# Cost of New Website



## Stretch67

Well, I have doing a lot of reading in this here Tech section to get prepared for putting together a new website. I see a handful of you guys seem to be using Footbridge; you pretty happy overall?

How much should a guy be budgeting for this? I want it to focus on industrial and utility maintenance painting. And I'm not looking to get half the project done and then the other half drag out for another 5 years. I'm thinking the whole ball o wax (whatever that is... SEO??) built to top notch standards.

What can I do ahead of time to make the whole process easier/faster? I would like to get it going yet this year if possible, and be generating some leads in time for spring. Is that realistic, or does this stuff take longer than that?

We have never had a website before, but as we are shying away from GC work, and moving toward DTO work, me thinks a website is gonna be essential.

Thanks ahead of time!


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## Dave Mac

I have been through a few sites going on my fourth in the works right now, and I can say with out a doubt that this guys is a one stop shop and way better then anyone I have dealt with so far he is a member here and has done several guys on this board also. And for what you get is the best value of anyone by a long shot. he goes by Carls on here,

Some questions I wish I knew before hiring my first person

1. Are they going to develop the content or am I responsible for this?
2. Are they going to edit the content to be seo friendly?
3. Are they going to make sure the pages in my site are meta tagged, and key word rich, and tagged properly.
4. Are they going to tag and alt tag pictures.
5. are they going to show me how to edit anything I want on the site.
6. are they going to create a service area page for each town
7. what type pf load speed can you expect?


I am sure their are lots more stuff to know, but I hope this helps you some

Start getting your pictures together and planning them on how you want them arranged on pages and in galleries. You could start writing descriptions of your service, list of your service areas. 

Lots of savvy tech people on here (not me) you should get some really good answers on this thread

I think he charges 3k to start from scratch, which is a great deal IMO for what you get, 
http://www.sites4contractors.com/


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## PNW Painter

Have you thought about using Weebly, Squaresoft or Wix and creating the site yourself?


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## straight_lines

Being as you aren't shy about posting your rates I know you are making bank. 

You should hire a pro. Don't cheap out and build it yourself. If you want to talk to a pro contact Tess Wittler, I recently worked with her and she is great. She only does content creation but can hook you up with a designer and seo guy. 

I would plan on spending at least 8k.


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## Stretch67

PNW Painter said:


> Have you thought about using Weebly, Squaresoft or Wix and creating the site yourself?


Yes I have considered it. It took about 1.2 seconds for me to know that I don't have enough time to become a software engineer, and I want professional results. Not likely to happen with a DIYer. Just like paint DIYers, they choke.


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## Stretch67

Lol, I ain't shy about my rates cause I ain't making jack squat! Ok really most jobs are ho hum and get a half dozen or so a year that make the job worth it. Once I can get all u guys an especially RP to raise yours to the $100 neighborhood, then maybe I'll get mine to where I can make some money! We're trying to make this a place where people WANT to work, not HAVE to. fftopic:fftopic:

Ok, I was on phone with the guy DM mentioned whilst DM was mentioning him. Seems solid, and reasonable I think. I definitely can see the value in Tess Wittler once I have the design done; I imagine she could tweak the content so's to create some killer leads. I think I'm gonna go balls deep hiring bonafide professionals, and hope to get the phone ringing big time. Then we can pick n choose, instead of taking everything that walks through the door.

DM: Do you picture yourself unloading 8k?



straight_lines said:


> Being as you aren't shy about posting your rates I know you are making bank.
> 
> You should hire a pro. Don't cheap out and build it yourself. If you want to talk to a pro contact Tess Wittler, I recently worked with her and she is great. She only does content creation but can hook you up with a designer and seo guy.
> 
> I would plan on spending at least 8k.


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## Hines Painting

bryceraisanen said:


> Once I can get all u guys an especially RP to raise yours to the $100 neighborhood, then maybe I'll get mine to where I can make some money!


I'm not sure that it's possible to bill at $100/hr for residential repaints. My last small house I finished was ~65 hours and ~$500 in material. No way someone is paying $7k to have a 1200 sf house painted. I don't care how good of a salesman you are.


