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How Web Designers Market: Jargon that Costs

Still not a mind reader

The marketing of web design is probably not something you know a lot about. Turns out, it’s pretty laden with buzzwords and jargon that is not only confusing, it can cost you time, money, and your hairline.

I went through a few of the biggest names in DIY websites, compared them to the big web shops that I know about, and pulled out a few choice excerpts bound to cause problems.

#1: Get Started/Try Now

There is absolutely nothing wrong with free trials. The problem comes in when you are just getting started and have a huge array of options. Add to this that you don’t get to see what the website software looks like before you dive in. That means that short of a geek to guide your path, you’ll be stuck in trial hell (duplicating your site and content on every platform under the sun) until you make a choice – and you often can’t do that based on what you see on the intro pages.

Worse: your content might get stuck in a particular platform. Can you export it easily? Can you take your content with you when you want to switch in the future?

#2: Cost

Many of these DIY “drag and drop” website creators charge a monthly fee, and worse – most “DIY”-type services vary widely in cost, making it next to impossible to compare features against price and price against value.

At the time of this writing:

  • SquareSpace: $8-$24/mo
  • WordPress.com: Free, $99-$299/yr (for “plans” which get you discounted or included premium features)
  • Wix: $0-$25/mo
  • Zoho Sites: $0 to $89/year
  • Yahoo! Small Business: $4-$9/mo
  • VistaPrint: $3-$17/mo

Contrast this to a variety of prices I ascertained from various “done for you” shops, and our own pricing:

  • Pixelated on Purpose: $500 (entry-level) to $6,500 (high-end custom WordPress)
  • Design Shop 1: $1,000 to $1,500 (modest modification of WordPress themes with fully custom design)
  • Design Shop 2: $3,500 to $8,500 (mostly WordPress with modest modification and also custom BigCommerce)
  • Design Shop 3: $5,000 (modest modification of WordPress themes only with fully custom design)
  • Design Shop 4: $1,750 to $4,500 (entry-level to modest WordPress modification)

Represented here is a wide range of skills, abilities, and locations (proximity to a big city can double or triple a service pricetag). There’s no easy comparison, there – either. In fact, comparing “done for you” shops can be a LOT more difficult because you don’t know how much care or consideration is given. You don’t know how much up-front work it takes, the cost of their graphic designers, the experience of their developers, their preferred hosting providers, their backup and update policies, etc.

I’ve tried to make this process a bit easier to figure out by creating some educational materials: 12 things your Web Person wishes you knew, How to be a Kick-Ass Client, and 10 Questions to Vet your next Consultant. I highly recommend reading these before hiring another “done for you” company of any sort – a good consultant will not only respect your props for asking smart questions, they’ll love you for being so prepared. If they balk, take your money and walk.

#3: Drag & Drop

I get it. Not everybody is a coder – the problem is that a drag-and-drop solution is going to do two things: give you generally muddled code (hurts your search engine results) and give you less fine-tuning ability over your look and feel (hurts your brand image).

Drag & Drop might mean infinite tweak ability down to the pixel placement of a button, or it might mean you get to put a widget in a specially made box for that widget. Short of diving in, it’s hard to make a distinction.

Stock websites don’t represent your brand well – and they can do more harm than good in most cases. Our ethical competitors and good friends NerdyMind Marketing won’t build a website without doing a User Scenario exercise first to make sure the site pulls its own weight when your customers click.

This is jargon that actually will save you a ton of money, but without diving in deeper, you’re likely to bounce right over it. Take the time to really dig in and ask the right questions.

#4: Mobile Friendly

There are a lot of different versions of “mobile friendly”. To some of the DIY sites, it means “we give you an app”. An app is pretty useless in most situations – most users download an app once and forget about it (unless you’re Candy Crush. And you’re not Candy Crush). What you’re really looking for is called: RESPONSIVE DESIGN.

Responsive design is adaptive; it scales the website, content, and icons to fit the screen size of the device the user is using.

iPad? Cool. Got it covered. iPhone? You betcha. Desktop with three monitors? Hells to the yes. Also: that so-many-pixels-you-can’t-see-any-jaggies high-res monitor? That’s covered too (in most cases).

