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One of my answers on LinkedIn received “Best Answer” designation – Thanks so much! Here is a synopsis of the Q&A or direct access to the LinkedIn Page

How much do companies spend on web development?

I’m working on a business plan for a web design company and I’m wondering how much companies spend on web design/development in order to determine market size and my potential market share. I’m based in Canada but data about the United States might help as well. Basically anything will do

Thanks.

It depends on the company, the industry, and the goal of the organization’s marketing strategy.

Outside of outsourcing to India, a website design concept will run between $2,000 – 10,000. Small business website designs can be done for $2,000-$3,000 dollars.

Programming
The programming of a small site can be done for an additional $1,000 -$2,000 with no database.

Robust websites that utilize databases in a complex manner can really increase the price of a site. I have worked on and managed redesigns for 10 years. One of the sites cost $3,000 for the design, but then took an additional $50,000 for programming and database integration because the site was very complex with multiple content contributors, research areas, thousands of publications, policy areas + a customized content management system that included a scalable e-commerce application.

Normally I will charge between $4,000-$8,000 for sites under 20 pages. Professional design costs money and clients should be educated that you can’t get a professional site for $500 built by 1and1 site builder or Yahoo site builder. Those applications are not built to create professional websites and the code that is produced by them is atrocious.

I also did work for a company that used a design firm that charged $12,000 for the design concept and an additional $8,000 to create a few page templates. My job was to post all the content (about 200 pages). Total cost was likely $30,000 after it was all said and done.

The trick is to charge enough to make a profit and for the company to be able to afford good marketing strategies after the site is complete.

The other recommendation is to ensure that your website design company has good printed brochures and other materials. Few website design companies include this in their marketing strategy – but it will set you apart from all the other companies, guaranteed.

The Oatmeal has a great cartoon /slash graphic of the process in which a web site goes from horrible to professional and back to horrible.

It reminds me of the definition of a Camel. Camel (n) A horse that was built by a committee.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

You are searching for a chiropractor to help you with your sudden back pain after a long winter of shoveling snow, you search for “Chiropractor” and the top 10 results are filled with links to directories, articles, and Wikipedia pages. Maybe the business maps provide some guidance, but most of the results do not lead you to actual chiropractors.

Suddenly it dawns on you to be more specific. Ok, how about chiropractors in the city in which you live. So, we’ll try “Chiropractor in Chicago, IL” Much better! However, your back is really hurting and you don’t have the ability to drive across town, so you want to find one within a mile or two of your home – you type in “Chiropractor Chicago 60625.” The results are fantastic.

Search users have learned to become very specific when searching. Perhaps searchers are not utilizing Google to its full potential, but it becomes very obvious to include the city and state if their initial results are not satisfactory. A first-time search may result in articles, other directories or chiropractors in another state. So a secondary search is almost guaranteed to include geo-specific keywords.

Adding your geo-location (address, city and state) to your search engine optimization strategy is a good start. Here are 6 ways to begin the process:

1. Add your address to the footer of each web page
2. In your contact form, include the full address and perhaps a map (not just a form or email address)
3. Include your location in the content of your pages (e.g. We are a chiropractor serving Chicago, Illinois OR We have been serving Chicago, IL for 20 years)
4. Always include AT LEAST your city and state in the Title, Description and Keywords, perhaps even the entire address, zip code and telephone number
5. Choose a domain name with the location and keyword already included (e.g. www.chicago-chiropractor.com, www.chicago-chiropractic-services.com)
6. For a business with multiple locations, create a detailed page for each location or use a dynamic page with the address data in a database

Receiving first page rankings on Google does not have to be limited to your appearance with just general keywords, but rather, keywords PLUS your city and state. I have often included burrows or neighborhood names as well – what if someone searches for “Chiropractor Lincoln Park Chicago” and you’re the only one that had the foresight to add that keyword to your metatags, content and contacts page? Your website will appear on the first page of Google.

The more specific you are with your location, the greater likelihood of appearing on Google’s first page and increasing your business leads.

Hope this helps.

Lou Storiale

I have noticed that there are only a few small businesses in each market that thrive on the internet, the others are playing catch-up. Here is my observation of those that have thrived. I have researched numerous small businesses and competitor websites for my clients over the past 9 years. Here is a brief synopsis of what works.

Website
Those that thrive take their website seriously. They use it as a marketing tool and focus on the information that POTENTIAL customers need to make the decision to use their business as opposed to the competition’s.

1. Design – They spent money to have a professional looking website, creativity is higher in the graphics and the designs are clean and neat with ample white-space. The images enhance their site, they do not get in the way and the text is readable. Few have black backgrounds, which makes it difficult to read the text. They serve a purpose – convince people to call or visit their location.

2. Content – The content is useful for a current or potential customer. That is, the pages are filled with useful information. Product and service information, successes and credibility exist on every page. Location information, telephone number, email addresses and the names of the people that work there are present. The content provides everything necessary to influence a visitor to use their service. The content is there to communicate that they are the best company to use, to influence the visitor and convert them to a customer.

3. Usability – The site is easy to use, easy to navigate, easy to find the information. Navigation menus work, search works, no broken links and no missing images. This takes time and attention. The user is the priority. The potential customer is the purpose.

