I’m a budget babe, constantly on the hunt for a good deal. I like to shop around, get the best prices, and almost always purchase my clothes secondhand. So from that lens, I totally understand the impulse to go with a cheap website. Budgets are limited! Why spend thousands of dollars on a website when you can build one yourself, or find someone else who will do it for next to nothing?
Sometimes, a low-cost website works, but there’s an important question to ask before choosing the cheapest option: What happens after the website is built?
The price you pay to get a website online isn’t necessarily the total cost of owning it. A website that saves money upfront can sometimes cost more over time through lost customers, ongoing fixes, poor performance, or the need to rebuild it sooner than expected.
As a Charlotte web design company with decades of experience, what follows are some of the hidden costs of a cheap website that are worth considering.
Lost Customers
If you have a business, your website isn’t just your digital business card. It’s often the first place a potential customer encounters your business. If the site is confusing, difficult to navigate, slow, outdated, or doesn’t clearly explain what you offer, visitors may leave without contacting you. This may not feel like a big deal because you don’t actually know how many potential customers you lost, but let’s make it a hypothetical. What number makes your stomach drop and your chest constrict? For what number is it worth it to invest in your website?
You don’t have to have the flashiest website on the block (so to speak) to be effective, but you do need to make it easy for visitors to understand your business, trust you, and take the next step. Hiring a professional web designer can make sure yours does all that and keep you from losing customers and clients.
Paying for the Same Work Twice
This is a big one. Oftentimes, people will slap together a cheap website. Maybe they didn’t have future growth in mind. Or maybe they didn’t realize it would be difficult to update. Maybe the technology is outdated. Or perhaps the person who built it is no longer available to make changes. That, my friends, puts you in hot water.
If you have to start over, you haven’t actually saved money. You’ve paid for one website and then paid again for the website you needed in the first place. A good website should be built with some consideration for what happens next and not just what happens on launch day.
Poor Mobile Performance
I think I’ve written about this a billion times: A website that looks fine on a desktop computer may be frustrating to use on a phone. Text might be difficult to read. Buttons may be too small. Images may not display properly. Navigation can become awkward. If your customers primarily use mobile devices (which many do!), those problems aren’t minor – they’re major. Those major obstacles can wind up costing you money because of 1.) lost customers and 2.) the need to redo your website. Making a website responsive from the beginning is generally much easier than trying to retrofit a poor mobile experience later.
Slow Loading Speeds
Loading speeds are another thing we drone on about as a Charlotte web designer because they affect search engine optimization (SEO), or the thing that makes you rank on search engines and show up in AI overviews. Cheap websites sometimes rely on oversized images, unnecessary plugins, poor hosting, or other technical choices that can hurt performance.
Visitors don’t necessarily know why a website is slow, but if it is slow, they’ll leave before the page finishes loading (probably). A website that saves money upfront but consistently frustrates visitors isn’t really a bargain, now is it? Not if the intention is to attract and retain customers and clients. . .
Limited SEO Potential
Yes, SEO still matters! And no, you don’t need an enormous SEO budget to have a search-friendly website. But SEO does need to be considered during the planning and development process. A website can look perfectly fine while having underlying problems that make it harder for search engines to understand it and rank your website.
Examples include:
- Poor site structure
- Missing or weak page titles
- Duplicate content
- Broken links
- Poorly optimized images
- Difficult-to-crawl pages
- Lack of useful, relevant content
Fixing these issues after the fact can take more time and effort than considering them when the site is originally built.
Security Problems
You may not think website security is something you need to consider if you don’t have an online store, but think again. Outdated software, plugins, themes, or other components can create vulnerabilities. And once a website is compromised, the costs can extend far beyond the website itself. You may need to restore the site, remove malicious code, update vulnerable software, investigate what happened, and potentially deal with damage to your reputation.
Hackers target all kinds of websites – even small businesses. Why? I don’t know. For kicks? Because they’re bored? All I know is it happens and regular maintenance is what keeps them at bay. It’s part of the cost of owning a website.
Nobody to Call When Something Breaks
This is a biggie. One question that’s easy to overlook when comparing website prices is: “Who takes care of the website after it launches?” and “What happens when an update breaks something?” Or “What happens when you accidentally delete a page?” How about, what happens when you need to add a new service? Or if the contact form stops working?
A low-cost website may not include ongoing support. That’s not necessarily a problem, but you should know what you’re responsible for before you sign up. The cheapest website isn’t very cheap if you’re spending your own time trying to figure out why something stopped working. Luckily, by working with a Charlotte web design company (like us), you won’t run into those problems.
Your Own Time Has Value
Time is the only resource you don’t replenish. Website builders have made it easier than ever to create a website, which is great! But “easy to build” doesn’t necessarily mean “quick to build well.” Writing the copy, choosing images, organizing pages, learning the platform, troubleshooting technical problems, checking the mobile version, and keeping everything updated can consume many hours. Those hours have a cost, even if you don’t send yourself an invoice.
If you’re a business owner, ask what else you could be doing with that time. Sometimes the most expensive part of a DIY website is the work you don’t get done while you’re building it.
Cheap Doesn’t Always Mean Bad
I want to be clear that not every inexpensive website is a bad website. A simple business with a limited number of services may not need a complicated custom site. Website builders can be excellent solutions for some businesses, particularly when the owner is comfortable managing the site themselves.
The goal isn’t to spend as much money as possible; it’s to understand what you’re actually buying.
Before choosing a website based primarily on price, consider the following:
- Will it be easy for customers to use?
- Will it work well on mobile devices?
- Can I update it myself?
- Is it built with search engines in mind?
- Who will maintain it?
- What happens if something breaks?
- Can the website grow with my business?
- Will it help turn visitors into customers?
Those questions tell you much more about the value of a website than the initial price tag. And if you find you want more support than a cheap or DIY option, we’re just a phone call or email away. . .
Think Beyond the Launch
Bottom line, a website isn’t a one-time purchase that you can simply check off your marketing list. It’s an ongoing part of your business that needs to be usable, secure, current, accessible, and relevant to the people you’re trying to reach. That doesn’t mean you need the most expensive website available but it does mean you should think about the total value of the website and not just the number on the initial invoice.
A cheap website that works well, brings in customers, and is easy to maintain may be a great investment. But a cheap website that has to be rebuilt, loses potential customers, and consumes hours of your time may turn out to be anything but cheap.
If you’d like help with your website, we’re a Charlotte web designer who is available. Get in touch with Web Symphonies via email or call (704) 336-9113.
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