website can serve you for 3-4 years into your future.
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Major Tom is a lot like the BMW dealership. We’re not the top, but we’re more than halfway there — and our website design costs make sense for where we sit. We provide enough value to cover all the bases that ensure the project gets completed on time, on budget, with a high level of quality. The strategy we take engages all of your stakeholders, incorporates industry best practices in user interface design, user experience, SEO, accessibility, and above all, resonates with your target audience.
Within the BMW dealership, of course, you have options. Depending on client needs, Major Tom can provide a range starting at simple Shopify eCommerce sites from $25k+ or custom WordPress website builds costing upwards of $75k. Working with our clients means understanding their audiences’ needs then tailoring sites to suit those needs — some of our more complex builds can reach $300k.
We understand that a BMW isn’t for everyone, and neither is our agency. If your jaw hits the floor at the idea that a website for your business will cost $75k or more, there are many other small, tactical agencies who have WordPress themes and can input content and your brand colors for $15k. These agencies are like your 2014 Toyota Rav4. And if that cost still shocks you, Upwork and Fiverr, the Auto Traders of web dev, are always there for a great bargain.
And if you do like the sound of what we have to offer? Come see if we are a fit by kicking things off with a chat. All you need to do to begin is contact us today.
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