“We need a new website.” This is something we hear frequently at The Creative Company in Madison, WI. But unless you make money by “making new websites” this is not your business objective. Your objective could be to “grow my business by 10% this year” or “increase brand awareness in Dane County Wisconsin” or “increase referrals by 10%”.

Often a business’s most important marketing asset is their website. But many business leaders don’t know how their website is performing in terms of their overall business model. Based in Madison, WI, The Creative Company strongly believes that it is imperative to understand and measure how your “website” is performing as a business asset. Outside of direct e-commerce, finding what to measure and how to measure it can be surprising complicated. For example, a regional health care company will have wildly different goals and metrics for their website asset than a locally-focused professional such as an attorney or dentist.

Another question we get a lot is…

No one likes to fail. NOW you know your business goals and objectives. But implementing goal-based plan is only part of the equation.

Another key to a successful website development is knowing the competition. For example, if a local shoe store wanted expand their online sales, we first take a look at the current competitive environment. Using our specialized SEO tools we know that one current online shoe store competitor has 179,821 organic keywords in Google’s top 50 search engine results pages (SERP) and is currently spending an estimated $1,000,000 a month across the US on Google AdWords relating to “shoes”. We also know a rough AdWords Cost Per Click is at least $.76. That stiff competition must be factored into the store’s overall plan and goals.

So “How much will it cost?” Only your specific goals and definitions of success determine the scope and the cost of any Creative Company website development project.