Why Cheap Websites Can Become Expensive
There's nothing wrong with having a limited website budget.
Small businesses have to prioritize expenses, and sometimes a simple inexpensive website is exactly the right decision.
The problem isn't necessarily a cheap website.
It's a website with hidden costs.
Do You Actually Own It?
This is one of the first things I'd want to know.
If you stop paying the company that built your website:
- Do you keep the domain?
- Can you move the site?
- Can you download the content?
- Do you control the hosting account?
- Do you have administrative access?
A surprisingly inexpensive website can become extremely expensive if rebuilding it is the only way to leave the provider.
How Difficult Is It to Change?
Suppose you need to change a phone number.
That shouldn't require a developer to spend three hours modifying seventeen files manually.
Good development isn't only about what visitors see.
Maintainability matters.
Was SEO Considered?
A beautiful five-page website may provide little search visibility if nobody considered page titles, headings, service-specific content, internal linking, structured data, performance, and local relevance.
SEO shouldn't be something sprinkled over a finished website like seasoning.
Basic search visibility should influence how the website is organized from the beginning.
What Happens When It Breaks?
Cheap solutions sometimes rely on complicated stacks of plugins, themes, builders, and third-party services.
When everything works, great.
When one piece changes, the resulting troubleshooting can cost more than building something simpler in the first place.
Spend Money Where It Matters
Not every company needs a $20,000 website.
Most don't.
But businesses should know what they're buying.
A simple, fast, maintainable $1,000 website can be considerably better than a bloated $5,000 website—and considerably better than a $300 website that has to be completely replaced six months later.
Value and price aren't the same thing.