06/02/2019
Websites Can Cost But It Makes Sense
How I Charge $10,000 for WordPress Websites (and Why It's the Right Thing to Do)
When I do interviews and speak at conferences, I often talk about charging very high prices for websites (specifically, relatively simple WordPress websites).
I was recently interviewed by John Lee Dumas for the Entrepreneurs On Fire podcast, and he pointed out that I had 100x-ed my prices since I started my web design business in high school.
What's interesting is that my pricing typically elicits one of three responses from other web designers and web developers. They either...
1) Want to learn how to increase their own prices (if you fall into that category, you can learn more here: https://events.genndi.com/reg…/169105139238454968/f0cb5731c0).
2) Point out that my prices are actually relatively low compared to what big agencies are charging in NYC or LA.
3) They're outraged and say that I'm disgusting and that I'm taking advantage of business owners.
In this post, I want to walk through how I'm able to charge these higher prices, and I also want to address #3 and discuss why it's actually better for the client when I do so.
A few important points first...
- For anyone reading this who doesn't know, building a WordPress website doesn't just mean that you're pulling a $10 theme of the shelf and launching a website in 10 minutes. Over 25% of the Internet is powered by WordPress, including professional websites for large companies, government organizations, etc.
- I believe it's morally right to charge higher prices provided that a few things are the case (I'll explain those things shortly). I would never advocate being dishonest, promising results you can't deliver, providing low quality services, etc.
OK...
With that being said, let's get started...
You see, a lot of web designers forget (or never realize in the first place) that a lot of business owners are not primarily concerned with cost.
While many web designers and web developers are struggling financially (and have more TIME than money), many business owners have more MONEY than time. They are willing to pay a premium to get things done right and done with a minimal investment of their time.
This is part of the reason why website builders like Wix and SquareSpace will NOT kill the web design industry.
Additionally, many web designers and web developers(even if they've started to build an agency) are still stuck in an employee mindset. When you're an employee, you only have two options of what to do with your money. You can save it, or you can spend it personally. That's not the case with business owners. A business owner can save money, spend money personally OR they can re-invest it in the business.
When a business owner is re-investing in their business, the question is NOT...
"What does it cost?"
The question is...
"What is the likely return on investment (ROI)?"
As long as there's a high enough ROI, then the cost is really irrelevant.
The bottom-line is that while many web designers and web developers (who have an employee mindset) are always focused on saving money, many business owners are focused on saving time and getting ROI.
NOTE: When I say ROI, I don't necessarily mean a strictly monetary return. Sometimes the return is monetary, but the return could also be in terms of happier customers, happier employees, time savings, brand building, etc. The point is that they're focus on what they're GETTING instead of what they're SPENDING.
Why does this matter?
Well, the result of the this mindset mis-match is that most designers and developers do a pretty bad job of serving their clients because they don't understand them.
Here's what typically happens...
- Roofing Contractor: "I need a website."
- Web Designer w/ Employee Mindset: [THINKING: COST IS PROBABLY THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS TO HIM. HE COULD BUILD IT WITH WIX. I REALLY NEED THE PROJECT.] "How about $1k?"
- Roofing Contractor: "Great!"
Next, the web designer does their best to build a decent website within a $1k budget. However, they really can't spend that much time on it because they're only being paid $1k, and they don't understand what their business owner client wants anyway, so they build a website that they think is cool from a design/technology standpoint.
They spend time installing Visual Composer (because who won't want all that functionality?) and adding parallax scrolling (because that's sweet!), but they don't add a "Free Estimate" form above the fold or a big phone number in the upper right hand corner. Because they don't even know that more people requesting a free estimate is what the client really wants.
Then they get a call...
- Roofing Contractor: "I haven't gotten any leads? Can we put a big form on the homepage so people can contact me easily?"
