How Much Do Websites And Marketing Really Cost For Jewelers?
June 22, 2018 (0 comments)
How much do new websites cost?
This seems to be a question every wants answered. A good portion of the industry seems much more ready now than it was just two years ago to invest some money into a new website and an intelligent online marketing campaign. The question is, how much?
In this article, I’ll explore what agencies typically charge for their services, what factors go into pricing, and how much you should (and shouldn’t) be spending.
But first, a reminder of price vs value.
Most agencies won’t put their prices on their site. The truth is, there’s no one plan that works for all companies. It’s absolutely impossible to give you a quote without having a real conversation with you. Have you done SEO before? What’s your social media plan look like? Do you want to sell online or drive foot traffic? What are your competitors doing, and how difficult will it be to beat them in the SEO game? Do you blog? How much time do you have to contribute to the site? There are so many factors to figure out before an agency can give you a quote.
When discussing price with an agency, you also need to consider the value the agency brings against their price. Sure, Bob the 22 year old kid fresh out of college with a new “marketing” degree may only charge you $150/mo to handle your marketing, but that’s because he has no experience. A real agency that knows what they’re doing (aka can produce results and sales) will put tons of hours into executing a real plan for you. So yes, you’re going to pay more money for more talented agencies. But I’d rather pay $1,500/month to a marketing team who can bring me $6,000 a month in online sales, over paying someone $300/month who can’t produce any results for me. Actually, if someone says they’re going to manage your online marketing for that cheap, I’d run.
How much should websites really cost?
The quick answer is $5,000-$40,000.
I know. That’s an extremely broad range. And yes, companies do pay $40,000 for websites - and up!
There is no industry standard pricing. Agencies and freelancers simply decide their rates based on their credentials, experience, and belief in their ability. And some very talented developers charge great rates, and some very inexperienced developers are very expensive.
In my opinion, realistically, you’re looking at $5,000-$20,000.
This level of site will work for about 70% of businesses in the industry. However, some companies will want more sophisticated technology. Believe me - if you want some kind of complicated shipping system or virtual reality thing to show off rings, these things can’t be done by amateurs. And it’s going to increase the price.
Reports from three other popular resources confirm that price range, too.
PostStatus says: "If you work with a good freelancer, I think ~70% of custom websites for average folks and average businesses will cost between $3,000 and $15,000. If you work with a good agency in a medium market, I think ~70% of custom websites for average folks and average businesses will cost between $8,000 and $40,000."
Digital.com says: "A medium sized business site - mostly for commercial websites with no more than 75 pages, content management system (CMS) enabled, custom design layouts and imagery, and some unique functionality set up by developers. Upfront rates: $10,000 to $25,000."
Liquid Web says: "A custom website that is built by a freelancer could cost as little as $5,000 while one built by a digital agency might cost $50,000 or more. The range narrows as you learn more about a specific client and their custom needs."
Can’t I get a website for $1,500 from my friend’s son?
Sure. You can buy a diamond from your friends son, too. Good luck with that.
For sure, you’ll have people quote you $1,500 to design your website. To me, that person’s probably at the stage of still building their portfolio. They may do nice work for you, but it’s a risk - of time, resources, and money. For example, I may put 100 hours of work into a site. How much work will someone really put into your site for only $1500? So my gut reaction when I hear these prices is to be a bit weary. There aren’t many professionals with experience who are going to accept that low a fee for the many hours they’ll put into making your site a success.
How much should marketing cost?
RankPay says the average SEO consultant charges $750-$1500/month on retainer.
Ahrefs wrote a fantastic article interviewing 350 agencies around the world about their SEO (search engine optimization).
Their findings were that $1266 is the average retainer for SEO experts with under two years experience. It jumps to about $2500/month for experts with over 2 years experience.
And remember, this is just for SEO. If you want them to handle social media, inbound campaigns, and more, that costs money too.
Can’t my son’s friend handle my digital marketing?
Again, sure. But be aware that your son’s friend (or your secretary) is not doing the same things that an expert will do. You may think it’s a fine idea to have someone young handle your social media because you think all millenials know how to use social media well. This is simply not the case, because I can list a plethora of strategies I’d use on social that the average person has simply never even heard of.
Hire a professional. You don’t have to hire the most expensive one! But you do need to work with someone who knows what they’re doing.
Man, these prices are expensive.
Yes, they are. But so is an engagement ring. And sometimes you simply have to explain to the customer that they can’t get that $20,000 engagement ring for only $5,000. That’s just not realistic.
The same goes for websites and marketing. Most clients don’t realize that it requires many hours of work each week. Unfortunately, this costs money.
There are a few tips to keep your costs as low as possible.
You can use a freelancer. Some companies will absolutely need larger agencies to drive big online sales. But that’s not for everyone. My agency is composed of myself and 5 other digital pros. We’re able to keep costs much lower than many competitors simply because we don’t have a fancy office - we all work remotely from home from around the world. An option like this may be a smart decision for companies who realize they need professional work but can’t justify hiring a major agency (feel fre to email me if you need help - mike@haubenmedia.com).
Stop worrying about fancy technology. Many, many agencies - especially in the Jewelry space - will swear that they have some fancy platform and that’s why the site will be so expensive. Or, they’ll explain that “everything is built custom so it’s worth more”. Look. It doesn’t matter which parts of the site are built custom, or what technology it’s on. It just has to work well! Every website I’ve built in the past 8 years has been built on Wordpress. It’s the most popular site platform in the world, powering about 30% of all websites online. It works amazing for almost everyone. It doesn’t really matter what technology or site platform your site is built on. Choose your agency based on what their site does and how it works. It doesn’t matter if it’s Wordpress, magento, or any other platform. There are pros and cons to them all, but a developer knows how to work with whatever site platform they’re using and should be able to accommodate your needs. Don’t get fooled into choosing an agency because they use big technical words you don’t understand.
Produce tons of content. One of the biggest payoffs for your site with the lowest cost will be to produce content on a regular basis. It costs you nothing, except time. It’s likely that an SEO agency will include this in their services. You won’t be able to publish articles that are as SEO-friendly as an agency will do, but they’ll certainly still hold weight.
Handle social yourself. Become amazing with advanced Facebook ads and retargeting. I know I’m going to get some slack from this from all the social media purists, but SEO is a far more technical and skillful discipline than social media. You really won’t be able to do much meaningful SEO work without years of studying. However, social media has a much easier learning curve. If you really can’t afford to pay an agency to do everything, you can probably take on the social media yourself with some assistance from the agency.