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## Painter-Aaron

Hines Painting said:


> I'm not sure that it's possible to bill at $100/hr for residential repaints. My last small house I finished was ~65 hours and ~$500 in material. No way someone is paying $7k to have a 1200 sf house painted. I don't care how good of a salesman you are.



I got 8k last year for that size. 

Although they told me it was that size, it seemed bigger. And it was a lot of colours. 
Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


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## MikeCalifornia

Painter-Aaron said:


> I got 8k last year for that size.
> 
> Although they told me it was that size, it seemed bigger. And it was a lot of colours.
> Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


That wasn't that office you haven't been paid on is it?


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## Hines Painting

Painter-Aaron said:


> I got 8k last year for that size.
> 
> Although they told me it was that size, it seemed bigger. And it was a lot of colours.
> Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


How many hours did it take you though?


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## Painter-Aaron

I didn't keep track. It was a pain. The HO wasn't supposed to be living there yet but she moved in before, there. She wasn't healthy so we could only go there when she felt okay. Than she asked us to do her cabinets. 3 colours and a buffet and hutch another. 

Due to her not feeling well we had to come back 6 months later to finish 3 days work. 

With the delays and hassle I didn't make much. But I got in with a designer so it evens out in the end 


Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com


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## Paint it Now

Footbridge or Carls ? Wondering what thoughts are on which may be the best way to go?


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## carls

> Footbridge or Carls ? Wondering what thoughts are on which may be the best way to go?


I think we both offer good solutions for a contractor but they are quite different. The best way to proceed is to probably call each of us, tell us about your business goals and ask all your burning questions.


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## Dave Mac

Paint it Now said:


> Footbridge or Carls ? Wondering what thoughts are on which may be the best way to go?


I have used Footbridge and prefer Carls


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## Stretch67

Ok now I'm taking some of my own medicine ---- damn hijackers -----
Hines I know residential is quite a bit more competitive... You seem to be happy with what you have going on (like ur website btw). But I would just say don't sell yourself short. Too many of us were raised with the belief that if you are just making enough to pay the bills then your doing better than most. I am 180 degrees from that theory. Now I'm not saying that is what your doing, but I can guarantee one thing. IF you tell yourself its NOT gonna happen, it WONT. You would have to build some sort of "mystique" around your business. Check these guys out:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/08/20/inside-hermes-luxury-secret-empire/

fftopic:fftopic:


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## Paint it Now

Thank you Mr Mac and Carls. Will do Carls, very soon.


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## thinkpainting/nick

bryceraisanen said:


> Ok now I'm taking some of my own medicine ---- damn hijackers -----
> Hines I know residential is quite a bit more competitive... You seem to be happy with what you have going on (like ur website btw). But I would just say don't sell yourself short. Too many of us were raised with the belief that if you are just making enough to pay the bills then your doing better than most. I am 180 degrees from that theory. Now I'm not saying that is what your doing, but I can guarantee one thing. IF you tell yourself its NOT gonna happen, it WONT. You would have to build some sort of "mystique" around your business. Check these guys out:
> 
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/08/20/inside-hermes-luxury-secret-empire/
> 
> fftopic:fftopic:


That was interesting reading. :thumbsup:


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## RCP

I think there are several different aspects to website building you need to look at:
*Design*
Have someone who knows how to build a website that "funnels' customers through the site via navigation and calls to action, as well as the visually appealing aspects (color). The pros do studies with heat maps and know where the key areas. How often will they make changes?
*Content*
Having content that is targeted to your audience and skill set, not the generic "for the best anytown interior painter". Having original content is often the hardest part. Are they using "spun" or original content? How often can you submit content?
*On page vs Off Page SEO*
Having the right SEO plugins, keywords. alt tags, image tags, optimized images etc. Who decides what keywords? 
*Hosting, Security and updates*
Who is responsible for this? When the site goes down, whether it is a hosting issue, update incompatibility or hacking attempt. Who pays for hosting? Is it a shared server or VPN? Will you have to deal with the host yourself? What is the response time? Who is doing the updates? Who is backing up?
Are you going to work on the site yourself? If so, who will teach you? Who will you ask if you have a question?


