Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi all,

This post is sort of related to one below.  What`s a fair price for designing and hosting an e-commerce website?  I`ve seen anywhere from $1200 to $5000.  There`s quite a variance there and I`m sure there are reasons why, but I don`t know the lingo well enough yet to decipher my e-needs.

I`m aiming to open an upscale online boutique, so I really want to have a professional website.  Many of my competitors have homemade websites and avoiding that is where I`d really like to get my leg up.  However, if there`s a budget solution I`m unaware of here that could work with my humble HTML skills, please fill me in.

Thanks, Diana

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"Whether you think you can or you think you can`t, you`re right."
paraphrased Henry Ford

There is no easy answer here. it`s based on client perception, and what you are getting for your money.

I could tell you that a web site with my day job starts at $15,000. would you see that as a good deal? Probably not!

But if i told you we`d do three rounds of design comps for your site, provide Site Management Software and Content Management Software, Develop custom tools which make it easy for you to manage and enter your content and help you establish relationships with reputable SEO`s in the community and get you setup on our world class hosting solution, then you might :)

In the end it`s all about perception and value. If price is your only concern then I`ll be the first to tell you to go to our competitors. We provide value not just a great price.

I see, I`m learning here.  I knew there was more behind the price than an address and graphics ;)

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"Whether you think you can or you think you can`t, you`re right."
paraphrased Henry Ford

The key Diana is for you to figure out what price you can afford. THEN find the best deal out there for that price. BUT don`t let the agency you are interviewing (and treat it like an interview) turn it into a talk about price. If they start asking about price up front it might be because they have minimums they can and can`t do. We certainly do stuff for under $15,000 but this is a good "spout off" price to gauge a customers thinking. If they immediately start pushing back and saying how it`s too high etc then we know they care more about the price and less about "the stuff".

Once you find a firm you like build a relationship with them and I`m sure both you and them will be able to come to a price and feature set which works well for both sides. If you want the agency to go lower on a price then you`ll have to give up some features.

As for just designing the site (ie just the photoshop files etc) you can probably get these somewhere between a few hundred dollars to $5,000 depending on the quality and the firm you go with. If you need a small firm and don`t mind working with someone in Atlanta GA i have a great contact who does great work for a fair price ;)

Jonese, I never realized there was that much to it.  Naive, but I`m a quick learner.  I decided to do an e-business all of 3 days ago.  I`m not to the point where I`m anywhere near ready to start this - I don`t have a product yet! - but I`ll add you to my buddy list and remember the company in Atlanta.

Thanks for the sage advice! 

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"Whether you think you can or you think you can`t, you`re right."
paraphrased Henry Ford

Don`t you think that 15,000 is too much for a web site that can be developed under 3,000 dollars? I see where the catch is "the Lingo". Search engine optimization is dirt cheap now, Web hosting is dirt cheap, Web development tools and shopping cart software is dirt cheap! where does the customer`s other 12,000 go into play? What if the client doesn`t sell anything online? then what?they are stuck with an expensive "bill board" and a debt of 12,000 which I am assuming has to be paid up front or by the end of the project scope.

The truth is; behind every web-site there has to be a good marketing strategy. Do you offer a marketing plan to your customer? Do you research their demographics before you being to design their web site? 

In the end it comes down to "Marketing" which most web designers forget. Many web designer are more anxious in developing a web site than focusing on the Marketing aspect of the web site. So what else do they get for $12,000?
quote of the day: "many web designers don`t know the difference between their computer mouse and an articulate marketing plan"
Please break down the price of your services for the client to understand.

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

WOAH! Edgar let`s take a breath here.

First: No $15,000 is not "too much for a web site", and personally I`m a bit offended that you would attack the company I work for without ANY knowledge of what we do, how we do it or why we do the things we do.

Second:  I wasn`t trying to sell my services to Diana, just trying to show her there are reasons for every price and just because it`s cheap doesn`t mean you will get what you want. Surely if I was pitching to her I would have done better, but I`m here to provide information.

Third: There is no "catch" and it`s not just "Lingo" in my shop. We have a custom site management solution we built from the ground up based on YEARS of experience with clients. (We`ve been in business for 10 years). This site management software is currently in its 5 version and is over 7 years old.

Fourth:  Things being "dirt cheap" doesn`t mean they will perform at a level you need them too. If you site goes down at 3am because someone "dislikes you" and has initiated a Denial of Service attack on you, who fixes it? For $9.95 a month I don`t think you`ll get the same response that you get from my firm. Web development tools and shopping carts are dirt cheap yes. Hence the reason there is so much crap out there on the Internet today. People don`t take the time to think about what they are doing, they just assume since they have DreamWeaver (or god forbid FrontPage) that they can build the next Amazon.

And IF you had taken the time to learn about my company and asked questions, you`d learn the $15,000 (which is just a price I tossed out, I did say we did site for less and we do a lot more sites for more money) includes multiple phases, not just design or coding time. The sales reps (who are also the owners of the company) spend an enormous amount of time with the client trying to find their pains, and learn what they want and need. We gather lots of information before we even develop a site map for them. Then all this data is taken in, processed, and if needed further investigation takes place. Once we have everything (which is never everything) a document is prepared which outlines everything we discovered. This document is given to the client and we review it with them to make sure they understand everything in it. We answer questions, make further recommendations, and maybe even find things both side might have missed. At this point the client could walk away from us with the document, take it to another development shop and that development shop could begin work immediately.

But they don`t go elsewhere (at least they haven`t yet). So we begin the design phase which is where we start building the look and feel of their site, gathering the content and mocking up a wire framed version of their site. This gives clients the ability to see their site and actually click through it, so they can understand how it will work.

Once this is done and a final design has been agreed upon we begin work on the actual code...

It`s at this point I`ll stop so I don`t hijack Diana’s thread. Hopefully you see there is more to a web site than just marketing and maybe price won`t be such an issue for you anymore.

If not contact the owner of the company his name is David Taylor-Klaus and you can email him at dtk AT d-p.com and I`m sure he can tell you more about then this developer.

I`ve gotta back jonese here.   The lower the price, the better the odds that you`re going to get cookie cutters for all the standard things - navigation, shopping cart, etc...  even SEO.  Which for most purposes is really going to be fine.   Most people need basically the same stuff.  It`s when you want a completely tailored solution from the ground up that you get into the big bucks.  For instance, high quality content management can only really be done with a proper understanding of all the business objects that your company deals with.   It`s true that web development tools are cheap.  But as I`m fond of telling people in my biz, "Just because I own a word processor doesn`t mean I can write a novel."  Likewise, you`re not paying somebody for access to an HTML editor (which you could get yourself), you`re paying them for their skill in what they can make it produce.

For what you want, I would think that $3k-$5k should get you an outstanding web site that will get you going in business just fine and keep you going comfortably for a little while.  Much lower (like under $1k) and I`d be willing to bet that within 6 months to a year, if your business does well, you`ll be hiring somebody to do it again.





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Personal: http://www.morinfamily.com/blog
Geeky: http://duanesbrain.blogspot.com
Shakespeare: http://suchshakespearestuff.blogspot.com

Gentlemen,

Good gracious, I didn`t realize I was asking such a contentious question.  Thank you for all of your input.  I`m now much wiser regarding the world of website creation.

Diana

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"Whether you think you can or you think you can`t, you`re right."
paraphrased Henry Ford

Well a little spirited debate doesn`t hurt, as long as it`s civil.
I learned a lot, too.