So what does it all mean?!

You’ve gotta do your homework on all these phrases, unfortunately. That’s why it’s always best to have a geek help you out. Your needs and milage may vary, but just like buying a car – buying a website is very much a “buyer beware” experience.

Did I miss something? Let me know!

Note: This post is part of the monthly Word Carnival. Every month, a whole slew of experts in their respective fields get together and blog around a common theme (cool, right!?) This month’s topic: Marketing without Marketing (link goes live Wednesday). Click the link to check out the rest!

Read This Before Hiring A Web Designer!

A bad web person can cost you thousands. Do you know how to avoid the 10 most common ways to get screwed by your web person? You should read this before you buy a website or hire a web developer. Keep the helpful info going with weekly blasts of awesome website ideas direct to your inbox.

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Recently Awesome Folks

  • Melanie Kissell on How Web Designers Market: Jargon that Costs

    So true, Nick. We have scads and scads of information at our fingertips. No excuse to not put our hands...
    Posted Aug 01, 2014
  • Annie Sisk on How Web Designers Market: Jargon that Costs

    See I don't think so - not so far for me, anyway. My handful of social clients are great to...
    Posted Jul 31, 2014
  • Michelle Nickolaisen on How Web Designers Market: Jargon that Costs

    Love this, Nick - especially love the comparison of the "done for you" shops vs. the monthly fees. And even...
    Posted Jul 30, 2014
  • Annie Sisk on How Web Designers Market: Jargon that Costs

    Well said, and this is very helpful. I am always appalled and amazed at the incredible range of difference in...
    Posted Jul 30, 2014
  • Melanie Kissell on How Web Designers Market: Jargon that Costs

    For once, my simple mindedness might be viewed as a plus. Nick, I figure if something is low-cost or no-cost,...
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What our clients say:

"Nick has an eye for creative and fun ways to step a business up a notch. He’s passionate, experienced, and knowledgeable about marketing and web development. He helped redesign our website for easier management and created campaigns for our social media outreach for a reasonable cost. Nick is a great person to have on board any business team."

- Chelsey Walker, Ridekick
2014-01-01T14:05:33-07:00
"Nick has an eye for creative and fun ways to step a business up a notch. He’s passionate, experienced, and knowledgeable about marketing and web development. He helped redesign our website for easier management and created campaigns for our social media outreach for a reasonable cost. Nick is a great person to have on board any business team." - Chelsey Walker, Ridekick
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/chelsey-walker-ridekick/
“Nick has been a great asset on the project we worked on together. His knowledge and expertise made the process go smoothly. I would hire him for future projects when the opportunity presents itself.“

-  Sam Haltom, Another Color, Inc
2014-01-01T11:49:09-07:00
“Nick has been a great asset on the project we worked on together. His knowledge and expertise made the process go smoothly. I would hire him for future projects when the opportunity presents itself.“ -  Sam Haltom, Another Color, Inc
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/sam-haltom-another-color-inc/
"We enjoyed working with Nick, he was fun, very responsive, and has great ideas. We like the look of our new website, functionality, and how it tells our message of what Greenpoint Landscaping really is. He also set us up on a blogging plan to help drive traffic to our website."

- Peter Roberts, Greenpoint Landscaping
2014-09-10T15:47:51-06:00
"We enjoyed working with Nick, he was fun, very responsive, and has great ideas. We like the look of our new website, functionality, and how it tells our message of what Greenpoint Landscaping really is. He also set us up on a blogging plan to help drive traffic to our website." - Peter Roberts, Greenpoint Landscaping
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/peter-roberts-greenpoint-landscaping/
“Nick and his team delivered a great new website for my company. I am happy with the results and the feedback from our clients and friends was super positive.”

- Betsy Craig, MenuTrinfo
2014-01-01T11:49:52-07:00
“Nick and his team delivered a great new website for my company. I am happy with the results and the feedback from our clients and friends was super positive.” - Betsy Craig, MenuTrinfo
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/betsy-craig-menutrinfo/
"We worked along side Nick for a year and half and would recommend his talent and creativeness to anyone willing to take a look at the “standard” way of doing things a little differently that still achieve lasting results."

