You can easily Google the cost of a website in Trinidad and get prices ranging from $2000TTDS to $20,000TTDS. But it’s like pulling teeth trying to get a tangible sense of the ‘type of website’ these companies really specialize in building. That means for a potential customer, you’re in the dark when it comes to deciding which company is right for you! So, while your website may come in on the lower end of the *pricewars saving you some cash, it may also fail to attract your intended audience or it may not communicate the value of the service you provide because the designer doesn’t understand targeting, your industry, or if you need a product or a service website.
What’s even more frustrating about picking the right web design company is that the latter can lead you to believe that a higher price tag exempts you from such horrors and it doesn’t. If the cost of your website is based on the time it takes to develop it rather than a specific result you’ll get, that’s one way of recognizing that a larger company is just as clueless about what works for your industry online, as much as a smaller one.
It’s this uncertainty of not knowing what you’re getting for your money which makes local business owners flee to social media; that, and the fact that they probably realized that they don’t need a website to attract clients.
I’ll let that sink in because it’s true!
There are many profitable businesses operating without a website in Trinidad and Tobago. So that proves it! However, a website can be a very useful advertising tool for your business if your designer knows what to put in it, and I don’t mean Google ads since a survey on scare worthy websites rendered things like Google ads a major distraction to end-users. And while we’re clearing the air of the cock n bull stories, let’s call these money generators what they really are – mere tactics that’s used in place of your own value to drive traffic that’s avoidable if you create your online presence around something specific about your business that people already want.
This could lead you to wonder what you’re really investing in when soliciting the design of a website from a certified web designer in Trinidad.
Well, if you’re in the local service industry and your business is small...
Some Designers Are All About Platforms, Systems, And SEO
That means using a platform they are comfortable with, they’ll design a website according to your strategic specifications that’s optimized for sales and aesthetically pleasing with important features in place to assist with online payment, appointment scheduling and more. What they won’t do is help you to bridge the communication gap between a prospect and the service you provide. So, while you’ll get seen, because you’re simultaneously dropping the ball on making your case as to why someone should listen #metadescription, you’re likely to also get ignored.
In a case like this, if you’ve already built up a measure of credibility for your business offline and you know what your purchasing public gravitate towards as well as have an understanding of what works when communicating about it (which is important to Google by the way, but I’ll leave information on that below) then this is a web designer for you, as you can easily give direction on what you expect the finished product to look and sound like.
Others Are Passionate About Complex Designs
If your business has grown to a place where you’re thinking that you might need a website with special functionality, under the creative input of the right designer/developer, a complex design can be very captivating and quite a memorable experience for an end-user. But before you run off to make plans, let’s be a little pragmatic about your goals here. Do you want users of your site to remember and refer you because your website looks amazing or do you want the service you provide to easily come to mind when the perfect client presents themselves?
If the latter interests you, then your investment should be based on value and not a feature that’s totally unnecessary for a service-based business even if your business has grown because the value you’re providing stays the same.
I say that because clients generally think of the least viable reason to have a website, and are always surprised to learn that being online is waaaaay more than just “wanting a cool design”, “wanting to put your business online” or “wanting a client to pay you online”. Trinidad isn’t short on good web designers or developers, so anyone can give you those things. But, if the service you provide isn’t positioned in a way to instantly differentiate you, all the bells and whistles in the world will mean nothing because no one will be motivated to use them!
Designers Who Are Interested In The Problem Your Service Solves
…will tell you that your clients don’t care about your technology, and they care even less that your website is custom.
More importantly, they won’t rest their reputation on murky goals like “getting you in the first results on Google”. Some may disagree, but between scheduling time to create content and actually doing it consistently (a key metric for how your website ranks), we’re talking about things outside the control of anyone building a website for your services. Therefore, they'll more than likely give you a more realistic goal to shoot for by informing you that all your client care about is if you have the skills to solve the problem they have, and if you do, that brand message needs to be articulated in a way that gets them to hear it and invest.
If you’re nodding your head having recognized this is what you’re really trying to accomplish, then you‘re looking for someone who can specifically merge branding for small service businesses, communication, and design strategy into a beautiful but simple user-friendly interface. This type of person is better known as a visual brand strategist.
You might be thinking that your business too small for all that. But this approach is specific to small service businesses, so you don't need to be a corporate giant to justify this service. But, you do need to have a track record of delivering quality work to real buyers for the project to be successful; you need to be acquainted with who you serve best so the designer can properly position the services you sell. And it’s impossible to accomplish either of those things when you’ve only been selling your services under 2 years.
In conclusion, my hope is that this article magnified for you a different type of cost you’ll incur choosing the wrong type of designer or developer to work with. Check out some success stories of some of my past clients who were in the position to take such a leap, and it paid off!
Click here to hear about Google’s retirement of keywords
Click here if you’re curious to know what’s a meta description
If you’re wondering if I can assist you with a completely different problem, book a fit test
Shake Your Cock N Bull Graphic Designs, my free Facebook group is exclusively for local founders who want to give their most secrete fears about being online a good shaking, so they can venture online with confidence!
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