How much are you willing to pay for your website?
Having some technological awareness gives you an edge. We’re in the cool school if we have a tablet or we actually know how to use our smart phone. A professional web site design or layout can cost between three thousand and three million dollars (the website owner makes it really great – not the designer). You can pay as little as $500 if you want. Like with most things, you usually get what you pay for.
Technological illiteracy is very profitable. If a client doesn’t know where a button is, a company will happily invoice you for every press.
Technology has enabled charlatans, sharks and cowboys to find new and exciting ways to prise money out of your wallet.
Development “teams”
Sometimes it does takes a team of people to develop a website. Other times it can be done by just one web designer with a bit of computer knowledge and some creative flair. Making web sites is considered by most non-tech people to be a black art. But it’s not.
Let me demystify . . .
Here is the basic code for every website on the planet (shh!)
<html> <head><title>Lawnmowing Perth</title></head> <body>Lawn and edge mowing services in Perth, Western Australia</body> </html>
Yup! That’s it. Class dismissed.
The above example has been (mildly) optimised for search engines for a Perth-based Lawnmower service.
Of course, it gets trickier than this example, but the basics are the same – a header, title and body.
Web designing in 2012
In 2012, anyone can turn a life hobby into a thriving business. All you need is a web site. While on the plus side we are seeing a massive resurgence in The Great Cottage Industry, not everybody in business knows exactly how to do business. In my experience, some web design companies (and individuals) act like very insecure sharks during a feeding frenzy.
There’s a big demand for web sites and website makeovers. And where there’s a big demand, people get ripped off left right and centre.
Even reputable web companies have bills to pay.
Ruthless Web Design Companies
Doing as little as humanly possible for as much money as one can get should not be the aim of your web design firm (or freelancer – read about me and why I love making websites) but more often than not, it is.
Oh, heck. That’s not new, that’s Capitalism! …
When people are happily paying $50,000 for websites which are only worth $10,000 – someone’s eventually going to find out. My bet is that even genuine, medium-sized web design firms won’t be around for much longer. They have to turn a profit, pay wages, maternity leave and huge rents. That’s why they sell $3,000 websites for $20,000. You are paying for overheads.
In my opinion, buying cheap is not necessarily the best way to approach your website. Get 6 quotes (not three) and read the paperwork. It’s definitely worth your while.
More often then not the same job can be done by one person (or at least one designer and one programmer). Really big companies survive by competing on price. There’s always someone looking for a bargain.
A Website for Under $2,000?
If you go with a large company OR you are buying a site for under $2,000 – DO your homework and at least be marginally aware of the issues.
Some questions you might like to ask
- Ask for FTP access (Most companies won’t give you this readily).
- Insist on your own or an independently hosted server (not theirs).
- Ask them to list exactly what they will do for the money.
- Make sure you can update pages yourself.
- Make sure you can add news items yourself.
- Make sure you can upload images to your news posts and pages.
- Read the fine print before signing a contract.
Cheap companies are like cheap printers. Bought a printer cartridge recently?
In my opinion, you’re probably not getting a good deal if the site is less than $2,000 and you can do all the things listed above. If you are not being sold a dud, the independent designer / web developer might be new to the business and has probably under-quoted. He / she will find that out the hard way during the cold months. Under-quoted jobs eventually go to the bottom of the pile. We all know Hungry Jacks pays $15/hr, so if you’re web designer is building sites for less than that, it gives you an idea of the experience and may reflect on the quality.
Is less than $2,000 really less than $2,000
I know more than a few people who have paid $5,000+ for what was originally supposed to be an $1,800 web site. Sometimes you get what you pay for. More often than not you get a lot less. What you don’t get is usually not listed in the job sheet, so save that above shopping list.
Ignorance is Bliss
Most (ruthless) companies are run by bosses who have no idea what their just-out-of-uni workforce is doing for their clients. And when the 20-something whiz-kid who actually coded your site leaves their company it’s up to the next new kid to de-cypher his code. Guess who pays for that de-cyphering time?
