George - Founder
No AI here
Do you actually need a website?
Five answers you should have to get the best ROI on a site build
So, you’ve decided it’s time for a website…Is it really though?
Perhaps you’ve started selling knitted flower pot covers, or you’re teaching mandarin. Maybe you’re selling a crypto trading course, or want to elevate your personal brand, or maybe you just inherited loads of cash and like the idea of working with a web development studio (yay). Whatever the reason, you’re in the market for a website, so it makes sense to take a step back and make sure you’re investing in the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.
1️⃣ Do you actually need a site?
Your site is only as good as the traffic it gets. The internet is an immensely crowded place in 2025 - gone are the halcyon days of the early 90’s where you could publish a bit of HTML and get 1000 viewers the same day. There are now tens of billions of unique pages floating out there, and almost certainly into the trillions if you count every private link, database or dynamically generated URL. Basically, theres a fuck load of sites out there - why would anyone come to yours?
In the super early stages of a business, you may not need a website - are you taking sales through Instagram? Are you taking any sales at all? The truth that not many designers/developers will tell you is websites are not always a necessity for early stage businesses - there are other channels and ways to reach customers that will be quicker and cheaper to launch, as well as (potentially) more lucrative in the short term. If you’re looking at starting a side hustle selling homemade jewellery to your friends with no intention of scaling the business beyond that, then instagram and facebook marketplace could be perfect for you. As a general rule of thumb that concept can be expanded to most small, local, community based businesses that rely heavily on in person networking and pre existing trust/social proof.
1️⃣ Do you actually need a site?
Your site is only as good as the traffic it gets. The internet is an immensely crowded place in 2025 - gone are the halcyon days of the early 90’s where you could publish a bit of HTML and get 1000 viewers the same day. There are now tens of billions of unique pages floating out there, and almost certainly into the trillions if you count every private link, database or dynamically generated URL. Basically, theres a fuck load of sites out there - why would anyone come to yours?
In the super early stages of a business, you may not need a website - are you taking sales through Instagram? Are you taking any sales at all? The truth that not many designers/developers will tell you is websites are not always a necessity for early stage businesses - there are other channels and ways to reach customers that will be quicker and cheaper to launch, as well as (potentially) more lucrative in the short term. If you’re looking at starting a side hustle selling homemade jewellery to your friends with no intention of scaling the business beyond that, then instagram and facebook marketplace could be perfect for you. As a general rule of thumb that concept can be expanded to most small, local, community based businesses that rely heavily on in person networking and pre existing trust/social proof.
Community focused business that are tied to third party platforms can also dodge the website shaped bullet for a bit longer; Whop, skool, Circle, even Discord - these web apps all generate revenue for successful creators/coaches and if you already have an engaged following you are able to direct traffic straight to your community from social and miss the whole website based section of the funnel.
If you don’t have thousands of activated followers ready to buy from you, or you ever intend to do business with people other than your neighbour, your Grandma, or Barry from the local pub, then there is a convincing argument for needing a website. Both to grow your business, and become visible in the first place.
2️⃣ What kind of site are you building?
You’ve established you need a site….now what will it do? Generally, there five main functions of a website:
Informational/Marketing
Ecom/Marketplaces
Applications/Portals
Personal/Showcase/portfolio
Directories/Listings/Forums/Discussion boards
If you’re running a business, you generally will need a marketing site or an ecom site (Vast majority of the time there is an overlap of these two). Web apps, forums etc often will lean more on software developers than web designers as there will be database interaction involved. You can expect to pay more for these kind of builds.
If you are selling products online you’ll want some form of ecom solution. Whether that’s shopify or a custom solution with payments integration etc. What your site is going to accomplish will impact the workflows and platforms chosen. It’s helpful to have an idea of this going in - for your sake and the designers. Almost all of these incur plugins and service fees so you should expect to have monthly subscription fees regardless of the type of build you end up going for.
If you are advertising services/IRL business, you’re basically after a digital shopfront - a marketing page that tells potential customers about your services, your pricing, past results, etc etc etc. The more sites you see the more you realise how closely the majority of them follow rough patterns depending on industry and size.
3️⃣ Have an idea of what your site should be accomplishing
What do you want to see from your site for it to be a success? Are you simply hoping to have a sexy website to show off to your mates on the golf course? (a surprising amount of clients think this way) Do you have a set number of calls you want to book in the first month? Are you just tired of explaining yourself to leads on Instagram? All are valid.
Booking calls or collecting emails for sales is a vital function of a site particularly for agencies/service providers, but as mentioned earlier, websites are only as good as the traffic the acquire. Don’t expect leads to come flowing from google if there is 1) No one being guided to the site from anywhere else and 2) No reason for traffic to convert once they arrive. This is partly the designers job to extract the value in your product offering and distill it into a digestible format, and also partly your responsibility to communicate your goals and USP’s to the designer.
