How Much Website Do I Need?

Ironically the question of “How much website do I need?” often is asked after “How much does a website cost?” As my grandfather used to say, this is putting the cart in front of the horse. In order for you to get accurate bids and estimates for your website you need to know what you want or need.

A custom website can serve many purposes. Some are just the same information you would find in a sales brochure. Common pieces of information is the company philosophy, services, past work, awards, contact information, and a little history. Often these brochure type websites translate into 4-5 pages of fairly static content with a contact form allowing the website visitor to send a message to the company’s email. This type of site still allows people to conveniently find out what your company does and how they can contact you. Some simple information sites invest in really making their site standout by using stylish graphics, animations, etc. Almost all websites for businesses start as this basic type of informational site.

If you’re a business who has products that lend themselves to being sold on the internet, you might want to consider opening up your own online store, or the more expensive sounding term: e-commerce. This is an area that can get so confusing so fast it will leave your head spinning. Let me give examples. There is a complete online store package that has everything you need to run a store on the web including shipping, inventory, and many more features. This product is less than $200. It is actually made up of over 3,000 files and has a few hundred setup options. On the other extreme you may have a custom written shopping cart and online store that has a very simple management system. This simpler custom system could actually cost considerably more than the packaged solution. One concept to grasp is that sometimes getting something more simple and customized is more expensive that the one-fits-all pre-packaged solutions. The value to you will be determined by your frustration level with learning new software and the time you have to do so.

Some businesses would like to extend their newsletter or other publication to their website. If this is a feature you would like your website to have there are packaged solutions that can be integrated into your site or you can have a system custom developed with your exact requirements. Many blogging software packages can easily be adapted to most needs in this area with a little time and knowledge by the developer.

To answer the question of how much website you need, first make a list of the goals you would like to accomplish with your site, and then get the features and tools that will allow you to reach those goals.