Monday, October 12, 2009

How Much Should A Small Business Website Cost?

It's Canadian Thanksgiving and as a result of returning home, may people find themselves answering two pressing quesitons.  First, the infamous "will you fix my computer" question.  With an easy "sure, no problem" and a half hour or so of backtracking or re-imaging, the problem is solved.

The second question however is new and slightly more interesting.  "How Much Should A Small Business Website Cost?"

Professional designers typically charge between $500 and $3000 to design a new page layout.  This is a very wide range but the following information might help you narrow down your own individual price range.

SOME GENERALITIES THAT YOU LIKELY KNOW:

A business website is an extension of your entire marketing plan. Websites have the unique advantage of being able to generate income; no other form of marketing can directly impact sales.

With these 2 facts in mind, it is important to design a clear, stylish, and above all else effective 24x7 online storefront for your business. At first glance, many inexperienced people will consider a "storefront" overkill for the first website that a small business creates. While I'm not necessarily suggesting full ready-to-go ecommerce functionality, I am suggesting that you take the look and feel of your store (or your brand) and convey the same feeling and information online. Every successful website follows this basic rule.

CREATING IT YOURSELF:
Unless your business is making websites, don't do it yourself. Websites take a lot of time to create and only someone who has a lot of experience can create a website that is polished and professional. You're good at whatever your business is - focus on that and focus on relaying the information that potential customers need.

It sounds like you're on the right path. If you have the skills to render some HTML (etc) then asking a pro for a nice design will work well.

GENERAL COSTS:
Basic websites (simple brochure) sites cost from $500 to $3000.
This cost would give you the basic design, a couple of blank pages to use as a template for additional content, graphics, coloring, consultation, etc.
The range in price will be based on experience. People with extensive portfolios can charge more since their work is proven.

PROJECT PLANNING:
There are a couple of different places that you can get design help. However, all of these sources will fail without a very clear outline of what you want. Compose a "RFQ" (Request for Quotation); this document should contain a full written description of what you want along with some hand sketched block illustrations outlining what you're thinking. While it is important to carefully outline what will make your project successful, allow the designer to be creative and think on his/her own.


SOURCES OF LABOUR:
1)
Review these gallery websites:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=CSS+Gallery&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Form a solid list of designers that you like. E-mail them your RFQ and ask them to return a quote.

2)
Submit your RFQ to web based freelance sites like these:
http://www.rentacoder.com/
http://www.getafreelancer.com/
http://www.elance.com/
http://www.guru.com/
http://www.scriptlance.com/

By finding a web designer using the first method, you'll receive a higher quality product, but you'll pay more. By finding a web designer using the second method, you'll pay less, consume more of your time, and receive lower quality work.

3)
Crowdsourcing works sometimes. For an upfront posting fee, people will submit designs and try to "win" the project at http://99designs.com/

Posted via web from Rob Brown

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