Designing or redesigning a website for your organization can be an expensive process. That is why many organizations try making a website themselves using a website builder like WordPress or Wix. There are pros and cons to building your own website from a template, one of the biggest pros being the cost. But there are other ways to save money on your website while still working with a professional.  

Template designed websites may save you money upfront, but these websites are not usually scalable to growth, which leads to greater expenses long-term. However, there are a number of actions you can take to lower professional development costs and save money both upfront and long-term. Most of our clients have a strict budget, so here are some tips to help clients stay within their budget while still getting the website they want.  

Find the Right Designer: 

It is best to work with an experienced designer that is able to provide all the services you require in-house. While it may seem like a designer of this caliber will cost more that’s not necessarily true. Hiring someone with experience means the project shouldn’t take as long. But hiring someone with limited experience means you’re paying for them to learn on the job.  

Additionally, a more experience designer and developer will be able to do everything in-house. A lot of design firms outsource certain aspects of the project, which costs more. At GovUnity we provide 100% in-house website design and development services.  

Get a Written Proposal: 

Most government organizations issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a Request for Quote (RFQ) document. This is so firms can submit bids with detailed service and pricing information. If you do not want to issue an RFP or RFQ, you should still ask for a proposal that contains detailed pricing information.  

This should include information about the cost of intimal design, the cost of hosting, and the cost of additional services. As well as information about the terms of payment. This will help protect you against firms that charge for additional services throughout the process making the final cost far more than the original quote.  

Come Prepared: 

Knowing what you want ahead of time will help save time, money, and frustration. The cost of initial design is based on the amount of time and work web designer believes they will be putting into the project. If you know what you want and have the necessary materials ready to go before you start hiring you will get more accurate quotes which will save you money. Here are some things to have prepared: 

• Examples: Provide your web designer with examples of website you like. This will help them as they design your site.  
• List of Features: Have a list of your desired features ready so your web designer knows what to expect ahead of time.  
• Content: You can save money by providing your own content. If you are redesigning an existing website repurpose and reuse it for the new website. This way you don’t have to spend as much money on generating brand new content for the website.  
• Photos: Like content you can re-use photos from an existing website or pull them out or your archives. If you do not have any high-quality for photos on hand save money by using free stock photos.  

Be Involved: 

Often time the web design process looks something like this: the client provides the designer with all the information about that they want. Then the client steps away from the project while the developer gets to work. But when the client sees the finished product, they want to make changes. And making changes at that stage can be costly. 

That is why it is important for clients to have a voice in the project the whole way through. At GovUnity we provide our customers with a link to the site in development so they can provide feedback along the way. This allows us to make as many changes as we need to without increasing costs at all.  

Keep Things Simple: 

This is especially key in terms of functionality and total number of webpages. The more tools, videos, and pages your website has, the more expensive it will be. By keeping things simple the development process will be quicker and less expensive. Ways to keep things simple include: 

• Limiting the total number of webpages by including only the most important information.  
• Decide what one action you want your website’s visitors to take and focus the design around that.  
• Use Content Management System (CMS) with open source coding. This will allow your staff to make minor edits and updates to the website without the help of a developer.  

In response to COVID 19 GovUnity is now offering website design and hosting services to communities without a web presence as part of a $70/month 3-year contract. This offer is valid now through December 31st. Contact GovUnity today and work with our team of experts to build a website that meets all of your needs.