Let's face it, there are lots of website design firms in business today. For some reason, the spectrum of pricing among website design and development firms has become very confusing. Some firms will charge as low as a few hundred dollars while others will charge tens of thousands. Sometimes the price is based on pure functionality but sometimes the gap will still be huge for what may appear to be the same end result.

Or is it?

This disparity in pricing has led buyers to become even more price-conscious. I see all sorts of unreasonable budgets as a result of people expecting to be able to pay very little for a high-quality, professional website.

Why do some firms charge much more than others and why should you pay more?

Design quality. One of the most significant markers of trust for your organization is the image your website presents. Countless studies have proven that a well-designed, user-centric website increases the level of trust that your constituents have for your organization. Website design and development firms that charge very little cannot afford to hire the best designers and they cannot afford to spend a lot of time on design. This leads to a sub-standard image and a missed opportunity to inspire trust. Firms that charge more, however, can afford to hire designers that are at top in their professions and who have experience in usability and how design relates to the user experience. They are also given enough time to craft a design experience that keeps constituents engaged.

Support. Website design and development firms that offer low prices typically skimp on support. Because they are understaffed, it can sometimes take a very long time to get a response and if you do get a response, it may not be from someone experienced enough to truly resolve your issue. Firms that charge a higher price can afford to hire the best support people. This will matter when you have a question or an issue to resolve.

Infrastructure. Do you want your website hosted on cheap servers and running on cheap software? Me, neither. Especially since website load time has an affect on your marketing. The hosting platform and software used to power your website can make a huge difference in the reliability and functionality of your website. Cheap hosting and cheap software leads to poor performance and frustrated users, which translates to lost leads. Quality equipment and mature software will facilitate a reliable environment for your website to function.

Consulting and industry knowledge. Do you know exactly where design elements should be placed for maximum effect? Do you know the simple tricks to ensure that visitors read your web content? Do you know what usability rules to follow to encourage lead generation? How about the rules for creating a search-friendly website? If you know all this, then you probably don't need any consulting. However, if you are looking for experience and guidance in order to create a website that converts visitors into leads, then you may want to be willing to budget for a firm that can offer this type of consulting. Low-priced firms typically don't have the time or the experience to include revenue-generating advice into the process. More mature firms that charge higher fees typically have a process that is based on years of experience and time spent on research. They send their people to marketing and technology conferences to help them become better at their jobs. They read the latest research on usability and marketing techniques. When you invest in a quality website design and development firm, you help them invest in a high-quality base of knowledge that benefits their clients.

Security. A hacked website can be a very expensive problem for your organization, especially if you are doing any type of e-commerce. Skimping on your website budget can often times lead to skimping on security. A security-conscious website design and development firm needs to invest in strong security practices and tools. I see open-source ("free") CMS platforms getting hacked all the time, which leads to embarrassment and lost leads. I would prefer to spend a little more on website tools that have a strong track record for security.

I am certainly not an advocate for spending too much on a website for no reason. Organizations need to make sure they are getting value for their investments. However, budgeting a few hundred dollars is typically going to be money wasted. I encourage organizations to be willing to create a realistic budget for a website so that the right dots are connected and it becomes a profit center, rather than an expense.

There is an abundance of complexity in the world. It occurs pretty much everywhere. Companies create products with way more features than we need, bosses over-complicate policies and procedures, and our government passes ridiculously complex legislation that no one even has time to read.

We do it to ourselves, too. We think we need big, complicated systems to run our accounting and business systems. We create convoluted policies to try to anticipate every possible scenario. We look for that magic piece of software that will do all 500 things we think we need it to do.

After the air clears and we’ve spent a lot of time and money on our complex solutions, what happens? We usually end up only using 10% of it.

This is why our brand promise at SpinWeb is “smart, simple solutions.” We happen to build websites but our over-arching goal is to help you work smarter with simple online tools. Rather than sell you a big website with 27 tools, we’re more likely to encourage you to consider a smaller site first that does 3 things really well. You’re probably more likely to use it and you’ll save some money, too.

