Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello,

I am new to startup nation and I am glad that I found this site.

I am looking for a company in India or outside of the US where I can get a quality website built for significantly less than what I would pay here in the US.  I would prefer to use an American Company, but I am bootstrapping my business and need to keep my costs down.

If you had a possitive experience with an offshore company, I would greatly appreciate the referral.

Thanks,

Hi Carabetta!

I can completely understand how you feel. When I first started my VA company over a year ago, I thought how in the world am I going to get my feet off the ground without a Web site. There is no way I can afford a Web site. There`s no way I can do my own Web site complete with SEO. Furthermore, I do not have the money to shell out.

But I must say one thing: there was not a moment where I thought about sending my hard-earned money out of country to an offshore company to save a buck. I know this may be a hot button issue for some and I truly do not mean to sound harsh, but I truly cringe when I hear of U.S.-based entrepreneurs or small businesses wanting to contract an offshore company based on financial reasons alone.

I find that I`m losing `potential` work left and right to many offshore companies who charge a fraction of what I charge. I was typing Good Morning America segments for a California-based company for quite sometime (and not doing too bad) when they finally decided that they were paying too much on us U.S.-based transcribers and sent the entire project overseas. It just touches a nerve with me. Just think for a moment if you were losing potential clients/business to offshore companies? This seems to be gaining a lot of strength these days.

Anyway, my suggestion ... get software like FrontPage or Publisher for the time being. That`s what I have and use. It came with my Microsoft Office Software. I created my entire Web site using that program. I spent VERY little doing it. Of course I had several late nights, but I got it done and didn`t have to pay anyone else to do so. However, if you really don`t feel that you have time to do it, with a little research, you might be able to find someone located in the U.S. (or a military spouse -- hint, hint, hee hee, that`s me) who would be more than happy to help you out for a nominal fee.

Think about it ... those are just my two cents. I really do wish you luck.

Cheers!
Rebecca


-------------------------

Elite Virtual Assistants, "Combining Today`s Technology with Yesterday`s Professionalism," Elite VAs

It depends on the complexity of the website you want to develop. If it is a basic site you can use the very easy website developing tools of the hosting site. If your website is more complex, I agree with EliteVAs, you should pick up FrontPage and then you can control the development.

You can purchase very good FrontPage website templates from www.fpworld.com or you can search the web and come up with others that supply templates, both in FrontPage or regular HTML, at extremly resonable prices.

You can also go to www.guru.com and have independent contractors from all over the world, USA included, bid on developing a website for you. Make sure you get the source code and in a format that you can work with.

I have used both www.fpworld.com and www.guru.com with satisfaction. Good luck.

 

As a designer, I try to be aware of the landscape of my field, so I looked into some outsourcing sites to get a handle on what the outsourced design field was like.  Overall, the designs themselves were not exceptional, and in many instances you could do just fine with something like Frontpage or Dreamweaver (which I would recommend over Frontpage because it produces cleaner code, but it costs more as well).  While I cannot compete with an outsourced company when it comes to price, my design skills and sensibilities are significantly better, so like always, you get what you pay for.

A quick comment on outsourcing :  most of the clothes we buy are made in foreign countries yet that doesn`t get people`s attention like technological outsourcing.


-------------------------

arp laszlo | www.inkwire.net | web design, development, marketing

Hello all,

Firstly, I would like to say that I appreciate the support.  It was certainly helpful. 

While my project is very complex and I would not be able to do what I need it to do with Frontpage, dreamweaver, etc..  I realized by listning to the stories that my patriotism is preventing me from shipping it to India and I could find an up-and-coming designer and software engineer who could do it while they go to school.

I have posted an add at the local colleges and will begin the interview process. 

Thanks again for the support

If you have decided to go by the patriotism then i don’t want to stop you from searching the local talents.  But just give a look at why and what the bigger companies outsource to India. The factor is not only the cost .But we have good talents in India. .Sam palmisano of IBM won’t invest 6 Billion Dollars in India blindly. Intel wont let there next processor to be developed in India.

Texas Instruments was the first company to start the outsourcing to India long way back in 1985 .TI is a company which does lot of High End work related to ICs. They won’t be taking the work to India without giving a look at the TALENT. I would say in 1985, the cost wasn’t a major factor, but the talent was the determining factor.

          Now in current scenario we have a cost advantage also. 

If you are looking at having the web development work to be done in India, let me know about it. We got lot of experienced professionals who can meet your requirement. You always have the option of choosing the talent. You can interview our team members also and decide upon.

 You need to look at the success of your business in the initial stage .Once your business grow your country will be benefited and you will be able to give job to lot of your fellow citizens

Thanks

Joseph Thomas

 

Hi Carabetta,

We are located in Canada if you are interested in outsourcing outside of the United States...but not too far :)

If you are looking for web development of any complexity, I am sure we can meet and exceed your requirements.

Good Luck with your search,
Brandon


-------------------------

Brandon Eng, Owner, Lead Studios

Play sports? Find other Toronto players @ www.sportaholik.com

Outsourcing can save a lot of money over domestic talent, but only if you can provide very clear specifications that are technically correct. If you don’t have sufficient high-level knowledge of ecom or databases, your outsourced project could be a big waste of time and money.

If you want to get a sense of outsourcing I would suggest that you visit sites like elance.com. You will attract a lot of junk but you may find some real gems.

I know outsourcing can be a sensitive topic, particularly if it is your job being outsourced. But it never fails to amuse me how many people who complain about outsourcing fail to realize how much their own lives benefit from the efficiencies of free markets. Just look at where your clothes, personal electronics, furniture and cars are made!

Try http://www.hyperstreet.com/

I used it to design my web site quickly and inexpensively, better and faster than using FrontPage or other web tools.

|Here`s my site www.t-rexelectronics.com


-------------------------

Go Green and put more money onto your bottom line with award-winning LED-based light bulbs PearlLED. If you manage a good sized store/business and want to boost the bottom line, call us!