Rarely Answered Questions
Finding direct answers to basic questions about a business shouldn’t be so difficult. Do we really expect potential customers to endure an online scavenger hunt just to figure out what we do?
What do customers really want to know?
We all know what an FAQ is: Frequently Asked Questions. These lists are everywhere. But they often don’t answer your most pressing questions.
Why? Because being transparent and answering the tough questions is hard, and a lot of companies just don’t want to commit themselves in writing. This seems to be especially true in the creative services industries, such as web development, graphic design, branding, copywriting, and the like.
We fill our websites with pretty pictures, trendy layouts, and clever copy filled with impressive jargon. But what do people really want to know about website design?
To find out, we did the unthinkable — We actually asked potential customers. Here’s what we found out — The 10 most common questions about Ern Berck Digital. We gave these questions a different name. We call them Rarely Answered Questions (RAQ), because a lot of companies try to avoid them.
Honest answers to simple questions
With a minimum of fluff (sort of), in no particular order.
01. What exactly do you do?
We design and build custom high-performance websites for small to midsize professional service businesses. We also review websites, provide website maintenance programs, and offer social media management services.
Learn more: Our services
02. How much does it cost?
The usual answer to this question is: “It depends.”
And the usual poor excuse for this answer is: “Oh, well, we couldn’t possibly quote a price until we jump on a Zoom call and find out what’s best for you.”
Hmm. Okay. Makes sense. But if a professional web designer truly understands their business — and they should if they’re trying to sell you stuff — then providing at least a range of prices should be an easy task.
Our take
As for Ern Berck Digital, we’re not cheap. We like to think of ourselves as “reassuringly expensive.” We typically charge between $3,000 and $7,000 for a new website. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Don’t freak out just yet — You might be surprised at how affordable this really is:
- Unlike some marketing agencies, we can actually make stuff.
- We never waste your time with pointless Zoom calls or endless strategy sessions.
- We don’t pester you for content. We do it all.
- We don’t limit the number of website revisions prior to launch.
- We will never nickel-and-dime you for minor changes.
We want you to be confident in your new website — No matter what it takes. We don’t want you fretting over a $290 invoice for some trivial revisions you can’t remember. If anything will cost more than originally agreed, you’ll be the first to know.
Learn more: How much does a website cost?
03. What’s your hourly rate?
We don’t work on an hourly basis. That would just punish us for being efficient. We know this policy pisses some people off, but it allows us to devote more time to our regular clients.
What does that mean?
It means that, unless you’re a current client, if you call asking for a quote to solve a website problem, that we probably won’t be able to help you. We’d be happy to discuss possible solutions — maybe even refer you to somebody — but we wouldn’t be able to actually fix your problem unless you pay for an ongoing support plan.
Learn more: Support plans
04. What’s included? What do I get?
A lot. We create your content, pages, layout, navigation, styles, interactions, everything. Every website built by Ern Berck Digital includes (but is not limited to):
- Fixed cost (no surprises)
- Flexible timeframes
- Website strategy
- Copywriting
- Image sourcing
- Custom website design
- Website development
- Website launch
- Responsive design
- Accessibility features
- Access to premium plugins
- Search engine friendly
- Social media integration
- Unlimited revisions
- Post-launch support (90 days)
- Website Operations Manual
- Unvarnished opinions
- Our undivided attention
There’s also some stuff we don’t include:
- Domain name registration
- Website hosting
- Email configuration and management
Learn more: Web design FAQ
Note: One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is having their web hosting, domain registration, and email service all provided by one source (frequently the web designer). Intuitively, this kind of makes sense — Fewer vendors to deal with and less of a headache for you.
But if your relationship with the designer goes south (and it eventually will), it could be painful to wrestle control of these three critical services and move them someplace else. However, if you’re using three different providers — all under your control — and one goes bad, that’s much less of a problem: Just fire the crummy vendor and go elsewhere.
05. How long does it take to build a website?
Depending on complexity and how cooperative everyone is, it usually takes between 4 and 12 weeks for us to build a website. Under ideal conditions we can have a site up and running in less than 2 weeks. And we’ve done several in less than a week. But stuff happens and delays are inevitable, so we try to stay flexible.