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## jacob33

A lot depends on how competitive your market is for websites too. If you are the only painter with a website like I am in my town of 40000 people your site does not need to be that awesome. If you have 30 other painters with professional websites and seo guys than you need to do the same.


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## tjdrake

We just had a new site built. So, do you’re research before you make a horrible move. We invested some change into our site, but it was well worth it! 

What do you want from your website? Do you want a content management system built-in to the back end that makes it very easy to edit your blog and site as needed? 

What type of site do you want? WP, Java, Express engine, and the list cost on... 

*Here is a list of questions you need to ask yourself! 
*
Planning Questionnaire for your website 

Please answer the questions below so we can get a better understanding of your company and the direction you wish to go for your website. 

Goals

*You absolutely need a responsive design!
*
1. What are your main goals in designing a website? (i.e. get new clients, a showcase for existing and new clients, online brochure, get commercial/residential jobs) 

2. Who is your target audience? 

3. Who do you NOT want to target? 

4. Why do customers hire you? What makes you different than the competition 

5. What questions do your customers ask when looking for your type of company? 

6. What areas do you serve? List cities and/or counties you would like to promote.

7. Where do most of your leads come from and why? 

Style

Provide a few sites you really like and what you like about them. (I would absolute not hire a company that is willing to copy someone else’s site!)

Provide a few website or two you really do not like and describe why - 

8. Do you have any type of branding established? This would include colors, fonts or other deﬁned styles. 

9. What sort of image do you want to portray? 
Content

10. List your top services in order of what you want to focus on: (i.e. Pressure Washing, Industrial Painting, Sandblasting etc) 

11. Please provide your company logo in digital format. 

12. Do you have other company publications such as brochures, ﬂyers, ads? Can you provide these in digital format? 

13. Please provide customer testimonials if available.

14. What categories or “tabs” or sections do you envision your site having? Some ideas are: Home, Services, Portfolio, Testimonials, Meet The Team, Blog, About, Contact, Estimate. 

*Search Engine Optimization
*

15. What search terms do you expect customers will use to ﬁnd you? If you don’t know this answer, I highly recommend you learn some aspect of Search Engine Optimization!

16. What organizations, afﬁliations, or memberships do you belong to? 

17. Bullet point a few of the things you’d like to see (if possible) on your site. 

*Here is a list to ask your designer. 
*
My original list was much more extensive (about 50 questions). However, the company I choose had already answered most of my questions. 

1. Will I own my website once it’s completed? 

2. Will you provide a unique website design?

3. Who is hosting the site?

4. Who owns the site’s artwork? 

5. Will you integrate social media into my web design? 

6. Will we be adding location markup?

7. Will there be a CMS in the back end?

8. What type of location based marketing/Geo-targeting will be built into the site? Call tracking? Things we need to have? 

9. How much time is devoted to analyzing my business, market and competitors?

10. How many pages will my website be? 

11. Will you be outsourcing any of the work? 

12. How do you determine keywords for my site? 

13. Will I be able to access my website statistics without contacting you? 

14. What other SEO/SEM services can we implement to increase relevancy into our site? 

15. What are we doing with the email leads that come in? Is there some type of database linked to the site? Also, can we link that to an email platform. 

16. Do we need a lead magnet? 

17. When will we publish articles/ blogs. What works the best and or how often? Will those be automatically shared to social media?

18. Will you provide me with the title tags and h1/h2 tags prior to going live?

Hope this helps!


