Today's a big day. Three years ago, I jumped ship from the corporate world and began exclusively building my own company. There's been some speed bumps along the way, but I've spent the past three years building relationships with small businesses in the Tempe Chamber and getting involved in the business community. Some of those efforts centered around educating small business owners on the difference between Web designers and developers and the "cookie-cutter" approach vs the custom design approach to crafting an online presence.

If you view a Web presence as a necessary evil and who does the work doesn't matter to you, I'm certain you'll find plenty of options on sites like Elance and Guru.com. If you instead prefer to support your local economy and recognize the value a quality Web presence can bring to your business, we would love to talk with you. We have many different options to for small businesses of any size, especially 50 or fewer employees.

Sol Minion Development is also a development company. While we can (and often do) facilitate graphics design work, our focus is on development, both front-end (what the customer sees and directly interacts with) and back-end (what the customer doesn't see, but is the driving force behind the Web site's features). We make things work and enlist graphics designers to help make them look great.

Planning to spend $1,500 on a Web site? You won't get a custom site for that price - perhaps a template, with your logo dropped in and possibly some copywriting to massage your content. You should also consider the cost of a Web site part of your marketing budget. If you're generating $500,000 in revenue, that $1,500 site is less than 1% you're dedicating to your online presence. Each industry is different and there are certainly some that don't need anything more elaborate than a template site (my Realtor connections and I all agree that a custom site isn't right for them).

Custom Web sites vary with your needs - whether it's an online brochure, storefront, or donation center. When you craft your budget, you should consider not just the cost of building the site, but also the on-going maintenance and marketing (whether you're looking at social media, content/blogging, or SEO).

Have questions on how we can help? Let's grab a cup of coffee so we can learn your pain points and figure out how to craft the right solution for your business.