Website Design Costs Explained
A recurring question for web site design companies is 'How much to design a website?' This question by itself (without further information) is usually an indicator that the person has little intention of having a website built and certainly hasn't given any thought to the fact that sites can be vastly different even when covering the exact same subject matter.
Here's a general breakdown of what's involved.
1.
Colours.
The look and mood of a website can vary greatly depending on which colours are used.
Design professionals use colours as the building block to the overall feel of your site.
As well as the initial colours, there's complimentary and contrasting colours to consider as well as text colours.
2.
Navigation.
Making a website user friendly is very much down to the way the person browsing is led to the important parts of the site.
This is something which can make the difference between visitors exploring your site or leaving after a few frustrated clicks.
3.
Images.
The graphics side of web design has great impact and anything from the background to buttons can be customised to create or add to the desired look.
Even supplied photos usually have to be adjusted, manipulated or resized to fit in with the desired finish.
If stock photos are to be applied to enhance the site, these have to be chosen carefully from hundreds of similar images and manipulated to fit in.
The header graphics for the website usually has to be created within the same theme and to fit the company logo or letterhead for consistency.
4.
Content.
The single most important thing in your website is the text.
This is where your visibility in the search engines is gained or lost.
Not only does the topical content help people to find you but it helps to turn browsers into customers.
To write content for both the search engines and the end user is quite a skill and one which most laypersons would find extremely difficult to do well.
5.
Forms One of the more useful tools on websites is the 'contact' form.
In my opinion, this is an essential part of any site as feedback or inquiries from customers or potential customers is vital to any business.
6.
Moving Images / Flash or Gif Custom banners, moving text, photo sequences etc...
are common occurrences in websites and can enhance a site if used well.
7.
Shopping cart Shopping or 'paying online' is a vital service for many websites and there are very secure methods which are easy to implement for invoice payment etc.
At 'A Star Universal' we use 'Google Checkout' for online payment.
Paypal also do a similar API for easy 'buy now' functionality.
These simple carts are ideal for businesses selling a limited amount of items.
There's also the full fledged shopping cart which is usually set up as a separate site in itself and can incorporate literally thousands of items and multiple payment methods.
8.
SEO This stands for 'Search Engine Optimisation'.
SEO has become an integral part of web design as people come to realise that if you have the best looking site in the world, it's no good if no-one can find it.
Apart from the SEO built into the content, there's also directory and search engine submission and article writing, to scratch the surface.
There are many elements to SEO but most web designers now acknowledge the need for basic SEO within the design.
Now..
..
If you look at the above list (which isn't extensive) and think about how much time would need to be spent on each element to create an effective end product, you'll have an idea of what you're paying for and why.
The easiest way to work out costs is by using an average amount of hours for each task.
I find that this is the easiest way to get to a price quickly and avoids clients thinking you're making the price up.
The hardest thing with pricing is explaining to someone who wants the cheapest site possible what won't be included and what they really should have and why.
Here's a general breakdown of what's involved.
1.
Colours.
The look and mood of a website can vary greatly depending on which colours are used.
Design professionals use colours as the building block to the overall feel of your site.
As well as the initial colours, there's complimentary and contrasting colours to consider as well as text colours.
2.
Navigation.
Making a website user friendly is very much down to the way the person browsing is led to the important parts of the site.
This is something which can make the difference between visitors exploring your site or leaving after a few frustrated clicks.
3.
Images.
The graphics side of web design has great impact and anything from the background to buttons can be customised to create or add to the desired look.
Even supplied photos usually have to be adjusted, manipulated or resized to fit in with the desired finish.
If stock photos are to be applied to enhance the site, these have to be chosen carefully from hundreds of similar images and manipulated to fit in.
The header graphics for the website usually has to be created within the same theme and to fit the company logo or letterhead for consistency.
4.
Content.
The single most important thing in your website is the text.
This is where your visibility in the search engines is gained or lost.
Not only does the topical content help people to find you but it helps to turn browsers into customers.
To write content for both the search engines and the end user is quite a skill and one which most laypersons would find extremely difficult to do well.
5.
Forms One of the more useful tools on websites is the 'contact' form.
In my opinion, this is an essential part of any site as feedback or inquiries from customers or potential customers is vital to any business.
6.
Moving Images / Flash or Gif Custom banners, moving text, photo sequences etc...
are common occurrences in websites and can enhance a site if used well.
7.
Shopping cart Shopping or 'paying online' is a vital service for many websites and there are very secure methods which are easy to implement for invoice payment etc.
At 'A Star Universal' we use 'Google Checkout' for online payment.
Paypal also do a similar API for easy 'buy now' functionality.
These simple carts are ideal for businesses selling a limited amount of items.
There's also the full fledged shopping cart which is usually set up as a separate site in itself and can incorporate literally thousands of items and multiple payment methods.
8.
SEO This stands for 'Search Engine Optimisation'.
SEO has become an integral part of web design as people come to realise that if you have the best looking site in the world, it's no good if no-one can find it.
Apart from the SEO built into the content, there's also directory and search engine submission and article writing, to scratch the surface.
There are many elements to SEO but most web designers now acknowledge the need for basic SEO within the design.
Now..
..
If you look at the above list (which isn't extensive) and think about how much time would need to be spent on each element to create an effective end product, you'll have an idea of what you're paying for and why.
The easiest way to work out costs is by using an average amount of hours for each task.
I find that this is the easiest way to get to a price quickly and avoids clients thinking you're making the price up.
The hardest thing with pricing is explaining to someone who wants the cheapest site possible what won't be included and what they really should have and why.