You can’t afford to ignore website development; the first thing your online visitors see is often what convinces them to stay or go. Great website development brings real returns, while poor website design can sink your business in a matter of weeks. Maybe you’ve considered a cheap version of Web development in hopes of keeping costs low – here are 10 reasons those kinds of sites aren’t worth the bandwidth.

Pretty Doesn’t Mean Useful
Any company can make a good looking site, but it takes an expert to make it functional and attractive.

Simple Doesn’t Mean Cheap
Bargain-bin Web development will often try to complicate even simple tasks, but a professional design company knows how to make simple work seamlessly.  The other end of the cheap scale is a lack of flexibility.  Boilerplate sites might be simple but they don't let you make important decisions for your website design, which costs you more in the long run.

Promotion Doesn’t Need to be Obvious
Most cheap Web development companies will lay on the promotion of your brand thick and heavy, but that’s not what gets results. Strategic use of your contact and brand brings real interest.

Product Placement is King
Your products need to sell, and your website needs to showcase them. Cheap Web design means poorly optimized shopping carts and product pages – customers hate them both.

You Need a Hook
Your brand is your connection to customers, and a professional Web design company can assist in creating a logo and look that customers will remember. Cheap-o builders often use generic, easily forgettable clip-art.

Communication is Key
It’s not enough to talk to customers – they need to able to get in contact.  Cutting corners on Web design often means poor client communication, leaving you in the dark.  Customer engagement planning is fundamental.

Real Content
Cheap SEO content is easy to generate but doesn’t yield great search results in the long term. Real Web development firms can either help provide content or advise you on how to create articles and press releases that customers will actually read.

Orchestrating the Experience
The $100 website is going to be a jumble of information, but what you really want is a link to your address, a clear map to your location, and an easy way for customers to pay. The coordination of your needs and priorities is well worth the investment.

Know Your Audience
No one knows your clients like you do. Cut-and-paste sites are generic and easily forgettable; your target audience will go somewhere else. You need Web development designed with your clients in mind.

Your Website, Your Calling Card
Don’t kid yourself – customers judge you by your website and do it almost instantly. Don’t fail at your first impression.

Real Web development services are worth the cost – while cheap Web design companies can offer you a website for $100 or less, you’ll lose far more in reputation and time spent dealing with issues that arise. That $100 will quickly become money better spent elsewhere. Instead of taking the risk with a cheap Web development firm, start off on the right online foot and make sure you get what you pay for.