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## thinkpainting/nick

tjdrake said:


> We just had a new site built. So, do you’re research before you make a horrible move. We invested some change into our site, but it was well worth it!
> 
> What do you want from your website? Do you want a content management system built-in to the back end that makes it very easy to edit your blog and site as needed?
> 
> What type of site do you want? WP, Java, Express engine, and the list cost on...
> 
> *Here is a list of questions you need to ask yourself!
> *
> Planning Questionnaire for your website
> 
> Please answer the questions below so we can get a better understanding of your company and the direction you wish to go for your website.
> 
> Goals
> 
> *You absolutely need a responsive design!
> *
> 1. What are your main goals in designing a website? (i.e. get new clients, a showcase for existing and new clients, online brochure, get commercial/residential jobs)
> 
> 2. Who is your target audience?
> 
> 3. Who do you NOT want to target?
> 
> 4. Why do customers hire you? What makes you different than the competition
> 
> 5. What questions do your customers ask when looking for your type of company?
> 
> 6. What areas do you serve? List cities and/or counties you would like to promote.
> 
> 7. Where do most of your leads come from and why?
> 
> Style
> 
> Provide a few sites you really like and what you like about them. (I would absolute not hire a company that is willing to copy someone else’s site!)
> 
> Provide a few website or two you really do not like and describe why -
> 
> 8. Do you have any type of branding established? This would include colors, fonts or other deﬁned styles.
> 
> 9. What sort of image do you want to portray?
> Content
> 
> 10. List your top services in order of what you want to focus on: (i.e. Pressure Washing, Industrial Painting, Sandblasting etc)
> 
> 11. Please provide your company logo in digital format.
> 
> 12. Do you have other company publications such as brochures, ﬂyers, ads? Can you provide these in digital format?
> 
> 13. Please provide customer testimonials if available.
> 
> 14. What categories or “tabs” or sections do you envision your site having? Some ideas are: Home, Services, Portfolio, Testimonials, Meet The Team, Blog, About, Contact, Estimate.
> 
> *Search Engine Optimization
> *
> 
> 15. What search terms do you expect customers will use to ﬁnd you? If you don’t know this answer, I highly recommend you learn some aspect of Search Engine Optimization!
> 
> 16. What organizations, afﬁliations, or memberships do you belong to?
> 
> 17. Bullet point a few of the things you’d like to see (if possible) on your site.
> 
> *Here is a list to ask your designer.
> *
> My original list was much more extensive (about 50 questions). However, the company I choose had already answered most of my questions.
> 
> 1. Will I own my website once it’s completed?
> 
> 2. Will you provide a unique website design?
> 
> 3. Who is hosting the site?
> 
> 4. Who owns the site’s artwork?
> 
> 5. Will you integrate social media into my web design?
> 
> 6. Will we be adding location markup?
> 
> 7. Will there be a CMS in the back end?
> 
> 8. What type of location based marketing/Geo-targeting will be built into the site? Call tracking? Things we need to have?
> 
> 9. How much time is devoted to analyzing my business, market and competitors?
> 
> 10. How many pages will my website be?
> 
> 11. Will you be outsourcing any of the work?
> 
> 12. How do you determine keywords for my site?
> 
> 13. Will I be able to access my website statistics without contacting you?
> 
> 14. What other SEO/SEM services can we implement to increase relevancy into our site?
> 
> 15. What are we doing with the email leads that come in? Is there some type of database linked to the site? Also, can we link that to an email platform.
> 
> 16. Do we need a lead magnet?
> 
> 17. When will we publish articles/ blogs. What works the best and or how often? Will those be automatically shared to social media?
> 
> 18. Will you provide me with the title tags and h1/h2 tags prior to going live?
> 
> Hope this helps!


. Yes I think you nailed it right there great info:thumbsup:


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## PainterWPB

_tjdrake _That's the perfect example of the questions to ask. From a developers stand point you need to be asking about business goals, current customer acquisition and how you can expand on that. You can't go up to someone and say I can build you a pretty site and get you ranked number 1 on Google. Developers need to be focused on the business needs and what really matters that business, how to get more customers.


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## jason123

8 k  Holly Molly I would have to go out and get a real job for that.

For me its the monthly fees that add up.


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## Joseph

Honestly, if you take the time to learn html, css, java script and a little php it will make your life a lot easier as a website owner! 

https://www.calgarypropainting.com


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## Zman828

I like your site New Leaf...

I think pricing may vary depending on how much a person is willing to put into himself. I spent hundreds of hours this past year learning the ins and outs of online marketing and I still have a lot to learn.


