Picture Credits : silentblast.com
If you have finally decided that you need to get a website for your company, congratulations. This is the first of many big steps that you would need to take to start on expanding your business. A website opens up so many doors because the internet is a vast space and you can do so many things when you have the option to do so.
Before we get into the logistics of how to build a successful company website, let’s indulge in the benefits of actually creating a website. This is to ensure that you understand the importance of having a company website and so that you can see how much revenue you can rake in just from the website alone.
So what are the benefits of a company website?
Benefits | Rationale |
Cost Effectiveness | When you create a website, you are very well aware about the amount of money that has gone into the building and creating of the website. Compare that to a real-time shop that has so much of things that need to be paid. It is more susceptible to higher prices and even a fire. So maybe it’s time to take your physical store into an online store? It is much safer and much more convenient, for everyone involved. |
Great Accessibility | When you have a website, your customers can come to you at any time of the day. If you have 24-hour customer service, that is even better. In addition to that, if you have a smaller business it is even easier to maintain a website so that your customers can come to you and buy stuff from the website at all times. This just opens so many doors to much more potential customers. The world does have many time zones! |
Amazing Marketing | With everyone being on the internet, having a website just allows your company to thrive and leech all the great benefits of online marketing! It improves your brand’s presence which then boosts sales as well. It is always a win-win when it comes to online marketing. |
Now let’s get to the good stuff. You were here to find out what it actually takes to build a company website. So here it is :
The Calm Before The Storm (The Planning Stages)
The first step you would decide to take is to make sure how much a website design would cost. That is the most logical step that anyone would take. Then you will decide to look around and send quote asking how much a website would cost. The longer you search, you will then realise that it is almost impossible to pinpoint and get a proper amount of money to spend on your website. The next best thing is to have a budget.
Some price quotes will be sky high that it will make you rethink the fact that you want to get a website and some quotes are too good to be true. You would like to find a stable middle ground. But how do you do this without wasting too much time searching for the best studio to get your website done? How do you budget the expenses to make sure that you are getting everything you want without being well-versed in the subject of web design? Well there is a few ways but you might need to get your hands dirty and research a lot before you find the “one”.
Picture Credits : heek.com
So how does one get a fair price and great service from the web development company? It is doable but it will take some extra work on your part. To ensure you get a fair price, you need to be very clear and concise about what you want. You would also need to somehow figure out how much money is going to be needed for this project. Because of that you would then need to educate yourself on a few things that needs to be done to make the website as great as it can be. Those things are :
- The technical components that go into designing a website.
- What are the options available to you?
- How many years of expertise are you looking for in a studio?
- What kind of website design you’re looking for?
- Your exit strategy if all else fails.
- Common website designs used by the people in your line of work.
- How to compose a request for proposal (RFP)
- The complexity of your website and what exactly you want it to do.
Common Difficulties Faced
If it was easy to create a website, everyone would be on top of their game now. However, that is not the case because there are horrible websites out there that do not fulfil the task that it was meant to do. This is because along the lines of the website’s developments, the studio and the customer might have had problems in communication and thus the website falls short.
So what are the common difficulties faced and how do you overcome them?
#1 Miscommunication
This happens a lot and don’t be afraid to be assertive. This is because, if you’re not your requests might get lost in translation and you might never get the website you’ve dreamed of. However, it is important to note that you should also listen to the designer. They have been at this for a while now and they know what’s the best way to go about creating the website you desire. Tell them the rough idea of what you want and they might just have a much better way of executing it!
#2 Budget Bust
This is also another common problem because sometime the requirements of the project may change and this will usually cost money. It might also happen when you realise that you don’t like the finished product at all so you want the studio to remake it. This is when the first problem comes into play. You need to ensure proper communication first before doing anything. Send them emails, call them, drop by at the offices and request a weekly progress report to catch anything as fast as possible!
Picture Credits : vecteezy.com
A Checklist of The Things You Need For Your Website
Finally, these are the 9 most important things you need to start a website according to the people at Website Builder Expert. This is for the most basic type of website so that you can educate yourself on the bottom line services you need to ensure you get from the studio. It never hurts to learn a bit for yourself to make sure you don’t get conned in the end.
Things You Need | ✓ |
Domain Name | |
Business Email Address | |
Website Building Software (or studio) | |
Website Hosting | |
Website Template Design | |
Logo Design | |
High-Quality Images for the Website | |
Image Editors & Content Writers | |
Google Analytics |
These are the most basic services you need to get up and running if you decide to create a company website. Make sure that when you get your quote from your designated designer, that they have all of this included (besides the image editors and content writers) in the package. These are the basics so that should definitely have those included! If you need help getting started, head over to ThunderQuote where we will connect you to these studios and they will get back to you with quote as fast as 5 working days.
ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.