Ask yourself if you really need all the complexity that is currently in your business, or in your life. Could you serve your customers, employees, and partners better if you simplified?

Having an email newsletter is one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to communicate with your constituents in a positive way. However, I’ve noticed that many organizations are not taking full advantage of this medium. There are many subtle guidelines that are important to follow when publishing an email newsletter. Here are a few tips to help maximize the effectiveness of your newsletters.

1. Utilize a professional design. It amazes me how many times I receive an email newsletter that contains broken images, low-quality photos, and incorrectly formatted content. Most people get at least some spam and you want to make sure that your newsletter does not look like all the poorly-formatted spam that gets sent today. Make sure you are using a professionally-design email template that matches the branding of your company.

2. Keep the content subscriber-focused. Most organizations make the mistake of filling their email newsletters with “look at us!” promotions and “latest specials”. News flash: your subscribers want value from the newsletter. They do not want more marketing. A great way to structure your newsletter is to make the main article a useful piece of information that educates your subscribers, offers them useful information, and gives them something they can take away and use. Marketing messages will get ignored and lead to unsubscribes while useful content will get saved and read. There is nothing wrong with promoting your business in the sidebar areas but keep the main content useful to your subscribers.

3. Stick to an appropriate schedule. Another common mistake is to send out your newsletter whenever you feel like it or whenever you have something new to announce. Big mistake! The more sporadic your newsletter is, the more it will feel like spam. Pick a schedule and stick to it. We’ve found that every 2 weeks is a very good standard to follow. Once a week is often enough to be annoying but once a month is infreqent enough to be forgotten. Every two weeks is a great balance and gives your subscribers a routine to get used to. We also recommend sending on a Friday morning.

4. Give your subscribers an easy escape via one-click unsubscribe. Any unsubscribe process that takes more than a single click is absolutely unacceptable. I am always amazed at newsletters, even from large companies, that require me to “update my subscription preferences” in order to unsubscribe, or ask me to send them an email with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line. This is burdensome and rude. Your subscribers may have very valid reasons for wanting to leave. It’s their choice… let them unsubscribe easily. It’s also important that your unsubscribe process is automatic and instant. Additionally, if your unsubscribe process is too difficult, your subscribers are more likely to simply flag your message as spam, which can lead to you getting blacklisted on the Internet. Very bad!

5. Keep your list clean and 100% opt-in. Adding subscribers to your list without their consent is very bad manners. It can also get you flagged as a spammer. Just because you exchanged business cards with someone at a networking event does not give you permission to add his/her email address to your list. Just because your local chamber of commerce gives you a spreadsheet of all the members’ email addresses does not give you permission to dump that spreadsheet into your list. If you add subscribers to your list, make sure your have their consent. Offer an easy way to subscribe on your web site. If you meet someone in person, ask for his/her permission to subscribe that person. It’s better to have a list of 500 people who want to hear from you than a list of 5,000 people who don’t.

These small details can make a huge impact on the effectiveness of your email newsletter. By following proper newsletter ettequitte and establishing your organization as an expert in your field, you will be able to build and strengthen trust with your audience.

As an Internet marketing speaker, I attend and present for a lot of conferences. As an attendee, I register for events online and consume information primarily online via the conference website. As a speaker, I submit proposals for presentations with the intention of presenting at the conference.

As I analyze conference websites, I see a lot of opportunities for improving usability among them. Why is usability important on a conference website? Probably the most important reason is that it can play a huge part in determining how many people actually register for your event, as well as the quality of the speakers.

Here are some things to think about as you plan your conference website or landing pages.

