A friend was quoted $800 for a simple 4 to 6 page website.
My reaction was one of utter shock and disbelief when she told me.
Here's how to get a website and save yourself a great deal of aggravation, wasted time, and wasted money. There really are lots of great designers out there -- and platforms too. No matter who you may choose to design your site, or if you decide to build your site's first cut yourself, there are some questions that will help you before you begin, no matter what you decide to do.
Here's what I ask people. It usually helps a great deal to know the answers to some of these questions before you begin - and if you really do know the answers, then write them down!
1. Is this a business site, professional's site, charity, club, or personal site?
2. Do you have stock info? Information like a mission statement, address, telephone information, and hours of operation? Do you have a list of products or services? Where would you want a customer to contact you or email you? This information is the very basic, "must have" content for a website. Other content expands upon that.
3. Are there special features you require in your website?
3. Will you be hosting videos, MP files or have other needs for high bandwidth capacity?
4. Do you have ready-to-use content? If not, seek out a copywriter... Many people say, "I need a site..." but what they really need is to develop the content
5. Is there some feature you want to site to support? Leads? E-commerce? Member Directories? etc. etc.
6. WHO WILL MAINTAIN the site once it is established? If you have a staff member with the time, is this your vision? or do you anticipate having someone outside your organization maintain it? For many people, this is the most important question.
7. #6 also has a corollary: who will help you if there is a problem?
8. BUDGET. A friend of mine was recently quoted $800 for a simple, small business/professional outreach website. I was shocked and amazed. Having seen the graphics that she already paid $400 for, and realizing she was being taken, well, it's hard not to see that for what it is. There are many designers and platforms you can use.
9. CONTROL.
Many people may not realize it, but who controls their site can become an issue... So if you have one person who developed your site in Dreamweaver with no CMS, whenever you want changes you have to go back to them... if they are unavailable, you are totally stuck!
9. EXPANDING CONTENT/VERSIONING/OBSOLESCENCE.
One person I know asked for help with her site. I started down that path and come to find out she has probably 50+ pages of content...going back years... kind of hard to migrate something like that without a firm commitment or soft copies...
10. What I would recommend for under $200/year:
* Do you like WordPress or Joomla, and are handy with graphics and code? Take a look at Siteground - Joomla or WordPress. Buy a template and create a site. This could be viable if you or your staff are already handy with Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, etc. Automattic also has a professional WordPress service.
However, if you do not have the technical background already, I wouldn't recommend either WordPress or Joomla as a first step.
* Firstcupsite.com - Mention LinkedIn and get a Very good deal (I'm biased here) in addition to 30 day free trial. No coding required, but having an 'eye' for design and graphic content that is web-ready can be a help. If you are already involved in Media, this would be super easy for you/your business.
Similar online services:
* Viviti - free site that can be upgraded easily and inexpensively
* Hotdoodle.com - Not a bad sitebuilder for a simple professional site
* GoDaddy Website Tonight -- Upgraded version - a bit more expensive - and you could easily spend over $200 (firstcupsite.com is better) but good for those wanting to integrate e-commerce
* Jimdo - not for everybody, but very competitive
*Yola -- not for everybody, but very competitive
I would recommend in any case a Facebook page for your business (really)
There are lots of great designers out there. We use firstcupsite.com to design and host nonprofits at a deeply discounted rate and get exceptional and professional results. But whatever you eventually choose, having these answered first up will help you a great deal whatever you decide. Good luck!
