Would you pay $250,000 for this site?

On February 22nd, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about websites – more to the point – how expensive websites can and can’t be and what the benefit is for the business. The article discussed two female business owners, what they spent for their websites and how the sites were doing for them. Both were running successful businesses, and both had active websites. That’s about all they had in common.

Business owner 1: According to the article, “Katrina Garnett, 48, is an Australian-born Silicon Valley entrepreneur whose Crossworlds Software sold to IBM in 2001. Garnett has invested $2 million of her money to create My Little Swans, an adventure-travel business catering to wealthy families”. The portion of that she used on her website? An astounding $250,000. Her site, My Little Swans, sells luxury travel. (not really sure what swans and luxury travel have in common, but hey, she really wanted those swans!) Take a look through the site.What did you think?

If you’re anything like me, my first response was “you have GOT to be kidding me?!?!” Okay, so I will give the woman some credit, at first glance, I thought the site was pretty, and well put together. It was easy to use and captured what she does. There are a lot of cool features, and it is easy to connect with her on social channels. Overall, I would have given the site two thumbs up. But then…I remember that she spent $250,000 on it. More than I spent to buy my condo! And my thumbs drop. A lot. The site is good – but she easily spent $230,000 more than she should have. The site is nothing that special, in fact I have seen hundreds of sites that are much better than hers, and I can guarantee cost less than a tenth of what she spent. Seriously, that design team saw her coming a mile away. I hope they have trouble sleeping at night for the highway robbery they made out of her site.

Business owner 2: The WSJ says “Joan Bradford is a former schoolteacher and a theatrical costume–shop owner who bought and renovated an 1840s house 15 years ago in New Windsor, Md., and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast. She named it the Yellow Turtle Inn after she had a dream about such creatures and learned that they’re the only turtles that guard their nests.” And her site? She spent almost zero on her site, Yellow Turtle Inn. She used a program that came with her hosting and set it up in a few weeks. She says she has made tons of tweaks, but that she has never paid someone to work on her site. So take a look at this one. What you you think?

My first response, “Okay, it’s time to cough up a little money, because this needs a face lift”. The site is boring, simple, and obviously home-made, right? It has all the content that is needed, but it just doesn’t make you feel all warm and cozy like an inn should. I don’t really have any desire to call them because with a site that rudimentary, I worry that the service won’t be great and that they won’t deliver a good experience. A little goes a long way, and even a $5,000 investment would really help her to turn her website, and her image around. But, she does get a little more respect from me than Miss Swan because while the site is poor, at least she didn’t get hog-tied and taken for all she was worth!

A website is one of the first things that a customer is going to see – it needs to represent who you are and how they can expect you to deal with them. Clean, simple and concise websites make people feel like the person will be easy to understand. Glamor, elegance and extravagance will make them feel special and important. There are hundreds of other emotions websites can bring out  and what matters is that yours brings out the right ones from your visitors. But, you shouldn’t have to break the bank to get this to happen.

What do you think about the sites?

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1. 5 hints to make your next site design easier
2. Contemplating a site re-design