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## Joseph

2000.00 is reasonable for a good site. Usually takes me about 3 weeks of solid work to get one done

https://www.calgarypropainting.com

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/116210940754981196596


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## ccpainting

who did you go with? i am doing a rebuild of cartercustompainting.com
I have stlpaintingcompany.com right now i am working on. looking for a good seo guy to tweak it


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## Glasons

If that's not enought to take in there is also what they call "Conversion Optimization", which means what they do on your website to convert visitors on your website into paying customers... so people actually get in touch with your rather than just browsing your site..

This guy does it www.smartwebsolutions.com.au


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## AQP

Mine was finished about a week ago. There still some tweaks but overall im happy. Took one month to complete.
Www.alvearqualitypainting.com


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## carls

> Mine was finished about a week ago. There still some tweaks but overall im happy. Took one month to complete. Www.alvearqualitypainting.com


Your title tags are messed up on every page.

Here is an example from your commercial page.

*Page Title* = _Commercial | Alvear Quality Painting_

*Page Description* = _Our commercial services includes Painting, Drywall Finishes, Staining, Pressure Washing, and everything else. We implement sophisticated design and technology to give you a beautiful work area for you and your customers._

These are very non-descriptive. They don't tell Google where you work and it's diluted with too many services. Title and description tags make up the most basic portion of your "on-page" SEO. To get this wrong on a customers web site intended to rank and generate leads is basically murdering any chance you have of ranking well.

What your titles should look like....

*Title =* _Commercial Painting Contractor in Houston Texas | Alvear Quality Painting_

*Description =* _Alvear Quality Painting is based out of Houston, Texas and provides high quality commercial painting services. We paint both interiors and exteriors give us a call today._

*Now you're getting very specific with your page titles and letting Google know exactly what you do and where you do it.*


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## AQP

Thanks for the tips. Ill talk to my website guy. Im thinking the only reason he didnt add Houston is because we travel nationwide


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## decoraxion

Having built a few (about 10) websites (in winter off season) the things that people forget is: Standards, maintenance and operations.

Standards:
If you get a firm to build it on a framework (Wordpress, Drupal..) only they know how it was configured...so now I am leaning towards open standards...something like twitter bootstrap which works great on smart phones, tablets and desktops http://www.decoraxion.com/painter

Of course you can use wix or godaddy site builder..

Maintenance:
If you want a blog...that takes time and effort... so we now run our blogs on google..it is easy to use, free and can be mapped out to your domain http://blog.prepostapp.com

Operations:
Again if a firm builds it...only they will know how to maintain it..so choose wisely because it is not just picking a web design firm...it is actually picking a web marketing partner


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## Stretch67

Well... have gotten two calls so far in about 3 months or more. Any ideas to pickup the pace? Springs here need things to happen lol


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## Gracobucks

I used wordpress to make my website. Took about 6 hours to build, including tracking down some pictures to use and watching youtube video's to figure out what I was doing.

Anything you want to do in wordpress has a video explaining how to do it.

Cost me around $30 to register my domain name and now $6 a month for hosting.


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## Rbriggs82

bryceraisanen said:


> Well... have gotten two calls so far in about 3 months or more. Any ideas to pickup the pace? Springs here need things to happen lol


Sometimes there's nothing left to do other than be patient.


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## Repaintpro

bryceraisanen said:


> Well... have gotten two calls so far in about 3 months or more. Any ideas to pickup the pace? Springs here need things to happen lol



Depending on your budget you could use google adwords. You can start receiving calls almost immediately. 

Your set up of this is critical as it will effect ROI if wrongly done


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## Stretch67

What kinda budget we talking? Dont have tens of thousands on tap right this second but basically anything short of that I could do.


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## Repaintpro

I set up my own Adwords. The good thing about Adwords is you can very narrowly define what you want people to find you under with a search term or terms. 

You can also set your own budget from virtually nothing say $80pm to $1000pm or more. 

My spend may be $200 per month and I would get say 10 calls from that. It could be more or less on any given month but you get the idea. 

