Building a Wordpress site

[cd722]

I have been getting quotes from web designers of around £1500 to build a wordpress site for me using an exsisting template. Is this a competitive price?

How hard is it to build a wordpress site using a pre-built theme? £1500 seems a lot. However I appreciate there is probably a lot more to it than I assume!

 

[AllUpHere]

Depends what's included. Are they writing the copy?

 

[ryedale]

There's so many factors involved really

How much content?
Is bespoke functionality coding needed?
Do they need graphic design work doing
Are you supplying copy?

If it's a three page brochure site for a window cleaner then yes that would be excessive but if it's a massive site requiring lots of bespoke coding then it could be cheap.

 

[fisicx]

How hard is it to build a wordpress site using a pre-built theme?

Takes about 10 minutes.

You then need to configure the theme and add all the content but getting the basic site up and running is very quick and easy. If you like to play with things you can do a lot of it yourself.

 

[cd722]

Thanks for the replies.

It's for a basic brochure site. I will be supplying the copy. We already have an exsisting website built on the DIY 1&1 builder, just looking for something that works better for SEO and looks more professional.

 

[ryedale]

In that case 1500 is a lot for a theme based build.

 

[AllUpHere]

Agreed, 1500 quid is a bit steep. Having said that, it all depends who's doing it. If it's an agency you will probably find yourself with a 500 quid site, having made a thousand pound contribution to their running costs.

 

[fisicx]

Agree. A basic brochure site just needs a free theme (of which there are thousands to choose from) and a bit of planning for the content. Ask the right person and you can put a low cost site together in a couple of days.

 

[cd722]

If anyone thinks they can help give me a message please! Sounds like £1500 is ridiculous...

 

[Sam Drury]

With Wordpress make sure you keep the updates are installed as there are a lot of sites and therefore make it a target for hackers.

 

[Latebloomer]

£1500 is too steep. You also have to consider that you have to update the site and I guess it will cost you more if you don't know how to do it.

Wordpress is very easy to learn and comes with so many templates.

 

[ukitbusiness12]

I think you need to look at this a different way. £1500 may sound like a lot, but you are paying for the guy's knowledge. Sure, you can get a free theme but if you don't know how to use it you can end up burning a lot of time fiddling around with CSS, various options, custom widgets, where everything appears on the page, what all the little options do, resizing images so everything lines up properly, figuring out widgets for featured posts, featured pages, twitter feeds, latest posts etc., etc., etc., then wading through tons of "community support" forum posts and still not finding the answer.

I speak from experience, we paid a similar amount to get our site launched, then after a couple years we changed the theme ourselves and then spent literally weeks figuring all this stuff out, including a ton of googling, reading forums, posting questions, talking to support. We use the Genesis theme on our site which has loads of options, but even now after a couple years we are still find new things out about it (usually after each upgrade).

So really you have to ask yourself how valuable your time is, and figuring out how complicated your site is. If you do want things like multiple pages, widgets, blog posts, menus etc and if you are happy to spend weeks and weeks working on it yourself, then knock yourself out. But for me, I would rather pay someone to do it all whilst spending my time generating business.

The choice is yours!

 

[fisicx]

They just need a simple brochure site, it will only cost a fraction of the £1500 quote.

There is no need to use a complex (and now quite out of date) theme like genesis.

 

[arnydnxluk]

There are so many variables involved. For example:

• The experience of the person developing the website;
• How much customisation is being made to the existing theme;
• How many pages they're working on for you;
• What kind of support they will offer through the process;
• If any stock images are being provided;
• If any images are being edited for you;
• If hosting is included (if not will they get it set up for you on your hosting and make sure the appropriate caching is in place?);
• If the WP admin control panel is going to be altered to make it easier for you to make your own edits in future.

It could be a fair price but I don't think anybody here can tell you without further information.

I will say the quality of this work can vary so much; some developers are true professionals while others wouldn't know what to do when presented with a simple PHP error.

I would ask to see their (live) portfolio and have a look at those websites on different devices, try resizing the browser window etc - you will soon see which developers have a better track record of putting together good quality websites with a good user experience.

It's not too difficult to create your own WordPress website without much prior experience assuming you're happy with very basic page content and have the time available. The expertise of a professional is helpful with more complex page layouts, making sure the website loads quickly, etc.

There are also seemingly simple "quality control" type issues such as "why is the spacing at point A not equal to point B?" which may stump you but a professional developer should have no problem debugging and resolving as part of their process.

Region can also play a part in price differences - you'll find agencies down south often charge more than those up north.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

asked them to show you a web link to their recent work, make sure they did it and than run it through https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ if they get over 90% mobile and desktop they are good. If it is below 30 don't do work for them at all. For a basic site with templates I would estimate 55 hours work with testing that includes domain transfer, tracking setup, tags and meta data custom forms etc... If they are good 1500 is not too much to ask for. Just make sure you own it that includes hosting , content etc... Dont let them use their shared hosting stuff. I personally would stay away from Wordpress but that's my opinion. There are good solutions out there such as Drupal 8 much saver and faster out of the box. I found wor

 

[fisicx]

If anyone thinks they can help give me a message please! Sounds like £1500 is ridiculous...

Sent you a PM

 

[fisicx]

I would estimate 55 hours work with testing that includes domain transfer, tracking setup, tags and meta data custom forms etc...

All the above is about 2 hours work.

Dont let them use their shared hosting stuff.

Shared hosting is fine for a brochure site. 99% of web is shared hosting and it works just fine.

