Cheap & Cheerful Web Designer

Flipping hell, Earl. I get so tyred of your puns, you are a right motor mouth. I think you have a bee in your bonnet about something, as you always put the boot in.

The bad jokes indicate I must go to bed at this juction before I brake down as I'm exhausted.

I can't think of anyway to use the words, 'big end'.

always loved Q cars.

Earl

 

[Anne Pearson]

I agree with Wez.
If their budget is that low they would be better off giving it a go themselves. If they only want a basic one or two page site it's really easy to do using frontpage.

 

[Anne Pearson]

I've just seen someone offering a website for £50 as a special offer on this forum.
They are called Webunit.
Could be worth a try.

 

[oldeagleeye]

QUOTE. For the record the majority of our websites are the FORD FOCUS and bespokes are aston martins as standard.

I always thought that AM was a Ford. Now run by a German who prefers to drive a pre 1965 model made when AM was a truly independent.

On a more sensible note. Some-one mentioned targeting tradesmen as opposed accountants etc. The solution is easy. Create an A4 poster with 2 lots of graphics. A cartoon of a dodgy plumber and the picture of a decent business card web site. Then ask the question what's your image. All that's left then is to advertise where the Dave the dodgy plumbers and his contempories do. In the local newsagents window.

Talking of images. Have you noticed that dog owners seem to look a bit like their dogs. You know slim and sleek or fat bull. I guees the same can be said of Avatars.

Make Streets just about perfect judging by his posts.

 

[Dawg]

Talking of images. Have you noticed that dog owners seem to look a bit like their dogs. You know slim and sleek or fat bull. I guees the same can be said of Avatars.

Easy big boy. Pot kettle being the new black, 'n' all.

 

[oldeagleeye]

Deputy Dawg.

Slightly off thread well well off. How do up upload a picture to a thread. Not talking about avatars but the way Earl uploads a bigger picture now and then. Rob

 

[Dawg]

One way to post pics:
Get image to right size if poss. (Irfan view does this). Go to Image Shack, browse for image, arrow one, untick resize box, arrow 2, click 'host it'



Next window, scroll down a bit, uncheck details box, copy code in 'hotlink for forums (1)' box



Paste code into UKBF post. It will only show as code until you preview



tada



Annoy Earl with composite photos of old Gerry Hat Tricks in Pink Ferraris with slogan 'beware: low flying schlong'

 

Slightly off thread well well off. How do up upload a picture to a thread. Not talking about avatars but the way Earl uploads a bigger picture now and then. Rob

Just paste the URL of the picture in the little envelope.

find this by right clicking image and properties.

as in: http://atvquadshop.co.uk/spyder/yellowlarge.jpg

Now wouldn't that make you 20 years younger.

 

[oldeagleeye]

 

[oldeagleeye]

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/7387/imageshack2bsq3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

 

[oldeagleeye]

 

[matt.chatterley]

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/7387/imageshack2bsq3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Close, but no cigar.

 

Annoy Earl with composite photos of old Gerry Hat Tricks in Pink Ferraris with slogan 'beware: low flying schlong'

Annoy.:|

Nope never come across the word.?

Gerry hat tricks,must have something to do with the war.:|

No idea why the darling buds of may matriarch would be concerned about cans of larger.?

Me mother was right when she said "I should not hop the wag so much"

Earl

 

[thedesigntailor]

For the record the majority of our websites are the FORD FOCUS and bespokes are aston martins as standard

There is no way you can get a focus for £50 as it can't be made in 2.5 hours*. In this analogy, a focus site would be in the region of £1000 and a whole different type of product than yours.

Maybe more moped? I'm certainly not saying that your service is bad or poor value. So I hope I don't offend; as anyone who watched Top Gear on Sunday can tell you there is nothing wrong with a moped if that's what you need.

If you are selling focus websites for £50 then I think you'd have to be super quick to get it all done in an hour and crazy!

* Ps - I'm still not sure how the pricing works as that is £20ph before tax and overheads. How can you live on that? Is there lots of added value extras that people buy?

 

[Esk247]

Ford Fiesta Website - £50 - £250
Ford Focus Website - £500 - £1000
Jaguar Website - £1500 - £2000
Maybach Website - £2500 +

thats how i see it...and i only do the ford fiesta websites and occasional focus websites but i'm not a cms god or html coding wizard so i leave the jags and the maybachs to those on £50 an hour.

 

[Esk247]

and i work for £10 per hour on a lot of these websites....how do i live on it??? i don't have a jaguar..i don't go on holiday to las palmas ... i don't fritter it away on unncessary items!

could i charge £50 an hour??? yep..but i won't have any customers in Whitby...they can barely afford to pay me £10 per hour.

 

[streetslocal]

and i work for £10 per hour on a lot of these websites....how do i live on it??? i don't have a jaguar..i don't go on holiday to las palmas ... i don't fritter it away on unncessary items!

could i charge £50 an hour??? yep..but i won't have any customers in Whitby...they can barely afford to pay me £10 per hour.

