When creating a website for your business one of the key decisions you will need to make will concern your budget. You will not only have to decide on the overall budget for your website project, but also the breakdown of your budget pertaining to things such as design, technology and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Low Cost Design for Optimised Delivery

Your website budget will depend on how much of your business profitability is related to your website. For example if your website is purely for marketing purposes, then a brochure style website is all that you will require. A brochure style website would contain information about your business, what you offer, contact details etc. This means that you can keep your website budget at a minimal cost and not spend too much on extensive graphics and complex web designs. However if your website requires e-commerce facilities then be prepared to spend a great deal more. You should however ensure you invest a considerable part of your website budget on SEO.

Investing in SEO Design

SEO is the key to attracting your target audience to your website. If your website is an e-commerce site, SEO is especially essential for you to reach your targeted Customer base and generate sales. SEO techniques are constantly being updated and thus ensuring your website is search engine friendly will be an ongoing process. Investing a lot of time, effort and finances into creating a beautiful website which no one knows exists seems like quite a pointless exercise from a marketing point of view. It is therefore much more profitable for an e-commerce website to invest in a considerable amount of SEO.

Cost of Website Design vs. Cost of SEO Design

How to divide your website budget between the overall design of the website and SEO will be one of the key debates you will face when creating a website. Do you place more emphasis on design or more emphasis on the SEO of your website? On one hand SEO will help attract a greater volume of clients to your website and thus should be seen as requiring a greater portion of your website’s budget. However, that said unless your website is well set out with a good web design you are unlikely to keep your clients interested long enough to make a sale or profit from their visit. Thus a balance needs to be struck depending on the nature of your business. Only you will know what will best appeal to your client base and the part your website plays in your overall marketing scheme. Weight out your options, research your competitors and make an informed decision.