So we’ve all heard this one before haven’t we? Thing is, it has more than a bit of truth to it and the old maxim that you get what you pay for is as relevant for us, in the digital creation business, as it is in, say, the motor industry.
I’m going to take you back to a tale of woe, a journey along a path of high expectation and low, no, disastrous results. Where our heroes were trapped by a combination of “media ocrity” (see what I did there?) and failure to achieve what they wanted to. Sadly there is no shining redemption at the end, where everyone lives happily ever after, there’s just the realisation that like pretty well everything else in this world, the lowest price doesn’t necessarily mean the best deal.
Time and again we hear on the news of organisations, including Government departments, who’ve spent vast amounts of money fixing a computer based system, that promised so much, then delivered so little. Indeed in a lot of instances, the system can’t even carry out the core tasks it was requested to be able to do in the first place and the root of the problem, 90% of the time, isn’t with the developers or coding team per se, it is, more often than not, wait for it; with the price that was agreed for the work to be done.
Cast your minds back to the Jurassic era, thats the Jurassic Park era. Where Denis Nedry, systems builder for the park and arch bad guy, who ends up as dinner for a spitty, unfriendly, dinosaur; complains to John Hammond that he can’t do all the stuff he’s expected to, on the money he’s being paid. The debate goes like this:
John: I will not get drawn into another financial debate with you, Dennis. I really will not!
Dennis: There’d be hardly any debate at all.
John: I don’t blame people for their mistakes. But I do ask that they pay for them.
We all know what happens after that. Lots of running, lots of screaming and a particularly satisfying munching on a lawyer. But the lesson from all this is clear. Hammond has looked for the cheapest guy he can find to do the job of building the security systems for the park. Nedry has pitched so low, to get the job, he can’t actually do it, so resorts to skullduggery in order to sort out his finances and as a result, neither party achieves anything. Hammond loses the park and a lot of good people (I’m not including the lawyer here). Nedry loses his life.
Now obviously I’m not trying to suggest for one moment that if you go for the lowest bidder, you’ll be eaten by dinosaurs, however;
choosing the lowest bidder, particularly when we’re talking about showcasing your business, your products and your services can often prove to be false economy.
A website is a crucial part of the relationship you start with new customers. Customers will instinctively search for you on Google and visit your site, way before they decide to call, or order something and thats your one chance to impress. You need to be confident that interacting with your business’s digital shop window is going to be easy, productive and stress free for anyone visiting it.
You’ll need something eye-catching and uniquely your brand. So you need to think about how you’d like to make it stand apart from your nearest competitors’ and not look the same as a hundred other websites.
You will of course need to ensure that your website is optimised correctly, so that your website ranks well on all major search engines. That way you reach more customers.
You need to think about how all pages will look on mobile and tablet devices, because many potential customers won’t be in front of a computer, they’ll be on their phone or tablet. Which means mobile optimisation, so they’re not squinting at a tiny, unreadable version of your main site and that your website will automatically adjust its layout and style for size and screen resolution, so your customers enjoy the best experience on any device.
As the client, you need to have total control over the content on your site. That means being able to easily manage all aspects of your site without having any technical knowledge whatsoever. We make this as easy as possible for you.
Social media integration with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, together with Google Analytics; enabling data capture, in order to track ROI and target advertisements and special offers to returning customers.
You want your website to work the way you want it to, its your business’s virtual shop. So do you want it to look like a Bang & Olufson or Apple store, or a table at a car boot sale? You need to think about how its going to grow and change with the business and whether you are able to change its content, or add new functions.
Now if this all sounds a bit expensive, its because an awful lot goes into creating the kind of bespoke website that we at Eighty8 love to make for our clients, but that doesn’t mean we charge Bang and Olufson prices. We don’t. It means we don’t cut corners, use templates or give you something you can’t play with. We’re with you every step of the way; from concept to delivery, and beyond.
Now there are plenty of Denis Nedrys out there that will undercut every other bid you get, but ask yourself. Do I want to spend a little bit more now and make sure I get things right; or do I want the cheapest guy now and end up spending a fortune later trying to get the raptors back in the box?
Come and have a chat, seriously, we don’t bite.
Originally published at www.eighty8design.co.uk on June 9, 2016.
