If you asked us when we think we’re most likely to work with a new client, it’s when we have someone come to us via a word-of-mouth recommendation.
Recently we had a potential new customer looking to refresh an old website. We had been recommended by another client and sent out our quote.
Now we always understand that people will shop around, you should too, and we’ve previously written about how to find the ideal web design agency for your business.
But when we spoke to the client yesterday, they asked us “What do I actually get for that money?”
A great question and maybe due to the word-of-mouth recommendation we didn’t believe we had to be in full on sales mode.
Web design prices very wildly
If you shop around online, you’ll see websites for £500, £1000, £2500 and £5000+.
On the face of it, that can be confusing. Why is there such a huge variation in price?
They all do the same things right in that they allow you to add pages, images, forms and should be mobile friendly.
So why the difference?
When you pay for a professional website, you’re not just paying for pages.
You’re paying for trust and traffic.
And those two things are what make a website valuable to your business.
If we were to have that conversation again, here’s what we would say.
“What do I actually get for that money?”
1. Trust – your website decides whether people take you seriously
Before someone fills out your contact form, calls you or emails you, they will have a look at your website.
First impressions are made very quickly and potential customers will decide whether your business feels:
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Professional.
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Established.
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Reliable.
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Safe to spend money with.
A cheap website might work technically, but it often doesn’t build confidence.
If you are an expert in your field churning out high quality work but your website is dated, you’re creating a big barrier for new business.
People will naturally think that a business which doesn’t invest in their website, might not be offering the best service or creating the best product.
Web design, layout, speed, wording, structure, and branding all affect how people feel about your business.
Your website has to build trust in order to convert a visitor into a paying customer.
A professional website is built so that visitors trust your business. It gives them the confidence that you know what you’re doing.
2. Traffic – a website only works if people can find it
A website that looks nice but never gets visitors doesn’t help your business.
Professional web design includes building a site that can be found.
This means:
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Search-engine friendly structure
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Fast loading pages
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Mobile optimisation
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Clean code
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Proper page hierarchy
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Local SEO setup
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Clear content that Google understands
All of these things help your site appear in search results and bring in visitors.
More visitors means more enquiries.
More enquiries means more work.
3. Strategy – not just design, but thinking about your business
A big part of what you pay for is experience.
We don’t just build pages.
We think about:
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Who your customers are.
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What they need to see first.
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What makes them trust you.
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What makes them contact you.
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How your competitors look.
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How your site should be structured.
That thinking is what turns a website into a tool that generates work.
4. Reliability – something that works properly long-term
Cheap websites are often built quickly with little planning.
That can lead to:
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Slow performance.
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Poor SEO.
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Hard-to-edit pages.
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Broken layouts on mobile.
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Security problems.
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Needing to rebuild again in a year.
A professionally built site is designed to last.
It will still work properly years later.
What you are really paying for
When you pay for a professional website, you are paying for:
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Trust from your visitors
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Traffic from search engines
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Experience and planning
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Proper design and development
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A site that represents your business correctly
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A site that helps generate enquiries
Not just pages. Not just code. Trust and Traffic.
And those are the two things that make a website worth the investment.