One of the first questions we get asked is “how much does a website cost?” and the answer we give is “well that really depends on a lot of factors!” One of the first things that I like to bring up to people when we’re building their web strategy is that money is not the only tool that you have in your budget. Your “True Budget” also includes the time and level of effort that you are willing to invest into your web presence. If you’re a little short on one of these, you can use another to make up the difference to accomplish your goals.
I like to look at it this way. Start with time, then look at the level of effort that you are willing to dedicate to learn to do things yourself. After you have a handle on those two, you can use the money in your budget to pick up the slack.
Time
This is the first thing to look at. You have to have time to be able to spend your effort on something. If you don’t have the time, it isn’t going to matter how much you really want to learn how to do things on your own. Often, people with businesses that are very busy, they may have the interest to handle their web presence themselves, but not the skillset or the time. On the other hand, if you have a business that is just starting out or is experiencing a slow time, or you have a team that is handling the day-to-day operations, you may find yourself with plenty of time to dive into the nuts and bolts of your online venture.
Level of effort
Once you have determined how much time you have, then you can take a look at what it would take to put in the effort. First you may need to learn some new skills, and then you will need to put those skills to use. You might find that this is entirely doable in your desired timeframe, and it interests you enough that you would like to spend your time on it. Or you might find that it’s not feasible at all or perhaps even that it doesn’t interest you.
Money – what most of us initially think of as “website cost”
Once you have determined the time and level of effort that you’re able to dedicate to the project, then you can offset the rest of the project with the monetary part of your budget. You can hire someone to set up your online presence, and then take it from there, hire someone to set it up and run it for you if your budget requires, or some combination of those things.
What kinds of things do you need to know to “Do It Yourself”
There are a number of things that you want to keep in mind and look into if you’re going to DIY your web presence in whole or part. Here are a few (and I will link to additional content as I get it sussed out):
Get a handle on content
Content is King. Content is your #1 most important puzzle piece, whether you have a huge corporation with an expensive, custom-built website, or are just making your own way out there on a free social media platform. If you have useful, relevant, well-written content, that’s the solid foundation that you need.
Understand what content needs to be on the site, lay it out, and write it all up ahead of time if possible.
If you’re not a good writer, brush up on your skills, or write your content and have someone with excellent writing skills edit it for you. (If you don’t have someone who can act as an editor for you, this is the kind of service that you can farm out with the monetary part of your budget. Let us know if you have a need for editing, and we will be happy to give you a quote or refer you to a specialist.)
Even if you are already a good writer, there are some basic rules that you should abide by for providing content for the web, for example, don’t talk in lingo. Make sure you speak the same way in your content that your customers do. Make sure that the most relevant term is the one that you use in your page title and your page’s headings (if applicable to the platform you’re on). There are a lot of little rules like this that go into creating good, search engine-friendly web content.
Get a clear understanding of your online presence’s purpose
Ask yourself this question: What is the most basic thing that you are trying to accomplish by having an online presence?
Then make sure that your presence helps you accomplish that goal. I could go in a million different directions with how to accomplish this, so that would be for another post, so to keep it simple here, just know what your end goal is.
Study web technologies
If you are using a free platform (social media) or your website is set up on a content management system (for example, WordPress, Drupal or Joomla) and the installation and setup is done for you, you won’t necessarily need to take a deep dive into the nitty gritty that makes it run. However, if you are DIYing any of the setup or configuration, or if you’re planning to have a more complex or outside-the-box solution, then you may have a lot of information that it would be good to learn or brush up on.
- Beginner topics: The basics of what makes a website (Almost anyone can grasp these basic topics, and I would advise you to learn about them if you have some time to spare)
- HTML
- CSS
- Photos and graphics for the web
- What is a CMS and why you should strongly consider using one
- What is Google My Business
- Intermediate Topics: Things that go a step beyond the basics, but are still very good (some would say critical) pieces of information to have knowledge of.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics
- What is eCommerce?
- What is SSL
- Accessibility basics
- What are the benefits and risks of social media
- Advanced Topics: There are things that are not necessary to know as a website owner, but will help you understand how people experience your site, what they are interacting with and how that technology works.
- What are web analytics and how can you use them?
- What is a User Interface and why is it important?
- What is Javascript and how is it used?
There are a ton of tutorials out there on just about any technology topic that you want to learn about. Some training is free, or there are sites like Lynda (now via LinkedIn) and Pluralsight that are subscription services that you can subscribe to and create a customized training plan. You can also get tutoring for yourself or your team. There are a lot of online options out there, but we can do personalized trainings for you on technology topics as well. Simply reach out to us and ask about personalized training opportunities via Zoom.
I will be adding additional resources to this page and linking off to them as time goes on; but for now, if you have questions or need help building a strategy, please reach out. Our first half-hour consultation is free and we find we can often set a pretty solid roadmap in that amount of time.
