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Submitted by ner on Thu, 2010-03-04 21:12

When you're creating a website for your business, there are a lot of threads which you need to pull together in the right way.

  • The design of your site must deliver and enhance your brand
  • The words on your website should express your company's ideals and give prospects and customers a reason to engage with you
  • Information has to be well organised and easy to find
  • You need to choose the right technology... errr, what?!

When you think of websites that you enjoy, how much of your enjoyment is based on how the site looks, how easy it is to use, how it lets you connect with the business, your friends, your prospects?  And how much of it is based on the cleverness of the underlying technology? 

Do you even think about the technology that makes the website work: the web server that delivers the pages to you, the Content Management System that lets the website owner manage the site, and the database that stores the all-important words and pictures?  For most people, this technology is irrelevant and ignored. 

And quite right too.  Why should you pay for something you can't see, and don't understand?

Technology adds cost

The tools and techniques used to build a website can have a significant impact not only on the startup costs for your website, but also on the ongoing running cost.  Like any marketing and communication tool, a successful website needs to be kept up-to-date, vibrant and interesting, otherwise people will look elsewhere.  You need to continue to invest time and energy into your website, and this means investing in "technology costs" too.

Choosing the right technology, and the right technology partners can save you time, energy and cash as you keep your website working for you. Here are some questions you should be asking your supplier about their hidden "technology costs":

  • Can you control the website copy yourself, or must you pay your technology supplier every time you want to put a Press Release online?
  • If you can manage the site yourself, how easy or hard is it to do?  Time is money!
  • Does your supplier lock you in to their technology or charge you to take your website somewhere else?
  • How widely used is the technology they're recommending? Can you find others to help you if your supplier becomes expensive or goes bust?
  • What are the "hosting" costs for your site?  Hosting is an important part of the reliability of your site but many businesses are paying over the odds
  • Could you afford to lose your website if something went wrong? If not, how does your supplier safeguard against mishaps and failures?
  • Do you need to pay for a software licence for your website software?  Some tools such as Microsoft Sharepoint have ongoing annual fees you need to pay just to use your own website

These are questions you need to be asking any potential website supplier, as a quote for "building a website" is only part of the picture. Although you might not be able to see all of the technical goings-on, you can be sure they're adding a cost and need to be understood. 

At Versantus we understand these hidden costs and can help you minimise them. Why not give us a call to see how we can help?