Non-ruthless companies write good, clean standards-compliant code that everyone can read. You only have to right-click a website to see the code. As a general rule, if it’s easy to read, search engines will probably also find it easy to read.
Many companies are still using Flash or coding with HTML Tables! (CSS layout replaced tables in 1999).
As long as we pay the kids $25 per hour and we charge ‘em out at $180+ per hour, who cares, right?
Well I actually care for one. Your overpricing practice is damaging my industry. People are buying pig’s ears for gold bars.
A lot of clients leaving big companies treat me with suspicion. Are you one of them? Will you also rip me off? I can literally see prospective clients thinking that. If you are paying $200 per hour for a website build and the boss is paying the only person working on your website $25/hr, then you’re not getting what you’re paying for. Simple maths. Sure there are ongoing costs. Rent, electricity, software. But really – are you happy with a 10,000% mark-up?
If you’re paying $15,000 for a basic website with text and a gallery (i.e. “too much”) I guarantee you that someone fresh out of school will be the sole worker on your site.
The Rise and Rise of the under-cutting web developer
Independent web designers (like me) can undercut any reputable (or otherwise) web firm easily. I have (almost) no cost when I build a web site because I work from home and code using the free Notepad++. All I need is a computer, a brain and notepad. It’s my skill and problem-solving ability that you pay for. Why give most of your budget to a big boss when you can pay the guy who actually builds your site?
Deal direct and save.
The Lure of Big Business
Many moons ago, I was asked if I wanted to be a partner in a company. It was a great bunch of guys and we’d all worked with each other. Everyone was “good with money” and a company structure was a natural idea as we all got on really well. Unfortunately, I’m happy designing and building web sites all by myself. The guys went on to build a reputable company with offices all around the world. But that’s not my bag.
I attract clients in my own way (mostly by word of mouth or via social media). The idea of running a company bores me. It feels like turning a fun paying hobby (my current job) into a nine-to-five “going concern.” I have worked for a lot of businessmen and entrepreneurs and really don’t see myself as the “hiring and firing, boardroom-meeting, home-by-6pm” type.
I’ve seen terrible websites and I’ve dealt with crying clients who have come to me after paying tens of thousands for a really basic website built by a larger company. In some cases, they haven’t been ripped off, they’ve just bought a website from a company that needs to turn over product and pay staff. Or one that is run inefficiently from the top down.
And that’s the problem.
Open Source CMS Software
Get in touch. I’ll have a long mac with one sugar, thanks!
If Fortune 500 web sites are all running simple WordPress installs (which is the majority of sites I build) I can’t see why anyone needs to pay too much for a basic web site. And more for administrative access. Thanks to Open Source CMS technologies like Drupal, Joomla and WordPress, massive websites can be built by just a few people. Or more often than not in my case, just me. All you pay for is my time – and the coffee.
Hey Ed, great article mate… it’s funny, we’ve been hovering in the middle middle area of ‘independent’ operators (like you – and what I was in the UK for 10 years), and the mid-size companies who have the larger overheads… I agree that people getting ripped off by expensive firms are damaging our business and making all potential clients suspicious and anxious, but eventually, like with everything, people will understand that you get what you pay for… and it’s up to them to make sure they find someone who has their best interest in mind… see you this Friday hopefully! Tony
Thanks Tony. Yeah, over $15K for a WordPress install. What the . . . ? It’s true that people eventually find out, too. Even if it means through tears. It really makes me angry. One lady spent her life’s savings ($15K) on a basic 10 page site with no functionality – and then when she wanted to update, it was thousands. I’m not making millions but I love making websites. It’s more “immediate” than film-making and I get paid some money as opposed to “international awards”.
Tony runs a website called Knucklehead TV if you need to get a quote from an actual web developer as opposed to an entrepreneur.