Another way to look at the question is to ask: "How much is the lack of a good website costing us?"

Ask yourself how much you are paying to do the following marketing, communications, and customer service tasks, that could easily be integrated into an effective Website:

Food for Thought

Part 1 - Dealing with the outside world.

Are you mailing out flyers, brochures, or press releases?
Do you get calls from the press asking for information?
Do you mail them stuff, or go through the same old script over the phone?
How quickly can you respond to queries regarding a new product or service?

A dynamic website powered by a Content Management System or a password protected downloads area reduces the need for time consuming phone-calls, expensive mailing bills and constant print re-runs.

Part 2 - Inside your work place.

Does your organization spend lots of time phoning or emailing communications that could easily be maintained electronically at one location?
Are your standard documents, questionnaires, forms, and other organizational documents available at the click of a mouse?
Do you have Board members, investors, sponsors, or major clients that need easy access to secure information?
Do they need to be in the loop constantly?

A Website with a password-protected section satisfies many of these needs, reducing time spent on the phone, in conference, or mailing documents back and forth.

Integrated Work Processes

Part 3 - Marketing and Advertising.

While a website cannot replace the human factor in your advertising and marketing campaigns, it does have the potential to be a fantastic addition, an entirely new communications channel. Though some prospective new clients or customers will find you through your website, many will still be brought in using traditional advertising and marketing techniques.

The cost savings begin once that first contact is made. A potential client or customer will often require a lot of time and information before making a decision. A comprehensive website will transfer much of this load away from your marketing team or advertising agency, while giving you greater control over the message that you are giving out.

Part 4 - Spreading the News.

If you are in the business of keeping your clientele updated, the media informed, and customers up to speed, having the latest news and press releases on a website is much cheaper than mailing out the information. If your newsletter is sophisticated in appearance, you can send html styled newsletters via email, complete with links that seamlessly return the recipient to content on the site.

Part 5 - Getting the staff you deserve.

Recruiting new employees can require lengthy information exchange. A good site can help share information about your organization, the position advertised, and necessary qualifications required. A good website can even gather detailed information about applicants saving valuable time in the interval process. Maintaining job postings on-line reduces search costs. Candidates may do most of their research without taking up staff time. Finally, they may submit information confidentially using electronic forms, reducing the cost of mailing in both directions.


So - What Are the implications of a bad website...?

Once upon a time, a company with a website was regarded as being forward thinking and ahead of the game. The tide has now turned to the extent that a website is regarded by even the smallest company as a 'must have', as important as a telephone or tea-making facilities.

A website is, in fact, a basic operational requirement - just like having a phone. Even so, while some companies spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in pursuit of web perfection, others have spent the bare minimum needed to create a basic looking and functioning site to establish their web presence.

Things have continued to evolve and new issues, many of them political in nature, have started to have an influence on the way a website is shaped and developed. Standards of professionalism are rising fast. A company with a bad website is much more likely to stand out, but not in a good way!

...And - how can a bad website compromise your business?

The graphic design and layout of your website is often the first impression someone will have of your firm. A great logo, a well appointed office with a pleasant reception area, courteous and professional employees will all count for nothing if a potential client or customer visits your website first.

Out of date stories, product lines or company information will give the impression that you are disorganised and potentially unreliable. At worst it may continue to promote an image or message that you no longer wish to present.

A site with bad functionality or long load-up times can drive a visitor away in frustration. It's unlikely the visitor will come back, either to your Website or to your office. Websites that only work in certain browsers, break on any platform other than a PC (Apple Mac for example), broken links, images that are missing or don't load, forms that ask for information but don't deliver, back-buttons that won't go back, all cause people to give up and search out another source for their information.

Making promises on your website that you can't keep will cause problems and single your company out for the wrong kind of publicity. Do you offer updated product listings, email updates, or newsletters? Do you promise information, instructions, prices, or FAQ's? If you do, and people register with your site to stay in the loop, you will look bad if you don't deliver.

Well, it’s not rocket science.  Still, why risk spending your valuable time on something a web designer can do for you in a few minutes, especially if there's a likelihood you may create a problem that will take them a lot of time to correct.

There are some fairly simple tasks you might prefer to do yourself, in fact, with a website powered by a Content Management System, there are some things that are probably better done in-house, these may include:

Domain registration
This is an easy thing to do.  If your designer is charging you a lot for domain registration, smack him.  A lot of designers have a preferred service, and they may do it pretty quickly for you. The advantage to doing it yourself is that you’ll always get those helpful renewal notices.

Content development
If you have good in-house writers, or a marketing department that insists on a particular focus, you’ll probably do a lot of the content development in-house.  If there is a lot of content on the website, especially if it involves area expertise, you’ll probably want to do it yourself.  Some firms have good writers on staff, and writing for the web is a somewhat specialized skill, but if the web design company you are about to entrust your content to have poorly written and misspelt content on their own website, you certainly should not trust them with yours.

Branding, images, and graphic design
Perhaps you already have a well developed corporate identity which you have transferred directly to your website. Maybe you are creating an online brand, or even a complete new makeover for your company, remember that many things that look cool to the untrained eye will come across as amateurish to someone who isn’t already acquainted with your company. Try to maintain a consistency of 'look and feel' across your whole site and remember to always source good images. An hour spent with a web designer may be worth every penny if it gives you a greater insight into creating graphics for your site.

In conclusion.

I guess the conclusion of this discussion goes along the lines of, as there is always going to be a cost attached to setting up and maintaining your online activity, why not spend the money in the areas of most benefit to your company? Remember to set your parameters according to your company's needs. A stylish website with well distributed information can be quite cheap to set up, but you still need to augment it on a regular basis. Most importantly, any amount of money spent without some kind of Internet strategy can have far reaching consequences on the way your clients and customers perceive your business.

Keywords: value for money, budget, costing, marketing, advertising, content management, work process, domain registration, branding, graphic design,

micky pixel

Mike has worked in the advertising and design media since leaving art school and has a vast range of experience across a number of key disciplines.

He believes that given the constant shifts in technology it is essential that our advice to clients remains focussed and centred on the best possible solution for their project. "At wight365 we love to be loved! So we always go that extra yard for our clients".