Capital Hosting

And why should you read what i have to write about his subject? Because, I know a little bit about websites and how websites are sold, the truth about websites, the myths about websites.

I will back up a little on my top phrase about don't buy a website. If you are overloaded with money and don't care how you spend it-go ahead and buy one. If you are a mom and pop operation (small independent) then listen to what I have to say.

The usual website will sell for around $250.00, plus the cost of the website name (a URL), priced from $10.00 to $15.00 (every year), then $50 TO $70 for hosting (a computer that keeps it going 24 hours a day). And that is every year. Some website companies will include the name and hosting in the price, but not very many. Most don't tell you about the hosting and name charge until you have already paid them the $250... to build the site.

The Value of a Website: Any website salesman will tell you "it will really make your business money!" Yeah, right! Most websites that are on the Internet today, have less value than a box of business cards! Many have less than a box of business cards that are placed in the closet, and never handed out! Now, can you see value in that?

The statement "it will really make your business money!" has to be said by the salesman in order to keep his job. You can imagine how many sales he or she would make if "The Value" was told.

Most websites can only be found if the person looking for it types the exact name of the site into the search box, and that cannot be close-it has to be Exact! OK, for this to happen, you must have this exact name put onto all of your paperwork, sales letters, business cards, signs, billing statements, advertising, and the bathroom wall. After doing all this, and spending hundreds, if not thousands, you may get a dozen visitors per year to your website.

Now, I didn't say a dozen customers through your doors, I said a dozen visitors per year to your website, and there is a big difference.

A Website can be Valuable- very valuable if the next step is taken. Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is where the website is built to satisfy and make search engines happy... Like Google, being the biggest, Bing, Yahoo! and MSN. Google handles about 80 to 85 percent of all the searches and the other three split up the rest. Needless to say, the concentration to make Google happy is the thing to work on!

If proper techniques are used, people searching for your business, will not have to type the exact name in the search boxes. They can just type the kind of business you are in and the city you are located. (Plumber, Fort Worth) or (Mexican Restaurant, Tulsa). Your business will be easier for them to find, because it will come up on the results pages. If it comes up on the first page of Google, then you know the SEO was done right.

The first page of Google is very valuable, as somewhere around 90 percent of the people will click on a first page Google site and will never go to the second page.

The problem, well two problems. A results page may show 7,000 pages, or 70 thousand pages. Only the top 10 are going to be on the first page of Google, as there are only 10 websites to each page. Less than 3 percent of the population know how to get the website to the first page of Google. The going price to optimize the site so it appears on the first page off Google usually starts at about $250.00 and goes on up. Then most want to charge you $50.00 up per month to keep it on the first page of Google. It does have to be worked on, updated, changed and so on to stay on the first page.

Why didn't the website salesman tell you that in the first place? Stop and think about it, to sell the $250 job was like pulling teeth, do you think you would have given him or her $500 plus $50 a month? It is like when you buy a car, the salesman usually says nothing about the high price of the Tax, Tag and Title. The Insurance that will cost hundreds is not mentioned, the replacement of the tires are kept quite. If they say anything about the gas costs, they are usually way off!

Then, the next problem. Cell Phones- Will your website work or look good on a smart phone? Building the website for the cell phone is a must-because 50% of all the searches are done on a cell phone instead of a home or office PC. The price for that is usually $495.00 and up. This brings the price up to around $1000 to $1200.

If you would like your site connected to Facebook (very helpful) that is from $25 to $50.00. If you would like your site connected to Maps like Map quest or Google Maps, Yahoo Maps (which is very helpful if you want the customer to be able to find you), that will be another $50.

OK, let's talk about Return on Investment, (ROI). This will depend on the cost of your product you are selling, and the cost of getting the customer there to buy it. As you can see, if you are selling hamburgers for $2.00 and it cost you $1200.00 to sell one burger- that is not too good a deal! If you sold a hundred burgers at this rate, it would still not work from an investment stand point. A thousand burgers at $2.00 would bring your ROI, to a dollar each. I realize in the restaurant business, you need a 10 to 1 ROI to even break even.

You can avoid all the above problems, get all the above benefits, a restaurant ROI of usually 40 to 50 to 1, by leasing a website for just a dollar a day, and even get it free for a couple months, just to prove it is profitable. No long term contracts, no gimmicks- no website salesmen!