Element Fusion

One question I get asked a lot is:

"How do i justify the higher monthly cost of a CMS like Light to clients who are used to paying very low rates for standard hosting?"

It's a reasonable question. Change is always hard. Many companies and organizations have websites on standard hosting services where they pay less than $5 per month. So how do I convince someone that they need to pay $29, $49, $99 or more per month so that I can put their site on Light?

Here's a three part answer:

1. Light is more than just hosting. First, it is very important to make the point that a CMS like Light is giving you a lot more than standard hosting. The monthly fees are a subscription for the use of a software that allows you to use simple tools to manage your website. The hosting is included in these monthly fees, but it is so much more than standard hosting. The best way to demonstrate this is to set up a free demo site on Light to let your clients to use the tools themselves. They will quickly see how Light lets them do so many things they could never do on their standard hosted website.
2. Light will save you money in the long run. This is a huge point. Without a CMS software like Light, companies and organizations are dependent upon people like us, you or other web developers to make each and every change to their site. Let's imagine you have an hourly rate of $75. That means if you spend just one hour per month working on behalf of your client making changes to their site, you have already cost them far more than the monthly cost of Light on our three lowest package levels. In the long run, your clients will save money by being able to make these changes themselves with Light.
3. Light will give your clients a better website. Finally, because your clients will have the ability to update content themselves and since they won't have to pay someone else for every single update, they are far more likely to actually make updates to their site. More frequently updated content means a more active and more useful website. It means better search engine placement. It means fresher content, more visitors. It's just all around better. When a client is paying for each update, they only do the bare minimum. When they have full control at no extra cost, they are freed up to bring their websites to life.