I am not sure on reputable people to set it up. I have friends who have had Google experts set it up and get the keywords and phrases all wrong and it costs a fortune in unwanted clicks on your ads.


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## PaintersUnite

bryceraisanen said:


> Well... have gotten two calls so far in about 3 months or more. Any ideas to pickup the pace? Springs here need things to happen lol
> 
> 
> PaintersUnite said:
> 
> 
> 
> bryceraisanen, very nice site. But don't expect your website to generate tons and tons of leads.
Click to expand...

Back in December, I told you so. 

*You need to list your business with;* Houzz, Yellowpages.com, Yelp, Superpages.com, Local Yahoo, Merchant Circle, Yellow Bot, *Google Plus*, BuildingPros.com, Porch, Credibility, Thumbtack, Build Zoom, Guild Quality, Who Do You, Alignable


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## MichaelHenry

$4,000 or $5,000 is what a typical web dev firm would charge. It's really not all that hard to figure out yourself though. Weebly.com is the easiest way to go if you are looking to DIY.

I've worked with webascender.com, and superwebpros.com here in Michigan and they were both pretty easy to work with.


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## dewebdesigns

It all depends on what you want. I have created a painting website generator (in my sig) and pricing is cheap because the site is basically done.

For a custom responsive website with great SEO, I normally charge between 3500 and 5000 depending on the package selected. The higher package guarantees first page results, which end up resulting in your business being found on major search engines like Google. When your business is found by people who need a painter in your area, they'll find your site and contact you.

Your website should be paying for itself each month. If it's not, your website isn't working for you. It's a 24/7 sales tool that works 365 days a year.

The price of a website is a relative term. If you get a professional website that will last for 5 years and you pay $10,000, that's cheap! That's $2000 a year, or $165 a month. If each month your website generates 2 new leads that you wouldn't get for a profit, you're still making a profit.

Your website is your first impression to many people. If you have time to read why your business needs a professional website, I wrote a blog for specifically this reason here: http://www.dewebdesigns.com/why-your-business-needs-a-professional-website.php It covers basically everything you're asking and is full of helpful information.

Let me know if you have any questions.


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## Rbriggs82

dewebdesigns said:


> It all depends on what you want. I have created a painting website generator (in my sig) and pricing is cheap because the site is basically done.
> 
> For a custom responsive website with great SEO, I normally charge between 3500 and 5000 depending on the package selected. The higher package guarantees first page results, which end up resulting in your business being found on major search engines like Google. When your business is found by people who need a painter in your area, they'll find your site and contact you.
> 
> Your website should be paying for itself each month. If it's not, your website isn't working for you. It's a 24/7 sales tool that works 365 days a year.
> 
> The price of a website is a relative term. If you get a professional website that will last for 5 years and you pay $10,000, that's cheap! That's $2000 a year, or $165 a month. If each month your website generates 2 new leads that you wouldn't get for a profit, you're still making a profit.
> 
> Your website is your first impression to many people. If you have time to read why your business needs a professional website, I wrote a blog for specifically this reason here: http://www.dewebdesigns.com/why-your-business-needs-a-professional-website.php It covers basically everything you're asking and is full of helpful information.
> 
> Let me know if you have any questions.


What if someone has a first page ranking website but wants it just beefed up Seo and conversion wise? Is that something you do and what kind of cost are we looking at?


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## dewebdesigns

Rbriggs82 said:


> What if someone has a first page ranking website but wants it just beefed up Seo and conversion wise? Is that something you do and what kind of cost are we looking at?


Yes, I do that. If you're not looking to update the design, I strongly suggest that it fits all the requirements of a being a high converting website. If it lacks any area, it won't be converting as much as it could be resulting in a loss for your business (that you won't see since X customers aren't converting each month).

Key points of a high conversion website are: Professional done & cleanly designed, Responsive on all devices, "Click to call" phone number visible on their phone immediately, crisp & clear retina images on their phone, a friendly user navigation, and most important, a great user experience. 

