No doubt transporting your business online has never been easier.
But one towering question remains: should I use a turnkey software
that's already been developed or a totally customized Website option
for my business? Continue to read to learn the pros and cons of these
two website building options, and to decide whether to choose a turnkey
website builder or a purely customized solution for fulfilling your
business requirements and expectations.
Below are major factors to consider when you are shopping for the right website building solution for your business:
Time constraints; budget; flexibility; scalability; maintenance; support.
Customized Website Solution
First, I will address a customized website solution. For some business
owners, they would not be satisfied unless their website is totally
custom-designed. There are certain advantages such as specialization
and uniqueness when a website is completely built from scratch. With so
many companies today that provide website development services, you can
work directly with a web designer during the entire web developmental
process to make sure that you receive exactly what you want. You will
get mock-ups for each web page, reviews, and opportunities to suggest
changes. When approved your web designer will implement selected
designs within the site.
A 5 to10 paged Website may cost you any where from $2000 up to
$5,000. The timeline for completion is usually between two to four
weeks.
A turnkey Website solution is one which has been developed and is
available to you on a monthly rental basis. There are many providers
that offer turnkey website software, but only a few good ones that
offer shopping cart software, free support, and many features.
Beware of falling for those inferior shopping cart software providers
which specialize in web hosting. You do not want to use a company that
offers you ecommerce software as an added benefit. Be extremely careful
of making this oversight. The "wrong" provider can cost you thousands
of dollars worth of lost sales down the line.
A number of competent turnkey ecommerce software packages are available
to you at a very reasonably low cost. Keep in mind that these companies
have invested years in research and a lot of money to develop their
ecommerce software. They can afford to provide you a high quality
turnkey website solution at a remarkably low cost. Because their focus
is to attract the masses, their turnkey software has to provide a
sizeable number of features in order to fulfill a vast range of
business requirements. In addition, the price you pay monthly will be
quite low since such software providers have thousands of customers.
To see a fine example of a professionally-built turnkey website,
visit: http://www.turnkey-websites.info
The resources that are required to use a turnkey software truly depend
on how many services or products you are planning to sell. You will
either get manual or automated product updates.
Be certain to create a list of the utmost important features you will
need to run a successful business online. Then, compare your list of
needs with their list of features to make sure that most of those
features that you require, are available once you sign up. Never be in
a hurry. If you got questions, never hesitate to call or email. Make an
informed decision when all of your questions are answered to your
complete satisfaction.
Some turnkey software providers may fail to deliver a high level of
support to their customer base. Bear the support factor in mind when
shopping for a good turnkey software provider.
The vast majority of turnkey software companies provide web-based
administration so you can easily use point-and-click features to
quickly make updates whenever you need to. Maintenance of a website
through turnkey software is relatively simple, efficient, and very
cost-effective since the cost is already included in your monthly
rental fees.
The budget requirement for a turnkey website usually runs under one
hundred dollars a month. The timeline to launch a new website can
realistically be done within a day, depending on how involved the
project is.
The Pros and Cons
So what are the pros and cons of each described website option? A
customized website gives the business owner less control over content
update, takes longer to create, and costs much more to build, but it
does offer a more unique look. A turnkey software provider, on the
other hand, gives the business owner total control over content
updates, takes less time to build, costs incredibly less, but the look
and feel of a finished website is not as unique and personal as of a
customized web project.
