One key operating cost which sometimes confuses dental practice managers is the overall cost of their website. This is an important factor which, if you get wrong, will unexpectedly drain your budget way more than perhaps you may have imagined.<\/p>\n
What often happens is that practice managers and dentists look at the initial cost to develop a website but then don\u2019t dig into the contractual small print which subsequently ties them into additional unexpected costs and\/or onerous constraints. Indeed we\u2019ve had a few clients over the years who have been lured away from us by \u201cheadline\u201d promises only to come back a couple of years later when the reality became clear.<\/p>\n
When developing and running a website for a dental practice<\/a> you need to be fully aware of the following costs:<\/p>\n Only when those cost elements are fully transparent can you understand what your website \u201ctotal costs of ownership\u201d will be over the average four year life of a website.<\/p>\n To help clarify, here is a quick illustration of the type of mistake that is often made when choosing a website agency.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a comparison of typical set-up and running costs for a website built by the team at Dental Media versus a close competitor. It can be considered that the websites are similar both in terms of scope, aesthetics and functionality \u2013 the difference as you\u2019ll see, is what you pay for the website over a typical four years of ownership.<\/p>\n Dental Media costs:<\/strong><\/p>\n (The annual fees include for 4 maintenance interventions and the annual website hosting fee \u2013 there is no contractual tie-in or mandatory monthly maintenance retainer)<\/p>\n Competitor costs:<\/strong><\/p>\n This was a real example where a new client almost opted for the competitor because she hadn\u2019t studied their small print. The competitor\u2019s sales person focused on \u201cfree hosting and free security updates for life\u201d which on face value seemed very attractive. However these elements were more than adequately priced into the expensive initial development cost! What wasn\u2019t mentioned was that they\u2019d be pushing to build a new website four years down the track, again with a huge development fee.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t really need to do the sums to illustrate just how much more expensive the competitor\u2019s offer actually was, but it almost duped the dentist concerned as unfortunately she wasn\u2019t looking at total cost of ownership and all of the costs involved. She\u2019d also missed the fact that she\u2019d have to make a similar huge investment in a new website 4 or maybe 5 years later.<\/p>\n This might seem to be a mistake that few would make but you would be surprised by just how many folk fall into the trap. They simply look at certain cost elements in isolation but completely fail to analyse the overall costs \u2013 by the time they realise, they\u2019ve signed off on a contract and it\u2019s too late. So please be aware and seek full transparency before you commit.<\/p>\n The \u201cdevil is in the detail\u201d as they say and this is also very valid for dental web and marketing contracts. For example, one well-known designer only maintains their offer of free website hosting if the client doesn\u2019t seek marketing services such as SEO elsewhere, effectively constraining their choice of supplier. This condition is buried in their small print.<\/p>\n Another area where significant obfuscation occurs is not clearly differentiating between website security updates and content updates \u2013 they offer the former free (but remember the huge initial design fee!) but then charge very large hourly rates if you want to amend the content on the website. All of a sudden the benefit of free hosting and security updates<\/a> doesn\u2019t look quite so attractive when all of the other extras are considered.<\/p>\n Perhaps the biggest area where dentists waste money when it comes to their website is the mandated monthly service contract which is sweetened with the offer of SEO. Starting at around \u00a3150 + vat per month, these monthly contracts soon leech your budget. Often you will be paying out even where no work is being done on your website and what\u2019s more, the level of the SEO included is negligible.<\/p>\n Clients often realise this when they are several months into the contract and their website isn\u2019t doing as well as expected in Google. Next they get upsold to a more expensive monthly contract with \u201cbetter\u201d SEO.<\/p>\n Understanding all of the costs involved with the development and ongoing maintenance of a website is essential if you are to avoid paying well over the odds. Unfortunately website sales guys are very clever when it comes to promoting the benefits and also obfuscating the \u201cgotchas\u201d. \u00a0They will try all sorts of tricks to not only win the contract in the first place, but also leave a clear route to upsell the client later on where expectations fall short.<\/p>\n The key with any contract of this nature is to do your homework and really understand what the small print might be tying you into. Ask lots of questions and validate the answers so that you have full transparency which allows you to make a suitably informed choice.<\/p>\n If you would like more information about the development of a website for your own dental practice, including full transparency of the initial design and ongoing maintenance costs, the team at Dental Media will be pleased help. Please call direct on 01332 672548<\/strong> or use the website contact form if you prefer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A review of total cost of ownership for websites in 2022 One key operating cost which sometimes confuses dental practice managers is the overall cost of their website. This is an important factor which, if you get wrong, will unexpectedly …<\/p>\n\n
Total cost of ownership for a new dental website<\/h3>\n
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Other important contractual considerations<\/h3>\n
Summary<\/h3>\n