Marketing
Having a website does not get you a hill of beans. Marketing that website online is crucial to website visits and converting visitors to customers. There are several ways to market your site online. Successful small businesses utilize the following tactics:

1. Search Engine Optimization – You do not make it on the first two pages of Google by having a poor marketing strategy. Good placement is never an accident. Search Engine Optimization is a growing service for website and marketing companies. Search users do not usually review results past the first three pages on Google, Yahoo or Bing. Optimizing a website to appear on Google’s first page has become a priority.

Strategic metatags are an important part of search engine optimization. Also, adding keywords to the page content, keywords as page and folder names, text-dominant menus using cascading style-sheets, submitting your site to Google and submitting custom 404 error pages, robot.txt files and an XML sitemap. Submitting to Google means going through their optimization process by visiting www.google.com/webmasters. There are hundreds of site optimization techniques. Use them all to improve your site.

2. Inbound Links – Successful businesses have other websites link to theirs. This can be done proactively or because the site has been up and running longer than their competitor’s. Either way, gaining inbound links is one of the requirements of high search results. To match a successful competitor’s dominance on Google do what they do:

• Partnerships – Form partnerships with related businesses and link to one another (e.g. An auto repair shop partners with a local window tinting company)
• Bartering – offer your services in exchange for a back link to your site (A window tinting company does one free window tinting job for auto dealers in the area)
• Personal Sites – Find and communicate with the webmaster of personal sites that have lists to similar businesses and request a link exchange (Many people have websites, not just businesses)

3. Pay Per Click – Utilize the power of money. Pay-per-click advertising takes money, but provides results. If your business can not get first page results on Google, a successful pay-per-click campaign will put you on the first page in a matter of an hour. Successful small businesses allow potential customers to find them organically AND via paid ads. Most pay-per-click advertisements can be gotten for $1-$3 per click. Successful small businesses create and track their ads and determine the return on investment. Most companies know exactly how much money it takes to bring in a new customer. PPC campaigns should be monitored and adjusted weekly.

Directories
There are hundreds of free and subscription-based directories for every type of business. Successful companies list their business profile, minimally, on the most popular directories like Yelp, City Search, and Metro Mix. There are many others, as well.

When conducting marketing research for a client, I noticed an unrelated business profile showing on Google’s first page AND first result. It was not the company’s website, it was their profile page on YELP. This profile listed over 65 customer comments – all positive and seemingly authentic. They told their stories and all were impressive. I bookmarked the site just in case I would ever need their services.

There are two lessons in this story:

1. Google will place a directory profile on the first page if it has gained a lot of user-feedback

2. Directories will help to gain the confidence of potential customers. Do not solely depend on your website to hit the top search results, often that is not necessary to gain new customers

Provide an incentive for your customers by asking them to post positive comments on directories like YELP. Offer a discount, encourage them while they are in your place of business, to post a profile. Have your employees make the following offer:

“If you’d like to receive a 10% discount today on your purchase, you can post a positive comment on the internet for us – here, I have the site up on my computer. Would you like to earn 10% off today?”

One week of this sales practice can make you thousands of dollars in future business.

Also, posting your business profile and internet address on multiple directories provides additional inbound links, making it a double-threat strategy.

Successful businesses utilize the internet as it was meant to be used, as the greatest marketing tool ever invented. Well, even if that is not what it was designed for, it is certainly used that way today. Take advantage of all that is available. Create a professional website, optimize it, market it and get customers to post positive feedback about your company on other sites. It is an absolute WIN strategy for businesses today.

Hope this helps

Lou Storiale

There seems to be a continuing trend toward usability and information architecture positions that require years of wireframe development. While it may be important to have wireframes for large sites, specifically brand new sites, wireframes alone do not come close to guaranteeing user-friendly or well-organized websites.

Recruiters and companies regard wireframe development as the route to good usability. My experience shows different.

I was asked to come in for 3 days to get a website project for BidTopia back on track. After several days of exhaustive approval processes and clear indications of why there were delays with the project, I realized the client wasn’t even looking at the wireframes. Also, the designers were designing the Photoshop pages before the approval of the wireframes anyway.

Why? The site was being redesigned and the architecture wasn’t changing. The categories, topics, subtopics were database driven and the code was already created for the menus. The wireframe process was simply delaying the project. I made a formal request to the client and the owner of the design shop to skip the rest of the wireframes and the client agreed. They mentioned that they didn’t even want the wireframes, but were “coerced” into having them made by the owner of the design shop. The project moved quickly thereafter.

Wireframes can be useful, but they do not add value all the time. In fact, they are ignored most of the time, in my opinion.

Usability and user-psychology knowledge will go further than a wireframe to create a user-friendly site.

Knowing how the target audience (visitors) of THAT website navigate and search will do more for information architecture success than a wireframe, as well.

I think wireframes CAN be useful, but placing all the emphasis on wireframe development adds less value than usability knowledge, user-testing and solid information architecture. With the use of CSS in navigation menus, menu items can be modified very easily. In fact, changing a css menu include is much faster than changing a group of wireframes menus.

Give me your opinions – I’d like to here successes and failures when wireframes were used. lou@storiale.com