- Jan Peters, Fort Collins Brewery
2014-01-01T11:58:52-07:00
"We worked along side Nick for a year and half and would recommend his talent and creativeness to anyone willing to take a look at the “standard” way of doing things a little differently that still achieve lasting results." - Jan Peters, Fort Collins Brewery
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/jan-peters-fort-collins-brewery/
"Nick is the Yoda of the programming and marketing world: he is wise and powerful in the ways of the code; he wields his mouse with great speed and agility; he continually ponders the mysteries of marketing; and he is an excellent and effective instructor with a mischievous sense of humor :-)"

- Megan Henderson, Henderson + Company
2014-01-01T11:57:28-07:00
"Nick is the Yoda of the programming and marketing world: he is wise and powerful in the ways of the code; he wields his mouse with great speed and agility; he continually ponders the mysteries of marketing; and he is an excellent and effective instructor with a mischievous sense of humor :-)" - Megan Henderson, Henderson + Company
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/megan-henderson-henderson-company/
"Nick has done an awesome job firstly recreating my program's website, then improved on it, and followed up with great training materials and a promise to be there when we will expand the website."

- Linda Hodgson, ChangeLabs
2013-12-27T21:53:40-07:00
"Nick has done an awesome job firstly recreating my program's website, then improved on it, and followed up with great training materials and a promise to be there when we will expand the website." - Linda Hodgson, ChangeLabs
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/linda-hodgson-changelabs/
"As an expert web developer, Nick can do almost anything you ask him to! He really does need to wear a cape to work. Nick is very generous with his time, and he genuinely loves to help people solve problems. I am looking forward to working with Nick on many more exciting projects."

- Molly McCowan, InkBot Editing
2014-01-01T12:03:37-07:00
"As an expert web developer, Nick can do almost anything you ask him to! He really does need to wear a cape to work. Nick is very generous with his time, and he genuinely loves to help people solve problems. I am looking forward to working with Nick on many more exciting projects." - Molly McCowan, InkBot Editing
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/molly-mccowan-inkbot-editing/
"Nick Armstrong has been a wonderful WordPress consultant for my business. His tutoring expertise was extremely helpful. Nick is a tremendous WordPress resource and expert."

- Catherine Rogers, Coldwell Banker
2013-12-28T13:28:40-07:00
"Nick Armstrong has been a wonderful WordPress consultant for my business. His tutoring expertise was extremely helpful. Nick is a tremendous WordPress resource and expert." - Catherine Rogers, Coldwell Banker
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/catherine-rogers-coldwell-banker/
"There are very few individuals in this day-and-age that commit themselves so passionately into their profession and Nick Armstrong is one. I would recommend him to anyone, especially to those who don’t completely understand the backside of setting up a business website. He was great!"

- Linda Griego, Java Raiz
2014-01-01T12:06:09-07:00
"There are very few individuals in this day-and-age that commit themselves so passionately into their profession and Nick Armstrong is one. I would recommend him to anyone, especially to those who don’t completely understand the backside of setting up a business website. He was great!" - Linda Griego, Java Raiz
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/linda-griego-java-raiz/
"Nick Armstrong is brilliant and made us feel cared for. He is talented and his work is of the highest quality. Nick respects his work and his cost is reasonable and he delivers on time."

- Ed and Deb Shapiro, Be The Change
2014-01-01T14:06:05-07:00
"Nick Armstrong is brilliant and made us feel cared for. He is talented and his work is of the highest quality. Nick respects his work and his cost is reasonable and he delivers on time." - Ed and Deb Shapiro, Be The Change
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/ed-and-deb-shapiro-be-the-change/

A division of WTF MarketingPixelated on Purpose is a small business web design company in Fort Collins, Colorado and a division of WTF Marketing.

Pixelated on Purpose
#177 2614 S. Timberline Road Ste 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Pixelated On Purpose - Web Design by Pixelated On Purpose