Things have changed. Years ago companies spent most of their budget on their website, leaving very little for marketing and advertising. Some are still making this mistake today. Website design and development are important but success online is about more than just visual appeal.
These days, a lot of companies and entrepreneurs are making a money without any website at all or with one built on proprietary platforms like GoDaddy and Wix. Some businesses rely on traffic from Google and need continued search engine optimization or they rely on Google AdWords and others simply use social media to make them money.
I believe in a hybrid approach for most businesses. I do not believe relying on one source of traffic is a good idea for any business. But that is another topic. Let’s get back to your overall marketing budget and how much is spent on website design vs marketing.
How much do I set aside for website design and marketing?
Website design and marketing are both important. You need a professional looking website. You need to think about your brand and establishing trust. All of that is important. It’s the foundation of your online presence.
Focus on conversion rate optimization and SEO while you build your website, not after.
The prettiest website in the world with the most amazing graphics you’ve ever seen won’t make a dime if you don’t do marketing.
Here is an Example: Marketing vs. Website Design Allocation
Let’s say you’ve set aside 10% of annual revenue for marketing, which includes website design. Here’s how it might be split: Marketing vs Website Design Budget.
- 70% to 80%: Marketing campaigns (SEO, paid ads, email, content, etc.)
- 20% to 30%: Website design (one-time upgrades, redesigns, or monthly maintenance)
For example:
- Annual revenue: $500,000
- Marketing budget: $50,000 (10%)
- Within that $50,000:
- $10,000 to $15,000 for web design and updates
- $35,000 to $40,000 for digital marketing and advertising
None of that is set in stone, but when considering website design vs marketing when it comes to your overall budget, don’t get caught up in the visual appeal over the content and marketing.
How much should I spend on website design?
I’ve had a lot of potential clients come to me about helping them with marketing and the first bit of info I get is how much they spent on website design.
And they don’t have much money left over for content or marketing or advertising or PPC campaigns.
Or they come to me about building a website and they are okay with everything until we come to the price of the content.
They want everything to look pretty but don’t understand why the content costs so much.
The first thing that everyone should understand. That pretty logo and that great graphic header at the top of your page is not going to get you ranking number one on Google or get you more traffic or make you more money. It’s the content you should be investing most of your money in. It’s the part that gives you ROI.
Let’s say you have $10,000 to start your online business. Spending $8,000 to design your website, leaving only $2000 for marketing and advertising, is not a formula for success. It’s also putting the cart before the horse.
“Don’t create a marketing plan for your website. Create a website that fits into your marketing plan” — Chris McElroy SEO
Seriously. You should have a well-thought out marketing plan before you even think about building a website.
- Who is your target audience?
- Have you created buyer personas?
- Where do they spend most of their time?
- What is your value proposition?
- How do you intend on attracting them to your website and landing pages?
- Are you going to rely on social media, PPC, organic search or a little of all three?
- Who are your top competitors?
- What are they doing to attract customers?
- How will you make yourself stand out as better than they are?
You might not like me being blunt, but if you can’t answer that small subset of questions, you should be barred from talking with anyone about designing your website.
You should know how much it is going to cost to do your online marketing, SEO, PPC, etc. before you can decide how much money you have for the website you want to build. It might give you a much-needed reality check. Do you really have enough in your budget to do everything you want to do with your online business? Are you really ready to get started?
Things to do before thinking about website design
- Competitor Research (Who is your competition? What is the price they give? What are they doing to get traffic? Which social media sites do they target? etc.)
- Examine their website. How is it structured? What type of content do they have? How can you do it better? Do they have landing pages for PPC? What is their value proposition? Do you think their close is good or do you think you can do better?
- What is your value proposition? (How are you different from those competitors? What can you offer that they don’t?)
- Who are your ideal customers? (Not just a demographic answer. Create your ideal customer personas. How much do they make per year? Are they married? Do they have kids? What kind of care do they drive? What kind of problems are they facing that you can help with? Be as detailed as possible and even give each persona a name.
- Which social media websites do they spend time on? (In personas, add where they get their information. You can create bob1 and bob2 and even bob3. Bob1 uses Facebook and Twitter. Bob2 uses Google primarily. Bob3 is mostly on LinkedIn. You get the idea)
- What keywords and phrases should you target in search engines? (Remember, a buying key phrase is much better than a generic related phrase. “XProduct Articles” would not be as important as ranking for “XProduct Prices” or “How much does an XProduct cost?”.
This is by far not the most comprehensive list of things to do, but if you at least do all of this before you design a website, you’ll be ahead of the game. Armed this information, you can now create a marketing plan. You know who you’re trying to sell to and where they spend their time.
And you have the search engine data you need. Also, You know where, if any, PPC campaigns you’re going to manage and what landing pages you’re going to need.
Now you're ready to talk about website design
The info you gathered in the planning phase tells you all you need to know about how to design your website.
While building the site, you need to make sure that, whoever your website designer is, fully understands your marketing plan.
SEO should be implemented during website development, not after. Site architecture, URL structure, navigation menus, schema markup and more needs to be implemented from the very start.
This will save you money later.
Your copywriter should be familiar with conversion rate optimization, not just SEO. They should writing content that entices people to fill out a form, call you, subscribe or buy something. If you are geo-targeting specific areas, they should also be familiar with Local SEO.
Your copywriter should also know those personas you created because that is who they need to have in their mind as they are writing your content. The content should be written as if you are talking to those personas.
They should explain things as they would explain it to a friend. Those personas are the only people you are writing for.
Make sure every page in your website has a purpose that is part of the marketing plan you created. Your landing pages should also be created during website design. You can always design more later, but if you did your research first, like we’ve discussed, then you already know some of the landing pages you will need.
After Website Design, What's Next?
You can already answer that question if you planned everything before you started the web design portion of the plan.
You’re already optimized for the search engines.
You already have your landing pages.
Your content was written specifically to your target audience.
Now, you can start the PPC and social media campaigns as well as the other digital marketing strategies that you created in the planning phase.
We offer a free, no obligation consultation. You can take advantage of that before, during or after you have built your website.
We will give you actionable tips, even if you decide not to hire us. We’re a genuinely here to help and you are under no obligation to buy anything.
