Website design costs

[smiffin]

Hi Ade,

 

In relation to cost, it's a good start that you want to keep it simple as the more fancy you get (e.g. flash, video, etc) the more time consuming it will be for the designer and so the more pricey.

 

With anything, it's always good to have a shop around and get some quotes, look at the designers previous work and if possible contact there existing/previous clients for a testimonial....afterall, your website is your identity (not to mention a significant outlay of money) and so you want the best service for the best price.

 

Just remember that the cheapest doesn't mean the best, there are a lot of people out there who provide a second rate service but seem the best because of the price. Saying that though, Sheffield has some fantastic web design agencies.

 

Having set up my own business 18 months ago, I shopped around and in the end plumped for these guys: www.squareone.co.uk

They kept me informed throughout and the final piece looked great.

 

Happy hunting anyway!!

[Phanerothyme]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to get a rough cost for website design - anyone know where to start?

 

I'd be looking at a site to host an online fiction magazine, so don't imagine it'd be too complex. Though as I'm no web designer, I have no real idea.

 

I'm thinking of a site with a home page, about us, submission guidelines, contact details, forum (maybe) and archive pages for holding the actual magazine content.

 

Only looking for a very rough figure at the moment - anyone else with experience of needing a website, your comments are most welcome.

 

Thanks.

 

I'd say somewhere between £150-350. If you want people to find it on Google (not always an advantage) then like Indezine says, it needs to be tuned on quite a few levels to maximise its visibility to search engines. I wouldn't necessarily get a web designer to do that bit.

 

Hosting should be cost somewhere between nothing and £300 a month, depending on the reliability you need. I'd probably opt for the bottom end of that particular spectrum unless you are taking money on the site 24/7.

 

For a site based on your outline spec, I'd also suggest looking at content management systems.

[Pooch_1]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to get a rough cost for website design - anyone know where to start?

 

I'd be looking at a site to host an online fiction magazine, so don't imagine it'd be too complex. Though as I'm no web designer, I have no real idea.

 

I'm thinking of a site with a home page, about us, submission guidelines, contact details, forum (maybe) and archive pages for holding the actual magazine content.

 

Only looking for a very rough figure at the moment - anyone else with experience of needing a website, your comments are most welcome.

 

Thanks.

 

If I was you, I would go for Wordpress, you can download it free,HERE they do magazine templates for free as well, and everything is set up for you in the script. All you need to provide is a hosting company, and your domain name. Make sure the hosting company has cpanel and fantastico or ruby on rails to automatically install Wordpress for you. Or alternatively you could get free hosting HERE. These offer free hosting with no adverts, unlimited bandwidth, and oceans of web space, and they do their own blog designs. It is very simple to build a professional looking website with their drag and drop tools, no html, css, java or seo knowledge required, they even add keywords for you.

[Phanerothyme]

If I was you, I would go for Wordpress, you can download it free,HERE

Good advice and also a very good way to create something, which further on down the line can be used as a basic spec for a completely custom solution.

 

It's much easier (cheaper) to envision improvements to a site than to create one from scratch.

[floyd77]

I'd also suggest Wordpress - I still use it as the CMS engine on most of the websites I do, but it's also great for people finding their feet as there is loads of documentation and free help availables.

 

Unless you're expecting to hit the ground running with thousands of visitors per day, about £20 will get you a years hosting with everything you need (cPanel, fantastico etc etc)

 

If you already have a domain I'd be happy to let you have some hosting to try for a few weeks and have a play about to see if it's for you or if you'd rather have a pro do it for you.

[image-retail]

Hi, have you looked at create.net?

 

I have built my site through them after having no idea of website design etc. They have all the templates all you have to do is add your detail, pics and content etc. They re doing a 30 day free trail at the mn too. Hope this helps