This is like asking an architect how much it will cost to build a house.
What kind of house? Brick? Wood? Stone masonry? How many people will live there? On what kind of terrain? What upgrades and amenities do you want? What time of year do you want to build it?
Can you see how we can quickly slide down the rabbit hole here?
This is the question that tips off an unscrupulous web designer that you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. That’s when he or she moves in for the kill with slick layouts (that do nothing for search engine rankings), fancy brochures and alphabet soup talk.
The first words out of your mouth to a perspective web designer should be: “Show me your work.” But don’t let the designer send you a PDF file filled with websites that are no longer operational. Ask to see only operational websites, and ask the designer to tell you what he or she did on each project. Some web designers just design what you see, and the back-end part is done by someone else. Be clear.
The next thing you should ask is: “If we were to work together, what would be the first thing you would do?” If he or she starts talking about fancy designs or platforms, run for the hills. The appropriate response should be something along the lines of wanting to understand more about your business and how it works or what you want your site to do. Some sites sell, some are just information sources, some are for books, others are for speakers. Be clear.
This is where you should have done your homework.
One would think that price comes now, right? No.
Now, you present a list of everything you want your site to do, look like and have. Don’t worry about lingo. Explain it in plain English. It’s the designer’s job to translate for you. Why should you have to learn a new vocabulary to communicate with a contractor? Over the course of time, you’ll know the correct names for technology tools, but now’s not the time to get hung up on that. No one can tell you what you want. The designer can make best-practice suggestions once you present your ideas, but no one can detail what you want.
Use examples. Provide links to sites you like and sites that make you cringe. Tell the prospective designer why you like or dislike a site. Point out specifics. Be clear.
If a designer wants to skip these first couple of steps with you, move on. If someone doesn’t have the time to get it right with you the first time, he or she will never have the time to get it right once your check is cashed.
Interview more than one designer. I suggest three to five, but at least three. This is your brand we’re talking about here. They don’t have to be long interviews. Plan your questions ahead of time and keep it simple: Twenty minutes apiece is easy.
Know the difference between a designer and a developer. A designer is someone who makes things look pretty. A developer is the guy with the digitial jackhammer who does the construction and heavy coding. Are some desginers developers and vice versa? Sure, but never assume. Be clear.
Issue a small-scale request for proposals if you like. Make people earn your business. Don’t be so quick to “marry” a designer.
As always, it’s an excellent idea to check references, get a contract and, if you can, start small and only pay for work that’s completed. That way you don’t get stuck with a nonoperational website $5,000 later.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 3:04 am and is filed under The Internet, Websites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.11 Responses to “How Much Should Your New Website Cost?”
Leave a Reply
February 5th, 2008 at 9:26 am
[...] Tech Forward blog has some solid advice on what kind of questions you should ask a company before you give them the green light to create a [...]
February 5th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
If all you want is a simple website and you are willing to learn how to use a website design program or basic HTML language, the cost will be from nothing to almost nothing. But if you want to outsource the task, follow Lena’s advices found on this great article. – Javier.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Javier:
I do not recommend people doing their websites themselves. People seem to think that because technology is so inexpensive to purchase and in most cases easy to use that building a website is easy.
Building a website that not only looks good, functions as a results-generating marketing tool and offers intuitive usability is no small feat.
Encouraging people to do this is akin to asking people to build their own homes if they are not licensed contractors. Either way, the house of cards will come falling down.
There are a few critical business operations that entrepreneurs should outsource, and this is one of them.
For example, if you built your site and it doesn’t have its lead generation in the correct place, the colors are hard on the visitor’s eyes and the home page is overcrowded with ads and other content (thus visitor’s don’t know what to pay attention to first), then its navigation (and usability for that matter) might as well be nonexistent.
Alienating potential clients is a high price to pay for wanting to save some money.
-Lena
February 7th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I like your suggestion regarding interviewing more than one designer. Because often times people seem to limit to just one freelance designer. I learned my lesson.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Good point about why you don’t want to build a site yourself. There’s many companies that offer ready made templates so maybe to save money you can start it yourself and then get help customizing and optimizing it.
-Carmina
http://www.mogulette.blogspot.com
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Lena, your post on “How Much Should a Website Cost?” was excellent.
As an Internet marketing consultant and copywriter, I find most clients don’t really understand what goes into the creation of a website to sell your product or service.
In addition to design, the site needs compelling copy to get readers to take some kind of ACTION step: requesting further information, requesting an appointment, purchasing something, etc.
Designs are important, but the copy is critically important.
A website consists of content, copy, design, and SEO elements for search engines.
Websites are cheap compared to renting a storefront and signing a monthly lease. But they ARE online businesses and as such, require an appropriate investment. You do get what you pay for.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
@Barbara:
Thanks for your comment.
Yes, copy is critical. A snazzy looking website is nothing without good copy that makes people take action.
I can’t tell you how many websites I see that are loaded with “who cares?” content. A pity.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Yeah, content is the biggest thing. We see a lot of people pay one firm for the design and UI, then a totally different firm for the content. Makes good sense!
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hello,
Thanks, that was very helpful
I don’t think people should make their own websites. Saying that though, I am a web designer, so probably a bit biased.
Before I learnt how to code, I had my own company. I made the website for it, and it was awful. I have looked around a bit and most companies that make their own sites have overcrowded and painful-to-look-at sites.
I do, however, think that websites are horribly overpriced. I charge more than I would pay, which is a bit hypocritical, but I do charge a lot less (about half the price) than other web designers. Saying that though, I’m probably going to end up swamped.
~Callum
March 29th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
As a Developer and Designer (More developer) I have worked with a lot of different businesses.
This should be a guide not only for people looking to have a website built, but also developers and designers also. If you are worried about cosmetics before you know what the customer wants and does, then you should find another profession.
There is some really good advice on here though and as a long standing developer I recommend following these instructions.
There is some ways to keep in mind to keep cost and creation time down. There are lots of sites out there that sell pre-made templates really cheap and a good developer or designer can make it unique to your needs. Also many content management systems out there are open source and free to use. So unless you are a huge company needing something especially for yourself then go with one of the free ones, and spend under a thousand getting one with your own design. This saves money in a couple ways. One is up front. The other is you can sign in to the back end to add pages, create content, add users, etc. Just make sure that the developer is willing to take the time to teach you how to use it. As, even for me, it was kind of a learning curve at first.
Great article, hope I helped a little more.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:57 am
copyoracle.com..Before deciding on a web host, read customer(past and present) feedback. You read these kinds of reviews from websites that don’t make their own recommendations but rather from real web hosting customers.