Thats always a great question, it depends. There are alot of factors that go into creating a online presence for a company. We at Univelocity usually start with a discovery meeting. This is where we ask the questions like the following

• Are you going to be selling your goods or services online?
• Are you looking to gain new customers or support existing customer?
• Do you have a existing website and if so who built it?
• What are you looking to accomplish with your investment online?
• How much of the process do you want to be in charge of on a daily basis?
• Who is going to manage your site once it is live?
• What kind of marketing program do you plan on implementing when you launch?

I also try to explain a website and having a web presence simply and clearly with a few phrases like

• You know its not Noah’s Ark its not build it and they will come you will need to market your website (God was running the Noah’s Ark marketing campaign by the way)
• Building a online presence is like growing a garden. We give you the seeds and soil but someone has to water and tend to the plants and they will grow.

At our level of web design it typically comes down to man hours. We have enough experience coding small to medium size projects that we  typically can estimate how much time a project is going to take and base our quotes on that process. If you are a small business with minimal to no budget for a web presence we always suggest you use a build it yourself website and get the ball rolling until you have resources to have a website uniquely branded for your business.

We also strongly believe that having a business website that is successful online encompases not only professional coding, but also a great art team and on going online marketing program.

Here is a link to a great articular that explains the differnt groups of designers in the market place and a worth the 5 minute read.

http://www.comentum.com/web-development-cost-rate-comparison.html

Hope this helped and good luck with you web venture.

The Univelocity Web Development Team

4 Marketing Takeaways From Enchantment

1. Likability, trustworthiness and quality are the three pillars of Enchantment and the best way to turn visitors into customers into fans.

Anyone can improve their likability with a genuine smile, a firm handshake, and the habit of dressing to equal the person you’re meeting. Trustworthiness is earned by trusting others first, providing more value than you consume (bake, don’t eat), and defaulting to “yes” whenever you can. Quality comes from your preparation — is your product DICEE (deep, intelligent, complete, empowering, and elegant), your purpose clearly stated, and have you done a rigorous pre-mortem to anticipate everything that could torpedo your success?

2. To endure, marketers need to build an enchantment ecosystem around their products and company.

From the Grateful Dead’s contrarian approach to bootleggers to Justin Bieber giving free tickets to fans passionate enough to come to sold out concerts without one, enlisting and empowering your fans is an incredibly powerful way to do marketing.

Don’t assume you can rely on money (affiliate and referral fees) to make this happen. Instead, generate feelings of reciprocity (“you’re welcome — you’re the kind of person who would do the same”) and provide lots of ways to participate in your ecosystem. User groups, resellers, consultants, an API, websites and blogs, special interest groups, and conferences are all great ways to extend your ecosystem.

3. Know your “short, sweet, and swallowable” mission statement — what you’re truly, memorably about.

Never mind language like “patent-pending, curve-jumping, paradigm-shifting” in your mission statement; what do you truly DO? If your company had a mantra, what would it be? Here at HubSpot, we make all-in-one inbound marketing software. What do you do?

4. Social proof — clear evidence that others are doing it — is one of the most powerful ways to overcome resistance.

As the iPod rose to popularity, its distinctive white headphones were an increasingly visible reminder that more and more people were buying them. Guy himself is creating social proof for Enchantment by sending autographed covers to anyone in the world.

In exchange for the “social proof” (a photo of you with your book), Guy will send you an autographed copy of the cover sleeve. Post a picture of you and your copy of Enchantment to Google+ or his Facebook wall, and submit the link here along with who and where the cover should be sent to.

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/25695/4-Enchanting-Ways-to-Improve-Your-Inbound-Marketing.aspx#ixzz1Z633iMj8

“While social media is not the silver bullet that some pundits claim to be, it is an extremely important and relatively low cost touch point that has a direct impact on sales and positive word of mouth. Companies not actively engaging are missing a huge opportunity and are saying something to consumers, intentionally or unintentionally, about how willing they are to engage on consumers’ terms.” John Mendelsohn, VP Chadwick Martin Bailey

Did you know that US internet users spend 3x more minutes on blogs and social networks than on email? Or that nearly 2/3 of US internet users regularly use a social network?[1] Social media was the leading “emerging channel” for lead gen in 2010. Among other benefits, 63% of companies using social media say it has increased marketing effectiveness. [2]

Social media helps more businesses get found on line, it improves their businesses search results, and it plays an important role in their active sales. People are constantly sharing links and commenting on how they feel about the business, your business, and through word of mouth and social networking you can have a potentially booming business if you do it right.

What does social media need to really work? Social media works best when there are real people, with genuine intentions and quality content, behind every profile, tweet and tag.[3]

Companies that have been participating in social media for the past three years, 80% of them are generating qualified leads while those just starting out are generating around 30%. More than 67% of companies using social media for a year or more have improved their search engine rankings. [4] So keeping up with your social media business sites pays off in time and really boosts your business.

Facebook generates the most conversations for B2C’s.

LinkedIn generates the most conversations for B2B’s.

With 750 million users on Facebook alone, is there a reason your business is not utilizing social media as a way to reach out to new and existing customers?

The bottom line is, it’s time to get social.