The one thing i would say is dont be afraid to up your prices sometimes its easy to get into the method of underselling your service.
Although it can be tough if you sell your service well you can make up the extra sales.
Although if your happy with what your getting and it pays the bills then thats ok and keep doing what your doing.

 

[Esk247]

i would like more money for the services i offer...i mean i'm available to my paying customers 24 hours a day 7 days a week..i even work christmas day if there website goes down..at the moment i do that all for free while i build up a nice portfolio of clients!

i think its my location though..whitby is notoriously difficult for getting paid on time and for the full amount...i'll see what 2009 brings though as i'm doing fine as it is.

 

[streetslocal]

* Ps - I'm still not sure how the pricing works as that is £20ph before tax and overheads. How can you live on that? Is there lots of added value extras that people buy?

As a company we make money from various methods.
1)The business directory
2)Hosting fees
3)The tradesmen sides are subject to a 12 month contract so this ups the profit margin.
4)Pay monthly SEO packages
5)People buy blocks of hours to do additional work.
6)Website reviews.

Im happy with what i get and it works well for me on many aspects.

For example my hosting packages give me a set income each month which is very handy for planning for my family needs as my son has a rare genetic disorder and if he ends up in hospital then my money still comes in which is important.

Before my son was diagnossed i was simply make money money money with higher prices but since that happened i has to re assess my working life and do things in a new manor and it works for me and the customer.

 

[streetslocal]

i would like more money for the services i offer...i mean i'm available to my paying customers 24 hours a day 7 days a week..i even work christmas day if there website goes down..at the moment i do that all for free while i build up a nice portfolio of clients!

i think its my location though..whitby is notoriously difficult for getting paid on time and for the full amount...i'll see what 2009 brings though as i'm doing fine as it is.

Do you limit yourself to whitby for a reason?

 

[thedesigntailor]

Ford Fiesta Website - £50 - £250
Ford Focus Website - £500 - £1000
Jaguar Website - £1500 - £2000
Maybach Website - £2500 +

thats how i see it...and i only do the ford fiesta websites and occasional focus websites but i'm not a cms god or html coding wizard so i leave the jags and the maybachs to those on £50 an hour.

I see...

But then what about the £10,000; 50,000; 100,000 upwards sites? You are only thinking about the budget end of the webscale.

£50 moped/push bike

£250 One of those electric doodars / a 2nd hand metro

£500 Kia Picanto

£1500 Focus

£2000 BMW 3 series

£5000 BMW 5 series

£20,000 Porsche Boxter

£50,000 Maybach / rolls

£100,000 + Ferrari Enzo

£1million + Formula one

 

* Ps - I'm still not sure how the pricing works as that is £20ph before tax and overheads. How can you live on that?

Don't worry you will have plenty of company.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/?p=1765

Earl

 

[Esk247]

I see...
But then what about the £10,000; 50,000; 100,000 upwards sites? You are only thinking about the budget end of the webscale.
£50 moped/push bike
£250 One of those electric doodars / a 2nd hand metro
£500 Kia Picanto
£1500 Focus
£2000 BMW 3 series
£5000 BMW 5 series
£20,000 Porsche Boxter
£50,000 Maybach / rolls
£100,000 + Ferrari Enzo
£1million + Formula one

Crikey! well ok then..break it down as you have put it..i'm operating in the bottom quarter of that chart of yours..the lowly £50 ers but thats fine at this stage..i have too much competition! i'm happy with the people paying £9.99 or £29.99 and i'm building a nice big cake..adding £29.99 here and there .. 1 new customer a week...the cake builds and builds but i have a solid base then of loyal customers and its a regular monthly direct debit style payment! much easier to work out the accounts too

 

[streetslocal]

but i have a solid base then of loyal customers and its a regular monthly direct debit style payment! much easier to work out the accounts too

And this is the way i see this...

Design tailor out of curioustiy what is a million quid website??:|

 

well for me its one that can earn £300,000 a year.

Earl

 

[thedesigntailor]

I see...
But then what about the £10,000; 50,000; 100,000 upwards sites? You are only thinking about the budget end of the webscale.
£50 moped/push bike
£250 One of those electric doodars / a 2nd hand metro
£500 Kia Picanto
£1500 Focus
£2000 BMW 3 series
£5000 BMW 5 series
£20,000 Porsche Boxter
£50,000 Maybach / rolls
£100,000 + Ferrari Enzo
£1million + Formula one

Crikey! well ok then..break it down as you have put it..i'm operating in the bottom quarter of that chart of yours..the lowly £50 ers but thats fine at this stage..i have too much competition! i'm happy with the people paying £9.99 or £29.99 and i'm building a nice big cake..adding £29.99 here and there .. 1 new customer a week...the cake builds and builds but i have a solid base then of loyal customers and its a regular monthly direct debit style payment! much easier to work out the accounts too

Lol - I'm not putting the lower end of the scale down. I'm saying exactly that the industry needs you.

