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Template sites VS exclusive sites





Speaking of template sites, we often hear that such projects do not live longer than several months. Potential customers, having heard the word "sample", do not want to continue the conversation and make offended people. Studios that make "sample" decisions are often deprived of proper respect in the professional community. And, finally, sites that are cheaper than 20 000 rubles are often called, excuse me, "govnosaytami." Do you think so too? Let's see how it really is and restore the global balance (if it exists).



The problem is in terms of. Let's define the terminology


Who wants to live by patterns? Of course no one. But why no one thinks that most of the things that we used to use (furniture, cars ... and even food) can also be called template? Cars of the most famous brands are made on the template and only a small percentage is produced on exclusive, individual projects. Everyone knows and loves IKEA furniture. It is also made on patterns that are replicated in millions of parties. Does this mean that they are substandard?

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Do not you think that the word "template" in advance carries a negative, not even having time to be born. I propose to begin to replace the word template with the word “typical”. Typical site, a typical solution for your company, a typical development process. Does it sound better? I think yes. Now you can figure out what's what and answer the question that everyone is asking themselves. What's better? Overpay and get an exclusive solution or order a standard solution, saving time and money.



Consider the essence of the dilemma. What's better?


We have long worked in the segment of expensive corporate sites, with budgets from 250 thousand rubles. During this time, it was a deep conviction that a good website could not be cheaper. Then we went to the segment of budget corporate projects, releasing 25-30 low-cost sites per month. After a year of work, we realized that in this segment the site can solve the problems of clients, sometimes not worse, or even better than expensive projects.



You know, I was confused. There was a clear feeling that what we offered for 250 thousand now began to sell for 15-20 thousand. I mean the end result for the client’s business in the form of calls from the site and new customers. Surely, each of you, whether you are the ultimate client or a representative of the studio, also thought about this issue. Did you manage to formulate a definite answer? I do not.

It turns out that we - the developers just can not answer the question "which is better?". What then do customers do? I wanted to finally formulate a definite position for myself.



Birth and Mortality Studies


Whatever be unfounded and not based only on our feelings, we decided to conduct a little research. Find out the satisfaction of owners of corporate sites (expensive projects and low-cost standard solutions).



Budget decisions (12 - 16 thousand rubles)


Chose all the sites that we have released over the past 3 years. Of them:



Fertility (made sites at the time of the study) - 268 (100%)

Mortality (closed at the time of the study) - 16 (5.9%)



From among the living, 50 companies phoned and asked a few questions. Phoned only those companies for which the sites were made more than a year ago.



Are you satisfied with the work site?

Yes, very satisfied - 63%

It seems yes. I do not even know - 23%

I would like more - 7%

Not happy, disappointed - 7%



Did the site help promote your business?

Yes, it helped - 63%

Not affected - 19%

Other - 19%



What does this study show? No more than what typical low-cost solutions work. Prove that expensive projects also work - I will not. I think that the statistics will not be worse. I was interested to compare the "mortality".



Expensive solutions (from 200,000 rubles).


Fertility (made sites at the time of the study) - 52 (100%)

Mortality (closed at the time of the study) - 12 (20%)



Results analysis


Statistics is not obvious, but the numbers can not be fooled. In my research, the mortality of expensive projects is not lower, but higher than the budget mortality! I tried to explain myself why ...



Often the site is ruined by the illiteracy of company executives who expect price to mean quality. Paid a lot, so there should be a big and fast result ... It did not work out? We change the contractor and marketer. What makes a new marketer a large company? Starts with his work with a complete rework of the company's website. The site is dead, long live the site. And all around)



All run to order template sites?


Of course not. The essence of the position that I have developed for myself is as follows. When we order a corporate site, it is necessary to be guided by simple principles:



  1. The cost of the site does not indicate whether it is good or bad, effective or not. A good site can be obtained for both 200 thousand and 20. Most importantly, the production technology would be respected.
  2. An expensive corporate website is the luxury of large, well-known companies. With the growth of the company, the importance of the site in attracting new customers, as a rule, decreases. At the forefront is the image component, the support of credibility, the work to win consumer confidence. We have to pay great attention to design, non-standard graphic solutions, attracting famous designers. This draws on a non-standard approach to everything else (layout, filling, testing ...). Due to this, the cost and soars 10 times, which is fully justified.


Paraphrasing the listed items, it can be summed up that the quality of the site is expressed in two indicators: 1) Instrumental value. How well is the site done to solve communication problems and bring you new potential customers? 2) Image value. How well the site is made to highlight the image and status of your company?



Indicator number 1 is not associated with cost, indicator number 2 is directly related to cost. You should focus on the first point, while your company is at the stage of formation and development, pay attention to the second point, when the question of finding customers no longer depends on the site, or you don’t have to have a site for 20 thousand rubles.



And what in the middle you ask? I described this in the article “Black hole in the range of cost of sites” and “Web studio, do not climb into a black hole. There is no money there. ” Perhaps for someone it will also be interesting. In the meantime, in the form of a conclusion ...



Some tips for customers


If indicator No. 1 can be estimated from the studio's work portfolio, then how to evaluate the quality of performance of indicator No. 2?



I have already said more than once that the development of a site is not a product, but a set of processes that accomplish the final product. It does not matter whether it is an expensive project or not, the technology of bringing the product to a working solution is very important. Simple little things show the professionalism of the studio.



Here, in my opinion, are some professional “trifles” of a quality job:



I cited only part of the indicators. This list can be continued, but it is not the subject of this post.



Maybe typical sites, it's not so bad? I hope that my reasoning will be useful. When I made the described conclusions for myself, it became a bit easier to live and work)



Vasily Churanov and the team web-canape.ru

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/148340/

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