Why Double or Triple the Cost of Your Redesign?
Let’s think strategically about why you are redesigning your website. Is it because you want to present a more modern, attractive ‘face’ to the world? Is it because you want to make more sales? If your answer is “both”, let’s take a step back.
The website owner, whose highest priority is to turn his website into a lead-producing, selling machine, is a very different persona than the website owner who wants a more attractive website, that will also make more sales. (This discussion covers E-commerce as well as lead generation websites. E-commerce websites just cost a little more).
If what you are seeking is a nice looking, Web 2.0 website, which, because it is more attractive, will produce more sales, you will find this to be a readily available commodity, which you can get at competitive prices.
If what you want is a ‘Lean, Mean Selling Machine’, you have an entirely different problem, and therefore, an entirely different priority, and solution.
Why Is This The Case?
By now, there are very few website designers who can’t “talk the talk” about “user-friendly”, “intuitive”, “easy to navigate” websites that will make more sales. The website designers who can “walk the walk” and deliver on this promise, are few and far between.
The reason for this is pretty straight-forward. Optimizing a website for conversion and usability is a labor intensive process. It requires specialization, experience and education. The cost of adding this expertise to the design process, would immediately make the cost of a typical redesign, non-competitive.
This is the reason so many new, expensive, attractive websites do not produce leads and sales, and need a “Do-Over”. The new website has been delivered dead on arrival, or at least on life support.
The website owner whose highest priority is sales, is willing to redesign his/her website, if that is what it takes. This is a very different priority, and a very different mindset, than wanting to present a new face to the world, and make some more sales.
What Does It Cost?
Fully integrating Conversion Optimization and Usability best practices into a redesign, can easily double the cost of a $2000 to $3000 website redesign. Integrating first class sales/marketing copywriting can triple it. When successful, these costs are quickly recovered, many times over. Making this an integral part of a web designer’s average job, however, is a non-starter.
If a website designer has not gone to the time, trouble and expense of investing in a fully integrated Conversion Optimization process, or made a strategic partnership with a Conversion Optimization firm, it will be ‘business as usual’. Talking the talk, but not walking the walk.
This is incredibly logical. The website designer has a process. He gets the order, gets approval, delivers the design and gets paid. If the website doesn’t produce, it is really not his problem. Now the website owner is left, looking for a solution.
Part of the problem is, in addition to the expense of going back in, and making conversion and usability changes, a significant amount of time is lost, while all this is being done, and sales are not happening. In other words, money left on the table.
What Is The Solution?
Conversion Optimization companies are not at war with website designers, nor should they be. They are, or should be, incredibly logical partners. They could have a slogan, “Websites That Convert”.
The website owner, whose priority is sales, can and should, bring these talents together. This is a process that very large companies have been using for years. It is only recently, that it has become available to smaller businesses.
If you don’t have the time to put this together, or don’t know how, talk to us. We will make it happen.
