There are lots of considerations when building your firms new site. Some of the main items are Research , Design, Development , Implementation and Testing. There is a substantial cost to this strategy because it is labor intensive, but a quality website pays off in the long run if you follow this format. Website Promotion Services can be discussed here also.
There are many platforms out there that allow you to set up a template website in a few hours, but if you want to develop a custom site, it will take a lot longer. For instance, lets say that you buy a template for $ 99.00. Then you put in about five or so hours to add content. Thats about 20 dollars an hour and not too bad a price. If you are looking at a custom site that takes about 100 hours to develop, you would be at 1 dollar an hour. It's hard to find a developer that will work for that.
So, in order to price out a custom website, here are the things that you must do to get an accurate proposal.
First , of course is the research part of the project. You'll want to take a look at what the competition is doing in your niche, what their sites look like and how well they perform. Sit down with your developer and have an idea session so you can decide what to implement and what to leave out . The first architecture plans for the site will be considered here also. This should take approximately 25 hours or so, all told.
Second, is the design of the graphic concepts for the site. You will create design mockups , with different versions and structures. Working with different colors and graphics and refining the mockups. This can take up to about 40 hours. More of this is explained on my website at Your Expert Webman
Third, is the actual development phase. In this phase the programming is started and the final design concept is chosen. If you are installing plugins and widgets, this is when they will be programmed in. The Content Management System is installed and implemented here. This phase can take up to 35 hours on an average custom site.
Forth, is the actual Implementation phase. Your domain name is now setup along with the hosting service you will use. The CMS Administration will be setup now so that changes to the site can be made in a timely manner. Those changes will either be made by you or the developer. Finally , all files will be uploaded to the web space that the hosting company provides. This may only take about 5 or 6 hours. You can leave comments or questions about this at Your Expert Webman.
Fifth and finally, comes the testing phase. Your site must meet the W3C standards for websites. Older templates may not do this and if you don't have a developer that knows what they are, your site won't be seen. Checking spelling and links and all functions happens here. You will be trained how to use the Content Management System (CMS) if you will be making your own changes. This is also the time to get any questions , comments and answers out of the way.
This whole project can take from four to six weeks and at 50 dollars and hour you are looking at about 5000 dollars for about 100 hours of work. Thats for a full custom website design and implementation. You can add extra for a simple e-commerce system if you need one.
This is a pretty much simplified version of what happens, but the real reasons you should do it this way are at Your Expert Webman
Now, if you need a website up and running in no time you will want to look for a website template and someone who can set it up for you. It won't take long, but expecting a custom website design for a hundred bucks just won't work. If it did that web designer would earn around $1/hour (in case of a usual 100 hours project) or he would compromise quality and would deliver something with some hours claiming it to be custom design. Don’t fall for it. Hire a professional web designer and get your money's worth !
The best way to find out who is a professional web designer is to ask your friends for referrals or go here . While some designers will talk about great results for low price quickly, a professional will ask for your vision and your goals and talk about longer term results for more money. That’s OK since he is living from what he does at his best and he needs to earn. This is why free or cheap works are out of range for a professional designer.
Hiring a more expensive but professional web designer will pay off in the long term in most cases so you can rest assured your marketing dollars are spent well.
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