Many people who are seeking web design work are tempted to go for the cheapest option that they come across in a bid to save some money. Whilst this decision might be good for your pocket, it is often not good for anything else and you will be left with a website that leaves a lot to be desired. The following list comprises the most common mistakes that people make when attempting to look for cheap design work.
- Unrealistic Expectations: If you are only willing to pay bottom dollar for web design work, you should not expect the finished site to be absolutely perfect with hundreds of cool features. Cheap work will garner you only the most basic looking website.
- No Definitive Goal: You should always have a goal in mind for your website; is it to generate leads or to sell products, for example? This goal is imperative to the success of the site, as it will give visitors exactly what they came for.
- Using Friends: If people know that you are looking for someone to create a website for you, they might offer their own services fairly cheap. It is important to keep in mind that almost anyone can claim to be a designer, but are their skills really up to the task?
- Forgetting Ongoing Costs: There are a number of costs associated with your web design besides the actual work itself. Hosting, for example, is a yearly cost that could end up costing you thousands of dollars if you don’t choose one appropriately.
- Website Maintenance: Another thing that many people tend to forget is that their site will probably need to be updated at some point in the future. A cheap design will often not allow you to make these changes yourself, meaning that you will need to pay to have them done.
- Ignoring Search Engines: Most people also think that simply having a website is all they need to succeed. Wrong. If your site isn’t appearing on the first page of Google, it’s likely that no one is visiting it. For this, you might need search engine optimisation (SEO).
- Guarantees: It is near impossible to find a web design company who will offer you a money back guarantee, meaning that you will be left high and dry if you aren’t provided with the work you wanted. In these cases, it is almost always better to pay extra for quality work.
By avoiding each of the above mistakes when looking for cheap web design work, you may come to the realization that cheap really isn’t the way to go and that you are better off spending a little extra. If you still decide to stick with cheap design work, at least you will find yourself with a website that meets most of your expectations.
