When businesses are looking for a new website, they’ll of course source quotes from multiple website developers. In Brisbane, and right across the country, there are countless web development companies who offer standardised website packages. But these packages can be difficult to compare, and often the way the information is presented is vastly different, so businesses will fall back on looking mainly at the costs.
Normally a website developer will offer a few tiers of packages, too, so even selecting the right package once you’ve decided on the company can be hard.
On top of that, the language used by each developer will often vary. While one company might refer to a feature as “SEO tools”, another might say “Manage your Google presence” or “Search engine configuration options”. For the layperson, this just adds an extra layer of complexity to the decision over which website developer to choose.
Is price the best way to compare website developers in Brisbane?
So at this point, the business has to consider:
- The developer’s folio of work, industries served, and clients
- Other project factors such as timeframes, or payment options available from the developer
- The website package that best suits their needs, including all of the features and benefits, across potentially 10 or 12 website packages
- The total and ongoing costs
While it’s fairly easily to work through the first couple of items above, if you can’t make sense of the website packages then ultimately the buck stops at the price.
Price is definitely a serious consideration for most business owners and it is understandable that comparing prices seems to simplify the decision. The problem is that the cheapest website developer in Brisbane isn’t always the best option (in fact, that’s very rarely the case), so it’s important that you have a solid understanding of what you are comparing, so you can make an informed decision.
While keeping one eye on the costs, gut instinct is often used by many business owners to select the best person for the job, based on whether they feel comfortable with them, which can be important too. There is nothing wrong with using your gut instinct and being aware of prices, but to make the best decision for your business, you need to compare the different packages offered by each website developer. In Brisbane there are literally thousands of developers who could be the right fit.
So how do you compare the options?
Don’t get caught up looking at the features presented. Think about the benefits to your business. For example, do you actually care if the website package includes “speed optimisations”, or are you more interested in hearing that the website will load faster for your visitors, increasing your conversion rates?
Websites aren’t just something to tick off your To Do list. They should offer a return on your investment, so it’s important to find out more from each developer about any relevant case studies they can show you, and the expected results from the new website. While no one has a crystal ball, if the developer has done their homework they’ll usually be able to give you some guidelines around that. You want to be confident that the website will actually improve your business in some way.
If you have trouble comparing the packages from different website developers, in Brisbane or anywhere else for that matter, it’s not unreasonable to ask a developer to compare their packages with a competitor of your choice. Apart from helping you to make clear comparisons between two or more developers, asking a developer to make these comparisons for you will give you some idea of their character, which will feed back into your gut feeling about them.
In the end, there are many factors here. Focusing only on costs might be the easy solution, but it’s likely not the best solution.