But when you say you charge £29.99 for a website do you mean a month? Because that is a different thing entirely.

 

[Martin P]

Can anyone show me what a £1,000,000+ website would look like?! If there is one?!

 

[matt.chatterley]

Can anyone show me what a £1,000,000+ website would look like?! If there is one?!

Can't think of one which cost >1m off the top of my head, but this one was in the realms of £200k+:

http://www.jersey.com/

Though to be honest, it didn't even work properly when they first got it up and running. Please note this is NOT something I worked on - I don't want any more association with it than necessary.

I suspect there are more "upper quartile" websites out there than people think..

 

[streetslocal]

Can't think of one which cost >1m off the top of my head, but this one was in the realms of £200k+:

http://www.jersey.com/

Though to be honest, it didn't even work properly when they first got it up and running. Please note this is NOT something I worked on - I don't want any more association with it than necessary.

I suspect there are more "upper quartile" websites out there than people think..

Im in the wrong trade

I would have done that for less than 30k:redface:

 

[matt.chatterley]

Im in the wrong trade

I would have done that for less than 30k:redface:

Ah. I didn't say it was _worth_ 200k+, nor did I say that we would charge that much, either.

I'm sure there are lots of other examples out there, though this one does prove a number of points, including:

Value is relative.

Goverments will pay over the odds for things.

 

[streetslocal]

Ah. I didn't say it was _worth_ 200k+, nor did I say that we would charge that much, either.

I'm sure there are lots of other examples out there, though this one does prove a number of points, including:

Value is relative.

Goverments will pay over the odds for things.

Think of those higher taxes

 

[DotNetWebs]

...
Goverments will pay over the odds for things...

If you think that is expensive....

£153,000,000 for a website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/29/bbc.digitalmedia

Regards

Dottty

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

How can you spend that much on a website? Even the BBC? it's not a new start from scratch build the biggest website you can, it's ongoing annual maintenance, development and improvements.

 

[streetslocal]

Thats the thing people say its all about pricing and the cheap designers dont come up to scratch etc.

I could build that site without any issues...

And one hell of alot cheaper and support it and maintain it.

 

If you think that is expensive....

£153,000,000 for a website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/29/bbc.digitalmedia

Regards

Dottty

I thought they were saying it spent 110 million in 1 year,so total cost for the site may approach 1 billion.

Earl

 

[computaguy]

I think people look at the price and decide what the quality will be like based on the cost. I once quoted £5000 for a routing/scheduling package for a leading online tyre sales organisation.

I was told in no uncertain terms that if I thought the owner was going to buy a system for a few paltry thousand I was seriously mistaken, and then shown the door. Had I trebbled the price I would have got the work. (Mind you he was an absolutely intolerable ass throughout the meeting and I would have hated working with him!)


This doesn't mean that doing a job cheaply is necessarily the wrong option in my opinion. Sometimes doing a job cheaply will lead to a great and long term working relationship. I guess the skill is in recognising where the best opportunity lies.

 

[Esk247]

some of those examples above are shocking arent they...i remember someone paying £1000 just for a 1 page, business card style website and they thought that was the going price..it didn't even appear in many search results!

for charity based website i only charge for the hosting..design is free..for business websites i can charge £69 a year for basic website or £29.99 per month if its more complicated and they need me to carry on updating it at the end of every week.

i admit my costs are low and i dont really make much profit but at a time of recession i'm glad to have a steady enough flow and a solid platform...hopefully i can start building on this in 2009 so i'm comfortably off and can even start employing people part-time.

i would gladly take on work for £150,000 though..just dont expect me to do it all on my own..i'll be bringing in a few other people to help me.

 

[zoezoe]

well that kind of illustrates my point if you have to ask the question really. Tradesmen by definition usually are away from the PC all day - maybe a designer could offer an evening service between 7 and 9 or something.

Tradesmen are uaually pretty PC illiterate and are almost always cynical of paying for this sort of thing and should be approached accordingly - perhaps some dumb arse explanation of the basics of email and basic website workings would be useful to have, expecting them to deal with you and react to you in the same way as an office based business would be a mistake I think.

to be honest that sounds like most of our customers and i see no difference in the tradesmen or the hairdresser, the needs of most small business owners are the same.

 

[zoezoe]

but my point is...why do i struggle to find work when i'm prepared to work at hours that suit the client...

if they want to go up the next level and go fully in to the wonderful world of website design i'll phone one of the experts up from this website and get a quote for my client as i don't do high end websites..thats my usp..i deal with start-ups or people that have 10 minutes spare at the end of each day.

end of rant

thats your problem, people want a company thatthey can grown with, a website that will grow. what marketing do you do? competing on price is never a good idea you will actually put people off. and once you have 200 customers you will change you wont be able to support them all in the same way, there simple will not be enough time.

 

competing on price is never a good idea you will actually put people off. .

I keep telling Tesco's that.

but they won't listen.

Earl