Looking for a way to go online without busting your budget? Following are tips from experienced online businesses, on how not to overpay for a Web site while still getting value:
– Start with getting what you want. Ask the owners of company sites you’ve seen and really liked two things:
1) Who designed the site and
2) How much they should have paid for it. What they actually paid is immaterial.
– Know what’s realistic. According to Dave Taylor, president of interface design firm Intuitive Systems, you will pay at least $75 per page for a simple site with no interactivity, and anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for all the interactive and search engine bells and whistles.
– Before you start talking final price with a design company, spell out whether the site will be hosted on their server or yours. Who’s going to do day-to-day maintenance of the site? How much original artwork, as opposed to what you can give them, will be needed? Is the text already in HTML or does it need to be coded?
– Bear in mind that the overall size of the site and the level of complexity of the interactive sections will probably affect your price more than anything else. For a private database visitors can access through the Web, says Taylor, expect to start paying at $5,000.
– You’ll get a lower bid from a company if there’s a fast-track approval process at your end. They know from experience that it takes much longer when eight people have to sign off on every detail, and they charge accordingly.
– Most professional designers will write a not-to-exceed cap on the price of the design in the contract if you ask them to. Otherwise a designer may get hopelessly behind, or try to charge you for extras if it’s suddenly more complex than they realized.
– Design firms like to work on a pay-in-pieces schedule, with about half up front on signing, and the rest when the site goes live. If you have a bad feeling about forking over half the total cost up front, find a new designer. Often cheap bids end up costing dearly in business terms.
– In general, the more interactivity on your site, the higher the cost will be. Web consultant Rick Tracewell recommends differentiating between necessities and niceties, spending the lion’s share of the budget on necessities and spicing with niceties.
– Avoid designers who charge by the hour, who may lack the incentive to work efficiently. If you do go with a per-hour, make sure there’s a not-to-exceed cap and mentally prepare to pay that.
