We’ve all heard it before. “You get what you pay for.” My personal experience is that this is more often than not, the truth in many ways. There seems to be a resurgence of offers in digital marketing, SEO, and website design and we wanted to address some of the mystery behind these offers.

• If it sounds too good to be true… Again, we’ve all heard this before. Odds are it IS too good to be true or is simply not true at all. I’ve been seeing many ‘FREE’ offers for websites and marketing but please watch for the underlying reality of these offers. I recently ran into an offer that delivered a ‘FREE’ website with registering for their amazing Digital Marketing and SEO plan. Sure – that sounds great, however, be sure to find out what everything is truly worth. It turns out that the ‘FREE’ website was part of an overall package that if separated would have cost much less as individual services.
• One Stop Shopping!!  NO… Years ago our company published articles on SEO and helped many companies achieve consistent top ranking in search engine results. We paid careful attention to how search results worked and ensured clients were taken care of the best that they could be. After some time we told the magazine we were being published in that we would no longer be writing the SEO articles. They asked why and we even had readers contact them asking for more but our decision was a sound one. We love assisting clients with designing great quality websites. We approach them from a marketing perspective and work hard so that when people get to the site the conversion works. SEO, in our opinion, should be a full-time, full-focussed business. It should not be another add-on that the web designer or digital marketing company does. We believe that specialized service brings better results in the end whereas one-stop shops bring OK results.
• Cheaper does not mean better just because you got a deal. Often it is more expensive in the end. Let’s look at things from the service or product providers’ point of view. If they are cutting their pricing they are not making as much money from their product or service. As a result, their attention to the product or service is reduced. It just is. Even if they swear that they will ‘give it their all’ the truth is that they will not be as driven because they have de-valued themselves. Be careful of these deals and understand that you will likely receive less if the cost is less. Add to this from the previous point. If a company is offering several services for less cost overall… how great are these services? That is a question you need to ask.
• On that note – expensive does not always mean better either. I remember quoting on a website that ended up costing a total of $1500. When our quote was received the client asked why another company would have quoted over $5000 for the very same project. The answer? The client was an accounting firm and the other company likely saw dollar signs as a result. We, on the other hand, chose to just be honest and charge what the time and design were truly worth.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some great companies that do great work. We just hate to see clients or ours or anyone’s for that matter, cheated out of their money by receiving a sub-par product or service. Ultimately we know we deliver excellent services for more than reasonable costs and we do so with pride and conviction.

Be careful out there. Do your research and find a company who will serve you well for what you pay. Ask questions from those around you and even from your current designer or developer. If they are offended then maybe leaving is a good idea. If they care, they’ll answer and do their best to help.