|
Return to Table of Contents
From: David Bailey
Date: 09-13-06 11:57 am
Subject: Prices determined by time invloved
ID: 1
Message: The cost of a web site may vary a lot based on how much you want your site to do. Let me share a few scenarios with you all.
Small Web Site
$100 - $400 USD setup (See note below)
A small web site may only have a few pages. Small web sites have a difficult time getting the attention of the big search engines like Google, Yahoo and others. This can be counter-acted by activity on the site.
Activity could be as simple as a box that you change a message in every few days. It could be as complex as a calendar with every changing events.
The search engines will look for changes from visit to visit. If a site has no changes since the last visit, search engines will slide the site down the list. If the search engines see changes (they like that), it will re-index the site and hopefully move the site up their list a little.
With a small site, you should look for ways to keep it active. A good web developer will have a number of tools available to do this, but it will require time from you or your web developer to maintain it. Most web developers will charge for this update by time spent, so it may get expensive. Just keep in mind that the best person to make these routine updates is you, the person who knows exactly what you want on the site.
Medium Web Sites
$300 - $1000 USD setup (See note below)
A medium size web site will typically have more than just a few pages. Many times, sites in this category may include programming to enhace the site and expand its foot print.
One of our focuses is to create tools that our site owners can add to and edit as much as they want. These tools typically cost a little bit more than a regular pages, but the return you recieve in potential traffic will far outweigh the extra cost if you use them.
Large Sites
$500 - $2500 USD setup (See note below)
Large sites may include hundreds even thousands of pages. Some applications may require a staff member part or full time to maintain, but it does not have to.
Over time, if you simply make a habit of updating and improving your site, your medium size site hase the potential to become very large. We have a number of sites that start out as a 5 page site that have just grown to hundreds of pages over the course of about a year or more.
Depending on the value of your product/company, you may do good to opt for more powerful tools to let you make changes and additions over time.
Notes on set up verses hosting
I do need to mention two types of charges you will recieve. One will be for the set up of the site. Some places charge little for setup in an effort to fill a server. If the product (web site) you are getting is of a good quality, this is a good deal. Prices listed above are what I find to be typical for custom made site.
Hosting is another story. Many web develoeprs will host your site for a monthly or yearly fee. This is normal. Consider that your 'rent' for the space your site takes. An important thing to look for is where your site is being put and how much per month/year.
$10 - $25 USD per month is not unusual. This may vary depending on how much the server is monitored and how well it is run.
Under $10 a month and you may be thrown into a server that is poorly monitored with a lot of other unknown sites. The problem with this is that if someone who owns one of the other sites on that server has enemies that are good at hacking servers, those enemies will take down every site on a server. For a professionals site, tis could be a problem. $120 - $300 per year is a smll price to pay for a site that is always there. If your site is not making at least that much for your company, you need to rethink the site.
Free hosting has a slew of its own challenges. Free hosting probably includes popup ads and other influences on your site that will destroy any hopes of getting on the search engines. Also, you may not be able to have your own web address. This is another reason not to use free hosting for a business site. The damage these do to any hopes of business or listings will far excede a few hundred dollars of hosting. We have seen businesses loose 18 months of sales from stunts like this.
EXPENSIVE hosting is designed to let you get into a new site without money up front. Typically anything over $30 per month that does not include SSL keys or other specialized charges fall in this category.
The first thought is, "Great!! This will be cheap!!" But after you have paid that amount for 1-2 years, you are paying far more than you would have paid had you just paid for the work when it was done.
We have taken over sites that cost $120 per month for a 2 page site that has never been changed and does not even have any pictures of products or services on them. 4 years later, that site has cost over $5000. Our company set up a new site for $700 that included photos and graphic design and the hosting for the same 4 years came to under $250 per year.
Keep an eye on those hidden and long term charges.
Return to Table of Contents
Thread:
How Much Does a Web Site Cost? - David Bailey 09-13-06 11:13 am
Prices determined by time invloved - David Bailey 09-13-06 11:57 am
|
