Stock In Action

So you need a website, but you don’t have much time, money, or know-how. The good news is that you probably have more options than you realize.

Custom Work
Custom work can be the best, but be careful. Just because a web design company exists doesn’t mean it’s good. Make sure you check out their portfolio to be sure. If you don’t know what to look for, check the client list. Big clients means they are probably good, but unfortunately big clients also means big bucks. Custom work is the slowest and most expensive route you can take. Expect to pay thousands of dollars for custom websites. Be wary of cheap work; you get what you pay for.

My Friend’s Brother Does Websites
Whether it’s your friend’s brother, cousin, dog’s former owner, whatever, this is usually a BAD idea. I get so sick of hearing this phrase from people because most people that “do websites” have NO idea how to DO websites. Okay, maybe they do appear to know what they are doing. Check their portfolio and client list just like you would someone you don’t know. If they are good, this is just regular old custom work so expect to pay custom prices.

You know all this already. That is why you are here. Let’s move on to the options you may not be aware of.

Stock Websites
Stock websites are ready-made and can cost anywhere from $15 to $150 depending on who you buy from and what you want. The beauty of these is the price, of course, but also the fact that you don’t have to wait a month for your site to be built only to see that it isn’t quite what you had in mind. You can pick from literally thousands of options to find the one that best suites you. Setup is relatively easy and if you’re completely computer-stupid, you can find someone to do this for you for almost nothing. Sounds great, right? Maybe. There are some things you should be careful of. Even though you’re buying a stock website, you don’t want to look like you bought a stock website (read stock without looking stocky for more info). Some companies do just fine with ready-made websites. Let’s say you run a cookie shop and all you need is a one page site with contact info. You buy a pre-made site, add your content and you are done! Now let’s say you are a cookie shop that is two doors down from the previously mentioned cookie shop that wants a menu, online order forms, a gallery, and google maps, so you can be found more easily. You really can’t do all that with a stock website. That brings us to the option I recommend most often…

Stock Websites + Custom Work
This is how stock works: A designer creates a website that he would normally charge $4000 for. Instead he sells it for $20 200 times. When designers build stock they make it as generic as possible to sell it to as many people as possible. That means that you will never find a $20 website that meets all your needs. Like I said before custom work is expensive, but designers charge based on how much work they do. Let’s say your custom website would cost $3000. Instead you buy a $20 site and have to pay $500 to have it customized to fit your every need. That means you just saved $2500. You win.

Where To Find Said Ready-Made Websites
There are several out there so you may want to just google “website templates.” I wrote a review here on two heavy hitters; templatemonster and themeforest. You may want to read it before you go searching for the perfect website.