There will likely be plugins or subscriptions needed to accommodate some of these goals. Calendly for example has become industry standard call booking software and can really add a sense of professionalism and a sense of got-your-shit-together-ness to a website..and its free! More advanced tools like CRM’s and email marketing software can help store and catalogue emails once you’ve collected them.
TLDR: Have realistic expectations and communicate what results you want to see; calls booked, sales, email leads, purely informational.
4️⃣ How is it going to be built?
What do you want to see from your site for it to be a success? Are you simply hoping to have a sexy website to show off to your mates on the golf course? (a surprising amount of clients think this way) Do you have a set number of calls you want to book in the first month? Are you just tired of explaining yourself to leads on Instagram? All are valid.
Booking calls or collecting emails for sales is a vital function of a site particularly for agencies/service providers, but as mentioned earlier, websites are only as good as the traffic the acquire. Don’t expect leads to come flowing from google if there is 1) No one being guided to the site from anywhere else and 2) No reason for traffic to convert once they arrive. This is partly the designers job to extract the value in your product offering and distill it into a digestible format, and also partly your responsibility to communicate your goals and USP’s to the designer.
There will likely be plugins or subscriptions needed to accommodate some of these goals. Calendly for example has become industry standard call booking software and can really add a sense of professionalism and a sense of got-your-shit-together-ness to a website..and its free! More advanced tools like CRM’s and email marketing software can help store and catalogue emails once you’ve collected them.
TLDR: Have realistic expectations and communicate what results you want to see; calls booked, sales, email leads, purely informational.
5️⃣ How is it going to be built?
Probably the most obvious one, but it will make both client and agencies lives infinitely easier by just having an idea of what you want your site to look like in terms of brand and feel. As Steve Jobs (or Picasso?…) said, “good artists copy, great artists steal”. The vast majority of sites are based on, inspired by or even copies of existing sites - since the dawn of the digital age this is how it’s worked. So if you want to be a trendsetter and shatter some industry norms, go for it! Communicate this with your designer and I guarantee they will be excited to try something new.
Have a browse of pinterest, instagram, dribbble, find some sites that are cool, find some colour schemes, branding - get involved as much as you want. A good web designer knows how and when to guide clients creative direction and when to step back and listen - it’s our job to keep the project on course in terms of time, budget and business goals while reminding you of technical limitations and user experience.
If you’re familiar with these questions before you invest in a website, your end result and overall experience will be much better. Even better if you work with us 💪
5️⃣ Have an Idea of what you want the site to look and feel like!
Probably the most obvious one, but it will make both client and agencies lives infinitely easier by just having an idea of what you want your site to look like in terms of brand and feel. As Steve Jobs (or Picasso?…) said, “good artists copy, great artists steal”. The vast majority of sites are based on, inspired by or even copies of existing sites - since the dawn of the digital age this is how it’s worked. So if you want to be a trendsetter and shatter some industry norms, go for it! Communicate this with your designer and I guarantee they will be excited to try something new.
Have a browse of pinterest, instagram, dribbble, find some sites that are cool, find some colour schemes, branding - get involved as much as you want. A good web designer knows how and when to guide clients creative direction and when to step back and listen - it’s our job to keep the project on course in terms of time, budget and business goals while reminding you of technical limitations and user experience.
If you’re familiar with these questions before you invest in a website, your end result and overall experience will be much better. Even better if you work with us 💪
George - Founder
No AI here
Do you actually need a website?
Five things you should know before investing in a site build
So, you’ve decided it’s time for a website…Is it really though?
Perhaps you’ve started selling knitted flower pot covers, or you’re teaching mandarin. Maybe you’re selling a crypto trading course, or want to elevate your personal brand, or maybe you just inherited loads of cash and like the idea of working with a web development studio (yay). Whatever the reason, you’re in the market for a website, so it makes sense to take a step back and make sure you’re investing in the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.
2️⃣ What kind of site are you building?
You’ve established you need a site….now what will it do? Generally, there five main functions of a website:
Informational/Marketing
Ecom/Marketplaces
Applications/Portals
Personal/Showcase/portfolio
Directories/Listings/Forums/Discussion boards
If you’re running a business, you generally will need a marketing site or an ecom site (Vast majority of the time there is an overlap of these two). Web apps, forums etc often will lean more on software developers than web designers as there will be database interaction involved. You can expect to pay more for these kind of builds.
If you are selling products online you’ll want some form of ecom solution. Whether that’s shopify or a custom solution with payments integration etc. What your site is going to accomplish will impact the workflows and platforms chosen. It’s helpful to have an idea of this going in - for your sake and the designers. Almost all of these incur plugins and service fees so you should expect to have monthly subscription fees regardless of the type of build you end up going for.
If you are advertising services/IRL business, you’re basically after a digital shopfront - a marketing page that tells potential customers about your services, your pricing, past results, etc etc etc. The more sites you see the more you realise how closely the majority of them follow rough patterns depending on industry and size.
3️⃣ Have an idea of what your site should be accomplishing
What do you want to see from your site for it to be a success? Are you simply hoping to have a sexy website to show off to your mates on the golf course? (a surprising amount of clients think this way) Do you have a set number of calls you want to book in the first month? Are you just tired of explaining yourself to leads on Instagram? All are valid.
