Summary: In this episode of the Clickable Marketing podcast, I look at choosing the right designer and how to work with them, difference website CMS platforms like WordPress and choosing the right theme to make your website work for you.<br> Podcast Transcription:<br> CHOOSING WEBSITE DESIGNERS, PLATFORMS & THEMES<br> You’re listening to the Clickable Marketing Podcast, where we help fired-up small business owners turn clicks into clients. Join us to discover how you can make more money online in less time. Now here’s your host, Mr. Web Marketing, Brad Hauck.<br> Good day, and welcome to the Clickable Marketing Podcast. I’m Brad Hauck, and this is episode 3. In this episode, we’re going to have a look at finding a good web designer, choosing a platform, and choosing a theme.<br> FINDING A GOOD WEB DESIGNER – GET TO KNOW THEM WELL<br> One of the most important things about launching a small business website or just rebuilding your existing one is finding a great designer that you can work with. There’s a lot of difference between designers. Some designers are very, very good at coming up with original designs that will support what you’re trying to achieve, and others are better at copying what other people have done before. You need to find the one that suits you.<br> I’m often asked what a fair price is for a website. I’ve got to say, within Australian market, $3,000 is a fair starting price for a website. If you’re paying over $10,000 for a small business website, to be honest with you, you’re probably paying for their office, not necessarily their design skills. That’s too high unless you’re after really specific custom things, or you’re heading down the path of shopping carts. Things like that certainly make a difference to the price.<br> If you’re looking to build a website for around $1,000, chances are you’re going to get a relatively inexperienced web designer or someone who isn’t really capable of doing the high level of work that you might want to do. That might seem unfair, but that’s based on my experience.<br> More often than not, when you pay for a designer who is charging around $1,000, they really have a hard time finding enough clients to keep their business open. If you’re selling a website for a thousand dollars, it’s really plain economics. If you need to make $50,000 a year, you need to sell at least 50 websites. That’s a lot of websites to complete in one year. Most designers who understand the metrics of their business and want to provide a good quality service will charge around $3,000 or more to get the website done. If the website is being done for $1,000, more often than not, it’s being outsourced to an overseas designer, and they are just managing the project. That’s really the only way you can keep the cost down.<br> When choosing a designer, choose one that you can work with. If you’re thinking of outsourcing the designer of your website overseas, and this is your first website, in other words, you really have not been on this path before; then I’d say to you, “Don’t do it.” It is really dangerous because you don’t know all of the pitfalls that you can fall into. The other thing is that it makes it difficult down the track when you want to make changes. If this is your first website, I would suggest going with a local company that you can trust, that you can walk in their office, and you can talk to them. Once you’ve done it once or twice, then yes, go ahead and outsource. It’s a great way to get a website built, but work with someone that you can actually meet with face-to-face and get to know well.<br> When you’re choosing your website designer, make sure that you review their work. Go and look at what it is that they’ve already done. Go and talk to people who they’ve worked with. These days, everyone talks about the fact that all we know – interested in reviews, and we read all these stuff. No one ever takes the time to actually go and call someone who’s used them before.
