In today’s world, there’s no need to debate whether a business or brand needs a website. However, in Macedonia, a new market of freelancers and anonymous marketing agencies has emerged, promising free websites, subscription-based websites, or complementary websites.
Investing in a website is one of the first steps businesses and brands take to establish their online presence. The options mentioned above are tempting to reduce costs. However, the allure of a cheap or free website often hides long-term costs and challenges that can arise.
One of the most significant hidden costs is poor performance. Free or low-budget websites typically come with limited server resources and rigid, unchangeable designs, resulting in slower loading times and a generally poor user experience. This can frustrate potential customers, leading to higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates. In an era where user experience is paramount, a slow website can seriously damage a business’s reputation and profitability.
For illustration, according to Google’s research, if a website’s initial load takes longer than 1 second, the chance of losing a visitor rises to 90%!
Customization options on cheap or free platforms are typically limited, restricting the ability to create a unique online presence. Businesses lose the opportunity to integrate essential features or unique design elements that reflect their brand. Over time, as the company grows and its needs evolve, these limitations can stifle growth and necessitate costly upgrades or migrations to more robust platforms.
Security is another critical concern. Free or low-budget websites often lack advanced security features or are expensive to secure, making them more vulnerable to cyberattacks, especially if the website handles online payments.
Perhaps the most crucial factor is scalability. A business may grow slowly for a long time and then experience a sudden surge. In such situations, you could be caught unprepared, and the website might simply crash and not recover. Are you ready to lose potential customers because the server hosting your website can’t handle the traffic surge?
Did you know your website might be hosted on so-called shared hosting, a low-budget alternative where multiple websites share the same server? Your site may be fully functional, but you don’t know who you’re sharing resources with. Another website could experience a surge and crash all the sites on that server. This means you could suffer, and it wouldn’t even be your fault!
Upgrading or migrating to more capable servers isn’t a three-click, five-minute process! It’s a procedure that can take a long time, sometimes more than seven days. It’s questionable whether low-budget companies have the skilled staff to do this without losing your data or customers. This means you might end up paying for the website twice instead of once.
A free or cheap website may seem like a super cost-effective choice initially, but you must understand that there are always hidden costs, challenges, rigid structures, and difficulties in adding elements, not to mention security and scalability issues.
You should view a website as an investment, not an expense!
Your website is your brand’s ID card. It’s the first thing people see and the first impression you leave with them! A poorly optimized website puts you behind your competitors on search engines like Google.
Investing in a professional, well-designed website from the start can save money, time, and headaches in the long run.
In conclusion, at Blink, we’ve worked on both small business websites and large, complex web platforms with hundreds of thousands of monthly visits. This experience allows us to speak on this topic and issue this warning to anyone considering a new website.
Why are our prices higher than the competition and vary from client to client?
- You get a unique design based on your brand, with no limitations.
- Secure hosting setup if you don’t have one, or optimization of existing hosting.
- The website works and looks great on any device, no questions asked—this is a default, non-negotiable standard. It’s shameful to even mention this, let alone use it as a unique selling point; it must be done!
- 24/7 support with some of the fastest ticket resolution times.
- There’s nothing we can’t do for a client if needed. Whether it’s design or web functionality, our programmers and developers can solve at least 99% of issues.
- Speed and expertise. From the first meeting to the final product in 24 hours if absolutely necessary (though this comes at a higher cost). Realistic delivery times range from 7 to 30 days, sometimes more, depending on the client’s requirements. Sorry, but no one can work faster than us when we need to, and we have proof of our fast, efficient, and precise work.
- Translation of the entire site’s content into as many languages as you want.
- You receive all licenses for life—no cracked, pirated versions of plugins or software.
- We hand over the website in full; if you choose not to continue working with us, we won’t shut down or destroy your website. Why would we engage in unfair competition?
- With every website, you get complete documentation, video training, and an online course for you and your employees to easily train current and future staff. Additionally, you receive a 3-month warranty period to ensure a smooth launch.
In the end, it’s your money, and you decide what to do with it. Our job is to warn you that it could cost you very, very dearly.