Booking calls or collecting emails for sales is a vital function of a site particularly for agencies/service providers, but as mentioned earlier, websites are only as good as the traffic the acquire. Don’t expect leads to come flowing from google if there is 1) No one being guided to the site from anywhere else and 2) No reason for traffic to convert once they arrive. This is partly the designers job to extract the value in your product offering and distill it into a digestible format, and also partly your responsibility to communicate your goals and USP’s to the designer.
There will likely be plugins or subscriptions needed to accommodate some of these goals. Calendly for example has become industry standard call booking software and can really add a sense of professionalism and a sense of got-your-shit-together-ness to a website..and its free! More advanced tools like CRM’s and email marketing software can help store and catalogue emails once you’ve collected them.
TLDR: Have realistic expectations and communicate what results you want to see; calls booked, sales, email leads, purely informational.
4️⃣ How is it going to be built?
For the non technical person, this is where you’ll get lost. Which is fine, you’re paying for someone to handle this for you, so you don’t need to know how it works. But these things will be discussed, and impact the price of the project, so it makes sense to know the basics:
No code: Think wix, squarespace, Adobe portfolio.
For the hobbyist, microsites, etsy jewellery style local businesses, portfolio sites etc. These options are perfect if you intend to manage your site yourself and want a simple handoff without needing to keep paying someone to update your site every time you want something changed. These website builders are designed to be really simple to use and update so they’re perfect for portfolios and simple service or informational sites. There is no coding involved in the builds of these sites meaning barrier to entry as a client and designer is lower.
Cost: Lower build cost with small monthly subscription.
Sivrep no code build starts at £650
Low code: Webflow, Framer, Wordpress, Shopify
The build type of choice here at Sivrep and many other web agencies, favoured for the robust builds, slick modern animations and interactions as well as completely customisable workflows allowing designers to get super creative and execute clients wildest dreams (doesn't mean that horizontal scroll you saw on instagram is a good idea). Framer and webflow in particular have the tools to support large scaling businesses and web apps through dynamic CMS, localisations, custom code components, the list goes on but basically - Low code tools allow more flexibility and power to create more tailored websites with a wider range of functions.
Cost: Expect slightly higher cost of development and slightly higher monthly fees.
Sivrep framer build starts at £950
Full code: While the first two options are still converting our designs to code on the back end, as a full code build is not tethered to a third party platform such as framer/wix/webflow, but instead is running the code directly “into the internet”. A huge oversimplification there but that’s basically the gist of it. A full code solution technically allows you to create literally whatever you want - you are limited only by the language the site is written in and what integrations you use. Writing a site from scratch can be cleaner, faster to load and in terms of scalability is probably the best solution. The limits however are substantial if you are not familiar with code, as you’ll need to hire someone to keep track of and manage the site to edit the code and make any changes.
Cost: Higher cost but no monthly fees to framer/webflow etc
Sivrep custom deployments from £2,000
5️⃣ Have an Idea of what you want the site to look and feel like!
Probably the most obvious one, but it will make both client and agencies lives infinitely easier by just having an idea of what you want your site to look like in terms of brand and feel. As Steve Jobs (or Picasso?…) said, “good artists copy, great artists steal”. The vast majority of sites are based on, inspired by or even copies of existing sites - since the dawn of the digital age this is how it’s worked. So if you want to be a trendsetter and shatter some industry norms, go for it! Communicate this with your designer and I guarantee they will be excited to try something new.
Have a browse of pinterest, instagram, dribbble, find some sites that are cool, find some colour schemes, branding - get involved as much as you want. A good web designer knows how and when to guide clients creative direction and when to step back and listen - it’s our job to keep the project on course in terms of time, budget and business goals while reminding you of technical limitations and user experience.
If you’re familiar with these questions before you invest in a website, your end result and overall experience will be much better. Even better if you work with us💪
1️⃣ Do you actually need a site?
Your site is only as good as the traffic it gets. The internet is an immensely crowded place in 2025 - gone are the halcyon days of the early 90’s where you could publish a bit of HTML and get 1000 viewers the same day. There are now tens of billions of unique pages floating out there, and almost certainly into the trillions if you count every private link, database or dynamically generated URL. Basically, theres a fuck load of sites out there - why would anyone come to yours?
In the super early stages of a business, you may not need a website - are you taking sales through Instagram? Are you taking any sales at all? The truth that not many designers/developers will tell you is websites are not always a necessity for early stage businesses - there are other channels and ways to reach customers that will be quicker and cheaper to launch, as well as (potentially) more lucrative in the short term. If you’re looking at starting a side hustle selling homemade jewellery to your friends with no intention of scaling the business beyond that, then instagram and facebook marketplace could be perfect for you. As a general rule of thumb that concept can be expanded to most small, local, community based businesses that rely heavily on in person networking and pre existing trust/social proof.