Ask a  web professional: “How much should a website build cost?” And their answer is bound to be “How long is a piece of string”.

As unproductive as this conversation is, I’d be surprised if you haven’t heard, or perhaps even been a part of this exchange yourself. It’s a common challenge in the business world – that is – identifying the value of a website, and therefore how much to put aside for one when it comes to annual budgets.

Despite the significant shift in digital technology that has no doubt inundated your social media and news feeds over the past few years, everything from Web 3, blockchain technology, augmented reality, QR codes, the short-lived meta verse and of course, AI, it is still important to focus on the business foundations of value creation and planning. 

Perhaps it is simply being drowned out by all the hype. But I’m not suggesting that you don’t consider the possibilities of incredible new technology like Chat GPT – in fact, make sure you don’t get left behind! But when it comes to your website, and a budget, it’s more important than ever to remember to consider these things in the context of your business and your customers first so that, rather than reverse engineering an application for the sake of new tech, your choices and decisions will be made easier by starting with the fundamentals.

This can actually be good news when it comes to planning a new online presence. Since you don’t have to worry (too much) about the latest mind-bending trend, and can instead return to the fundamentals that are familiar to any good marketer:

1. Who is your market?
2. How do you speak to them?
3. What do they value/need?

And it is actually these three questions that can lead us to our first estimate for a digital budget.

How much is your market worth to you?

Your website is a function of your target outcome. So if you want a website that will deliver millions of dollars of leads to you each year, then budget accordingly. 

You’ll never guess what the most undervalued part of any web project is.

There used to be a saying back in the mid-2000s that – 80% of web design is typography. It’s probably still true – and I would go as far as to say that 90% of any web project is the copy. This is because:

Content sells the product. 

Design sells the content.

Because if you can’t read the copy, then it doesn’t matter how good it is. 

Spend good money on your copy. Because how you speak to your market is how you make money from them.

Remember though, it’s not as simple as writing good headlines and articles. There are several copywriting skills that make up the digital marketing discipline:

1. Persuasive copy – it’s not just words on a page – the words should have a purpose!
2. Conversion optimisation – use the power of iteration to find the best words and images! 
3. SEO – rankings start with the words your audience uses to find you!
4. Email marketing – write love letters to your customers!
5. Blogging – thought leadership and education are just words on your site.
6. Performance marketing – It’s all Ad copy and headlines here!

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

In terms of cost though – the point I’d like to make is, it’s not just the cost of your copywriter (internal or external), it’s the time you need to invest as a business to make sure the people who know your customer best are part of the project.

What does your audience value?

While the first two points are about the investment you should make into understanding and speaking to your audience, this last point is about creating something of value aside from your product. I’m not talking about “values” in the Simon Sinek sense, I’m speaking about a digital product – or the experience your customers will expect based on your competition.

Knowing what your audience expects from you online is probably a good first step to consider. Imagine you are starting a new taxi service, can you imagine doing well if you didn’t have a way for your customer to pay online or track the location of your taxi?

Technology is powerful, and it also has a relatively low barrier to entry – so your options to create a digital experience that is valuable to your audience are greatly enhanced by things like AI (maybe not so much the metaverse). At the same time, it makes it easier for your competition to set a bar that you must meet in order to compete.

Just get started – Reduce opportunity cost.

It’s always easy to preach about what to do, or even spend time describing the problem. In the end – the beauty of digital is that it can be continuously adjusted with very little effort. You should take advantage of that – just be sure to keep moving forward. 

Progress over perfection is mantra.

So remember – if you are costing up a digital budget for the coming financial year – consider these three things:

1. The size of your prize
2. The cost of all your resources required to make it work
3. The benchmark you need to meet in order to compete

And of course – if you need help, speak to an expert – At TBST Digital, we find having this conversation early increases the likelihood of an exceedingly positive outcome.