1. Online registration is a must. I know it seems surprising but I still see conferences that do not have online registration as an option. They require you to call, mail, or fax in your registration. This puts up a huge wall between your event and your prospective attendees. Who has time to mail in a registration these days? Not me. I need quick, easy, secure online registration with credit card or I’m probably not going to bother. The same goes for your exhibitors.

2. Use online forms for speaker proposals. As a speaker, few things irritate me more than having to print or fill out a Word document to submit presentation proposals. Many speakers like me are submitting proposals to a variety of conferences and the more cumbersome it is to apply, the more likely I am to skip over your conference. I think I have a lot to offer and bring a lot of value to conferences when I present but making it hard for me to submit a proposal often keeps me (and other speakers) away. Make sure speakers can fill out application forms directly on your website.

3. Create landing pages for each session. I sometimes see conference websites that will give a general outline of the sessions for each day but do not break out sessions into individual landing pages. It’s important to give each session a specific landing page because this allows your speakers to promote their own sessions better, which in turn helps market your conference. It also gives you more specific content to publish on social networks and for search engines.

4. Make your conference website socially-aware. In addition to session landing pages, each session page should allow easy social media distribution. Two great ways to encourage social sharing of your conference material are with a Re-Tweet button via TweetMeme and a share button via AddThis. Both services are free and allow website visitors to easily market your sessions for you with one click. If you make it easy to announce your sessions, your will find that your speakers will help a great deal with your marketing efforts.

5. List all relevant time and location information clearly. This seems like a pretty obvious one but I still see conference websites that neglect to list the times and locations of breakout sessions. Not everyone wants to attend every session so make it easy for them to see exactly when and where each session is. Also, make sure your website includes interactive Google maps to your location so that your attendees can easily find it.

6. Include detailed speaker bios and photos. Few things are more boring than a big chunk of text listing presentation titles with no information on the speakers. Be sure to include speaker photos and bios with the session pages and perhaps even create speaker landing pages to help showcase them. Link out to their own website and social profiles, as well. This helps your attendees feel more connected to the speakers and can sometimes encourage people to register because they have an interest in seeing a particular speaker.

Paying attention to some basic usability details can make a huge difference in the quality of your speakers and the number of people who attend your conference. Do you need to make any adjustments to your conference website?

I had a wonderful time speaking for ISAE yesterday and serving on a panel on website redesign projects. After my keynote presentation and a great lunch, we had some excellent Q&A around what leads to a successful website redesign project. Special thanks to Katie Voorhest for inviting me to speak and for being one of the most effective, organized planners I have ever met.

Here are the top 5 takeaways that I want to share based on our discussion.

1. Know your audience. Be sure that your new website is not designed for your internal staff. It should be designed for your constituents. The personal preferences of your CEO or other executives should not dictate your design. Your brand identity and your constituents should drive the design.

2. Avoid “design by committee”. Choose one point person as your project lead. This person should solicit feedback but filter accordingly. However, make sure all decision-makers are in the room during approval meetings.

3. Instead of writing complex RFPs, try starting with interviews. RFPs can sometimes lead to an over-complicated vendor selection process and can also result in inaccurate pricing. Start by talking to qualified web firms and see what their processes are like.

4. Choose a good website design and development firm. This makes a huge difference. Look for a firm that has experience in your industry (or similar types of websites), a deep portfolio of work that you like, and (most importantly) a proven process.

5. Budget for content and photography. Great content and professional photography can make or break a design. Remember, website visitors make snap decisions about the credibility of your organization in less than a second based on your design. Don’t skimp on content and photography.

For further reading, here are the websites I referenced during my presentation with further information on design trends and usability:

A List Apart (design and development trends)
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox (usability)
Redesigning Your Website (my presentation given at the event)
7 Habits of Highly Effective Websites (my presentation on website best practices)

I would also like to invite everyone to register for this upcoming seminar:

7 Habits of Highly Effective Websites

It will be a great followup and will have very specific examples of website design and usability best practices.

Thanks again to ISAE and all who attended for a great event!