Learn more: Our engagement process
06. Can you show me some examples of your work?
Of course. Just visit our Work page for live links and brief descriptions. Over 60% of web traffic happens on smartphones and tablets, so the images represent how these sites look on a dinky screen.
Learn more: Recent projects
Note: Always be a little skeptical when viewing a designer’s portfolio (including ours). Sometimes the sites you’ll see weren’t built for real clients, but for demonstration purposes. That’s okay, but many designers don’t clearly indicate the difference. Our work is clearly marked — with links to real functioning sites — not just a bunch of pretty pictures in an image gallery.
07. Do you offer a guarantee?
Short answer
No. Launching a new website isn’t the end of the process — It’s just the beginning. So nobody’s going to guarantee that a new website — all by its lonesome — will overwhelm you with sales or leads.
Long answer
Sort of. Successful websites aren’t built overnight — They’re the result of hundreds of small refinements over time. That’s why we always include a free 3-month post-launch support period to monitor website performance and make incremental improvements. A few of the areas we focus on are:
- Page speed optimization
- Content review and refinement
- Website architecture and usability
- Content creation
- Social media integration
If you’re interested in continuing your support period beyond three months, we have a few website management plans that may help.
Learn more: How to promote your website
Note: 20 years ago if you built a website, chances are people would find it. In fact, they’d actively go “browsing” for anything fresh. New portals, search engines, and directories were popping up almost daily — And they were eager to list any and all new websites.
Today, not so much. Even with the best content and page optimization techniques, you need to do everything you can to promote your website yourself. You can’t sit around and wait for people to find it, because they won’t. You have to help it get found. That means marketing and promotion.
08. What makes you so special?
Unlike a lot of web design studios — who seem to add new services every day — we’re actually known for doing less. But in a good way.
Traditional web design is broken
The old-fashioned approach to website design involves all sorts of static files like wireframes, mood boards, mockups, brand guides, and “stylescapes.” These are often delivered to the client as portable document format (PDF) files or images that must be approved before moving on to the next “milestone” in the design process.
The problem is, none of these files are fully functional: you can’t click, drag, scroll, navigate, select, or resize. To make matters worse, most of the design work is based on faulty assumptions gleaned from hours of customer “research” done by twenty-something marketing interns.
After a couple months into your project, you’ve got a jumbled collection of files that you can’t make sense of. To complicate things, access to these files often requires logging into some sort of “project portal” or “client dashboard.” In our experience, most clients don’t need one more account to manage, or one more password to remember.
The frequent result of this worn-out process is an endless loop of meetings, approvals, deliverables, and revisions — before your site is ever launched.
A better way
By eliminating most of these questionable activities, our simplified web design system shortens the whole development process by weeks. This saves you time, money, and frustration. It’s also really simple — First we make it work, then we make it work better.
We even provide a fully functional demonstration website to share progress during the design process. No more cryptic PDFs or baffling wireframes to decipher and approve. And no more goofy “client portals” you need to log into to see what’s going on.
Learn more: Our web design system
09. Do I really need a website?
Nope. If you’re prepared to have your business fizzle out with your current crop of customers, then don’t bother. However, if you’re serious about your business and want it to grow, then yeah, you need a website. And a lot more.
One more thing. Don’t think for a minute that social media will save you here. You have zero long-term control over any of your social media accounts. Relying on Facebook or Instagram for your livelihood is not a viable strategy.
Learn more: A Facebook page is not a website
10. Who the hell is Ern Berck?
Ern Berck is the blacksmith at an anonymous town shown in the opening scenes of the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven. You never see him, he never speaks. But somehow you know he’s there — with fire and iron — making stuff.
Summary
Finding straightforward, relevant, and accurate information about a business shouldn’t be so difficult. Do we really expect our potential customers to endure an online scavenger hunt just to figure out what we sell and how much it costs?
As our websites expand, the content grows out of hand, and the important details get buried. Sadly, we’ve been as guilty as the next guy in this regard. It’s embarrassing. We’ll try to do better.