Many insurance agencies wonder if it is better to own or lease your website. There are certainly pros to both, but owning your website has a lot more upsides and can even be less expensive in the long run. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits to owning a website versus leasing one.
We know that the cost of building the website is going to be a major factor in your decision making. The biggest difference in cost between owning your website and leasing it has less to do with the overall expense and more to do with the billing structure. The benefit of leasing your website is that typically you will pay a smaller cost up front and then make monthly payments. When you own your website, you are typically paying the design costs upfront. It may be in two or three installments as you go through the process, but you will be paid in full upon launch of the new site. When considering the expense, calculate out how much you are going to spend over the next three years (or whenever you believe you will want to redesign your site). What you will typically find is that the cost difference is probably not as significant as it first appears. For smaller or start-up agencies with a lower cash flow, you may not have an option here. For larger agencies that have the funds in this year’s budget to make the spend, the other benefits of owning your website versus leasing it should help convince you to pay in full up front to own the site.
Another item to consider when comparing costs is additional costs associated with the website. These can be several different options from hosting and certificate costs to third party applications that you have added to the website. You may have additional expenses associated with making changes to the template or to the website. When you are leasing a website, you should ask about the process for making changes. Are you able to access the website and make changes or do you have to submit changes to the vendor? Are there additional costs associated with making these changes? What if you want to change something during the development phase? Similarly, when you are going to own the website, you need to be thinking about additional costs. Many website vendors will build the website on a WordPress platform. This allows the agency to go in and make a good number of changes on their own. You may need to invest a little time to understand the platform better, but that control is a great benefit to owning the website.
There is a major difference in the way that your website will be built as well. Leased websites are mostly built off templates. You get to chose your theme which gives you some creative control over the final product, but you will never have the full flexibility to do whatever you want on the website. In addition, because there are only a finite number of templates, you are going to end up with a very similar website as other businesses, including other insurance agencies! It is hard to create unique customer experience and allow your agency to stand out in the crowd when you have the same website as another agency. When you pay someone to build a website that you own, they will typically start from scratch. That is a blank canvas to create the website of your vision! Not only does this allow you to stand out, but it allows your website to be a better representation of your brand and your agency.
You should also consider what happens if you no long want to do business with the vendor
through whom you are leasing your website. Certainly you can leave based on the terms and conditions of the contract, but what about all of the costs and effort you have invested into the website? You can’t take it with you, as they say. Having a website that you pay for monthly is similar to leasing a car. There are some agencies that can make it work. But if you want to do more with it, you are going to have to pay. When you lease a car, you have mileage restrictions and will have to pay for every little scratch. A leased website is similar in that you can get nickled and dimed over the time you have the website. And then when you want to move on, you give it right back.
If you’re still on the fence about whether or not you should own or lease your website then please feel free to contact us directly. It’s important to ask questions or get feedback just as much as it is to make the decision itself. We’re more than happy to help and we