- Web Designer w/ Employee Mindset: [THINKING: HE WANTS ALL THESE CHANGES FOR $1K? HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND DESIGN. A FORM WILL LOOK UGLY. THE WEB DESIGN INDUSTRY IS DEAD. CLIENTS ARE CHEAP. HE COULD HAVE JUST USED WIX. MAYBE I WILL START A SAAS BUSINESS OR SELL DROPSHIPPED STUFF ON AMAZON. CAN I PAY MY BILLS WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING?] "Ugh OK."
- Roofing Contractor: "Then I'll get leads, right?"
- Web Designer w/ Employee Mindset: [THINKING: NO. YOU WOULD NEED TO DO SEO OR DIGITAL MARKETING OR SOMETHING TO GET TRAFFIC. BUT YOU'RE CHEAP AND WOULDN'T PAY FOR THAT.] "Yes."
So what's the final result?
The client pays $1k for a website that they're NOT happy about, that does NOT deliver them results, that wasn't even DESIGNED to meet their needs.
Then what happens?
THEY PAY ME $10K FOR A NEW WEBSITE AND $1500/MO AFTER THAT FOR SEO AND DIGITAL MARKETING.
Here's how the conversation goes...
- Roofing Contractor: "I need a website.
- Me: [THINKING: I WONDER WHAT HE REALLY WANTS?] "Why? What are you looking to accomplish?"
- Roofing Contractor: "I need more leads. I need more people to request free estimates."
- Me: "What kind of leads do you really want?"
- Roofing Contractor: "Large slate roofing jobs are the best."
- Me: "What is a slate roofing job typically worth?"
- Roofing Contractor: "Could be worth A LOT! We just did a commercial job for $100k."
- Me: "We can definitely build you a website that will convert better than your existing one. The existing one doesn't even have a phone number on the homepage or free estimate form. And we can gear the site towards getting you commercial slate roofing leads. Are you doing any advertising at this point?"
- Roofing Contractor: "Yes, we have some billboards."
- Me: "Ok, so generating leads online comes down to 2 things. Traffic, which is the number of people who go to your website, and conversion rate, which is the percentage of website visitors who actually call you or fill-out a form on your website. If we fix the website, you'll get a better conversion rate from the traffic you're already getting from the billboards, but you won't get a TON of additional leads unless we do SEO or digital marketing."
- Roofing Contractor: "Nobody ever explained it to me that way. That makes so much sense. How much would it cost to redo the website and try out digital marketing?"
- Me: $10k for the website and $1500/mo for digital marketing.
- Roofing Contractor: [THINKING: I ONLY NEED TO GET 1-2 JOBS TO GET A RETURN ON INVESTMENT FROM THIS.] OK. Let's do the website and a month of the digital marketing to try it out. Here is a check.
So what happens next?
Well, I go to work building a website that's actually in-line with what the client wants. Plus, I'm getting paid handsomely, so I can afford to hire rockstar contractors. I can have a world-class designer make a design that looks great and will convert really well. I can have a professional writer write SEO-optimized content, meta descriptions and title tags. And I can have a project manager that will help move the project forward as quickly as possible with minimal time investment from the client.
REMEMBER: He's a successful business owner, so saving time is probably more important to him than saving money.
And I spend my time creating an absolutely killer digital marketing campaign to help the client get more slate roofing leads. Because, again, I'm being paid handsomely and can afford to spend time providing high-quality services.
And I don't install Visual Composer, because I know the client is never going to login to WordPress!
So what's the final result?
The client loves the website, starts seeing leads coming in very quickly and refers all his friends to me.
All while the previous web designer is thinking that the client is CHEAP and the web design industry is DEAD.
So bringing it all back to the question of what's right or wrong...
What's more morally sound? Charging $1k for a website that's not in-line with what the client wants and where you don't have the resources to do it right? Or taking the time to understand what the client wants, charging $10k so that you can do an amazing job, and providing an enormous return on investment?
It's pretty clear to me, but you have to get out of the employee mindset. You have to stop thinking that cost is the only thing that matters.
