Why should I pay $199 a month for a website when I can get one for $14 a month from places like Wix? It’s a common question potential customers ask us all the time. We get it. There’s a big jump from $14 to $199. But for those of us in the business of creating scalable, professional-level, high-value websites like we are at Big Rig Media, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. Heck, you can even start a WordPress-based site for very little, the same platform we use to build your Big Rig Xpress site.

You can also get all the materials and tools needed to build a house from Lowe’s. But unfortunately, most of us aren’t professional home builders and don’t have the expertise and knowledge required to know all the proper steps or how to use many of the tools to realistically build a house that is functional and safe. So, let’s look at the process of building a high-value website that will last for years.

Planning

High-value websites aren’t just digital brochures like many DIY sites you come across. They are carefully planned out with a customer journey or goal in mind.

Think about:

1. What do you want out of it? (Sales, contacts, bookings, etc.)
2. Who’s your audience? (young/older people, families, adventure seekers, etc.)
3. What exactly are they looking for? (a product, an experience, information, etc.)

Answering these questions will help set your website’s tone, flow, visual design, and functionality. This is the reason why all Big Rig Xpress sites start with a phone call to get to know you, your company, and your goals for your website.

User Experience / User Interface (UI/UX)

The next step is laying out your website and designing a sitemap based on the information above. The sitemap lays out all the pages and menus needed to produce the desired user experience. In essence, we build the path your customers will walk to reach your desired outcome (booking, buying, making contact, etc.).

A well-designed UI/UX will result in your website visitors naturally progressing toward the intended goal. Clunky or hard-to-use designs tend to send them bouncing from your site and onto your competitor’s pages. So knowing how to build a good UI is imperative for a successful site.

Design

The website’s design is where the site’s font, color scheme, and individual page layout are decided. Getting the design right is vital for your website’s professionalism and creating a pleasant user experience. It’s also about choosing and editing the right photos and placing them in a manner that helps the flow of the site.

Big Rig Xpress sites are designed using our own custom-built WordPress themes to ensure that your site’s design is professional, user-friendly, and on point. Your site will also be responsive, meaning that it will look amazing when viewed on the smallest smartphone screen to the largest monitor.

Writing / Content

Content writing for a website is equal parts science and art. Website copy should have the following:

1. It should be easily digestible because people tend to quickly skim around for the information they want.
2. Inspiring enough to keep their interest and start building some form of trust in your brand.
3. It should be action-driven and lead them directly to the book now, buy now, or sign up buttons.

Anyone can write a clever sentence or two. However, in the hands of a professional copywriter, your website copy can grab your audience’s attention and inspire your visitors to take action before they leave the home page.

Coding/Development

In today’s internet, coding and development go beyond the HTML and CSS sheets that make your website display correctly. Modern websites are functional business tools with custom forms, flashy event calendars, pop-up integration, weather widgets, blog integration, Live Chat features, and more.

Customers tend to give up quickly and leave if parts of the website don’t work or are difficult to use. So all those little bits of code, plugins, and mini-apps must be integrated into the site to function as one seamless unit to the user.

Security & Hosting

A website host is a company that stores your website on a server so customers can access it through the internet. The hosting server is responsible for keeping your website secure for you and your customers. The type of server and OS also affects your site’s speed.

A good website host should offer continual malware and virus scans, a closed network, and daily offsite backups. Again, they should be proactive in spotting weaknesses that can be exploited. Protecting customer data should be a top priority for both businesses and hosting providers.

Your Big Rig Xpress site is hosted on our own private server, updated, scanned, and monitored meticulously. Of course, daily offsite backups are included.

Updates

It’s not just important that your website host keeps their servers updated. Your website needs updates too. Updates for plugins, databases and other code vulnerabilities must be managed regularly to keep your website security up to date.

But technical updates aren’t the only kind of updates needed. As changes are made to your business, so too does your site’s content, like photos, prices, etc.

Many website hosts leave the site updates to you and only take care of their servers. At Big Rig Xpress, technical updates are performed regularly. Plus, you get up to one hour of content updates every month included in the $199 price.

Continuous Improvement

Static websites get static results. Websites that continue to evolve with your business will grow with it and increase their value to you. For your site to grow, your site’s performance must be constantly monitored for opportunities to improve conversions, and the core platform must be kept on the cutting edge of website best practices.

High-Value Websites are Rarely DIY

When you partner with Big Rig Xpress, you aren’t just getting a high-value website and fast, secure website hosting. You are getting the entire package, including website design experts with decades of experience, professional copywriters, and professional developers.

Once we build your site, we take care of updates, backups, security, and even content edits. In short, you get an entire website creation and management team for only $199 a month.

Best of all, you will have a partner who can help with all of the other ancillary items to help grow your business (marketing, email, media, print, graphic design, etc.).

The Choice Is Yours

It’s probably clear at this point why cheap DIY business site platforms are cheap in the first place. You get what you pay for. They give you the space and the tools, and then you’re on your own to stumble through.

Big Rig Xpress gives you all the benefits and heavy lifting of a high-powered custom website but in a right-sized package for your business.

It’s not just about building a website. It’s about building your business online.

Get a Big Rig Xpress Website