The vibe/feel they get from your site distinguishes yourself from your competition. If you have anyone look at your website and one of your competitions side by side and yours doesn't "pop", it gives them no incentive to call you first and for them to BE EXCITED about it. It's one thing to moan and groan because you have to hire someone and pay them money, but it's another to see their work and say "WOW" I can't wait for them to transform my space. The more people you get to say WOW, the more money you'll be generating due to the increasing amount of converting customers that you didn't have previously.

The price on this varies. If i'm not updating the website, it's a per-project based fee as I'm doing X amount of things to improve your conversion rate. All the sites I build are made first page results (regardless of the package) and to convert new customers. Sometimes it's better to spend a little extra to get a new website, sometimes it's not. All depends on how old your current website is and the level of quality. A 5 minute consultation will solve this and any questions you may have.

I strongly urge every painter that is reading this to increase their budget on their website and get rid of offline/out of date tactics such as Yellow Pages.

Instead, upgrade your website or create a highly optimized Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. With PPC, every customer you create is 100% trackable. At the end of each month, you'll know exactly how much money was generated from the campaign. Then, reinvest the same amount and a portion of the PPC profits back into it and start watching it grow. Don't just hire anyone to manage your PPC though. Make sure they're Google Adwords certified. If you're interested in PPC and don't know when to start, read this:<link removed>

Please let me know if you have any other questions.


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## richmondpainting

ive been with footbridge for a few years now and id have to consider that and joining pdca to be two of the smartest things ive done in my career!!


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## dewebdesigns

richmondpainting said:


> ive been with footbridge for a few years now and id have to consider that and joining pdca to be two of the smartest things ive done in my career!!


Your website is the best advertising tool. The amount of new customers generated from the internet is only increasing. But now, your competition is upgrading just like you. A website built at it's peak in 2013 (maybe even 2014 if they were using the old technology) is now outdated.

Aside from your website and organic SEO, PPC is the next best way to generate new customers.

How can you differentiate yourself from your competition?


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## Brandon Doyle

dewebdesigns said:


> It all depends on what you want. I have created a painting website generator (in my sig) and pricing is cheap because the site is basically done.
> 
> For a custom responsive website with great SEO, I normally charge between 3500 and 5000 depending on the package selected. The higher package guarantees first page results, which end up resulting in your business being found on major search engines like Google. When your business is found by people who need a painter in your area, they'll find your site and contact you.
> 
> Your website should be paying for itself each month. If it's not, your website isn't working for you. It's a 24/7 sales tool that works 365 days a year.
> 
> The price of a website is a relative term. If you get a professional website that will last for 5 years and you pay $10,000, that's cheap! That's $2000 a year, or $165 a month. If each month your website generates 2 new leads that you wouldn't get for a profit, you're still making a profit.
> 
> Your website is your first impression to many people. If you have time to read why your business needs a professional website, I wrote a blog for specifically this reason here: http://www.dewebdesigns.com/why-your-business-needs-a-professional-website.php It covers basically everything you're asking and is full of helpful information.
> 
> Let me know if you have any questions.


I agree here with dewebdesigns - it depends on what you want. He made another good point, *your website is a 24/7/365 salesman that you don't have to pay a salary too, never takes breaks or vacations, and is often the first impression people have of your brand.* Just like anything else, when it comes to websites you get what you pay for. 

Ideally, you'll want a website that combines great design (naturally funnels visitors towards a contact form/phone # or call-to-action). Combine a great design with high quality SEO and you have a site that helps you get found by new customers AND converts those customers into leads - ultimately increasing your ROI from the web.

For something like that I've found the industry standard is anywhere from $2500 - $10,000 (big range, I know). Really what your paying for when you get a website that is $5k, $7.5k or more is the functionality - how users interact with your site. This accounts for everything from where buttons, forms, and photos are located to how buttons interact (do they have animation, do they become lighter/darker as you scroll over them, etc.) and how many new icons/photos you get in your design contract.

I've found that most new painting websites that are launched with good SEO-value (or include porting SEO-friendly content from an old site to a new site) and convert well (around 7-10% of organic visitors call or fill out a form) generally costs between $5000 - $7500.

Although this seems high...just land one or two nice jobs from your new site and it's already paid for itself!


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