There are good solutions out there such as Drupal 8 much saver and faster out of the box.

It's a brochure site! Drupal is not the way to do this.

 

[ryedale]

asked them to show you a web link to their recent work, make sure they did it and than run it through https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ if they get over 90% mobile and desktop they are good. If it is below 30 don't do work for them at all. For a basic site with templates I would estimate 55 hours work with testing that includes domain transfer, tracking setup, tags and meta data custom forms etc... If they are good 1500 is not too much to ask for. Just make sure you own it that includes hosting , content etc... Dont let them use their shared hosting stuff. I personally would stay away from Wordpress but that's my opinion. There are good solutions out there such as Drupal 8 much saver and faster out of the box. I found wor

So you are suggesting he gets a VPS or a dedicated server for a brochure website..?!

 

[Dave Sutton]

@cd722 sent you a private message.

 

[MBE2017]

I did a small simple Wordpress site a while back, took myself with no knowledge approx 8 hrs to set up, write the copy, upload images, SEO etc for the initial site of 6/8 pages.

Found it a fast useful experience, Wordpress is very easy to use, but obviously you might hit the odd problems which a real pro could fix within a few minutes but might take yourself longer. I thought it important to gain some knowledge on the process, ill health has forced myself to change direction but will be using Wordpress again in the near future.

A good host can be of a lot of help as well, many go way beyond just hosting as part of the service, like many on the forum I used Hi Hosting a member on here.

Don't be afraid to look at it, by all means use someone for speed, but it will be useful in the long run to know the basics, there are plenty of online web tutorials around. Always ensure you control the hosting and own your own web address.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

I think I wrote it wrong,
#
1. Don't get hosting through the website guys. It can be a nightmare if they own the domain on their hosting etc...
2. Siteground shared hosting with super cacher and ssl will do, no need for vps etc.... £100 year.
3. Drupal works great for such a thing and 2 hours are not enough to start from scratch content pics , template etc... is done in minutes but the design after
4. You wanna do something with customer data and maybe protect it as well or feeding into a csm for follow up .
5. £1500 is not too much to ask for if cs gets is custom stuff on top of it. But you need to see what they are quoting
6. Conversion / Sign up measuring and testing and all that stuff takes time.

 

[cd722]

asked them to show you a web link to their recent work, make sure they did it and than run it through if they get over 90% mobile and desktop they are good. If it is below 30 don't do work for them at all.

Is that really a good metric? I've just put numerous websites through by some top agencies and none come close to 90?!

 

[fisicx]

Is that really a good metric? I've just put numerous websites through by some top agencies and none come close to 90?!

No it's not a good metric at all.

Did you get the PMs?

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Well if somebody charges a premium for a website such as 1500 I would expect 85-90% pass on google. Code, load and cache optimising, good hosting and some other tricks. That would be the difference between a 2 hour job or somebody that cares about websites. In general WordPress out of the box gets you 30% add a poorly done theme on top and you end up with 20 or less. In my world load times over 2 secs are not acceptable at all. I am just giving my opinion here and would expect metrics top notch for 1500.

 

[fisicx]

Rubbish. Wordpress our the box scores well.

The problem with focussing on the page score is you end up with a poor ux. note also the Google complains about its one scripts.

And page load speeds are a poor metric. It’s relative page load speeds you need to work on. For example, you can get the above the fold content to load quickly while the stuff way down the bottom catches up later.

The OP wants a brochure site. It’s a simple and easy thing to build for far less than £1500.

 

[Ian J]

If anyone thinks they can help give me a message please! Sounds like £1500 is ridiculous...

If it's any help I trusted @fisicx to sort out Wordpress problems with my site including the transfer from a theme that was causing problems to a new one.

 

[forefoam]

Thought I'd add to this to give you another head to bounce concerns off. I've worked with WP, Drupal and Umbraco for years but I've also been a UX Designer for a good percentage of them too. I've worked on some large-scale projects (Liverpool FC, Your Housing Group, UKSport, Leeds Building Society) but also some small-scale ones like yours (Mind the Gap, Wranx etc).

Whilst I'm not offering development or design services, I'm more than happy to give you advice or a breakdown of what to expect with freelancers, agencies etc.

Wordpress does require some maintenance and security issues that you'll need to take care of but it's a good little tool for SEO. Some of the advice given in this thread is a little off the mark (e.g. page insights, expectations from £1,500) but some of it is accurate (e.g. most of the stuff fisicx has contributed). Have you considered SquareSpace - might be an alternative for a theme-based required site with no specific functionality or serious development.

Let me know if you need any help.

All the best,
ff.

 

[stoneanimation]

It could be a fair price but I don't think anyone here can tell you without more information. All depends on the specs like how many pages, if any logo design, word count if any (or your self) it should be a good job for the price - not read all of the above agree with most.

 

[Alexander Sadlier]

I knew nothing about website/wordpress and I've probably spent about 10 hours in total messing around with it. I've got my website to a basic standard i.e. I can accept sales from people.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

+1 @fisicx recommended - although I've never used his services, he clearly knows what he's talking about...

 

[fisicx]

I knew nothing about website/wordpress and I've probably spent about 10 hours in total messing around with it. I've got my website to a basic standard i.e. I can accept sales from people.

Except you won't. Just about everything on the site is wrong.

 

[lillie421]

That sounds extremely overpriced to me.. maybe ask around for other prices and if that doesn't work, watch some videos on how to build one.

 

[GoingOnline]

I make complex WP websites for a living, at a very high rate, for agencies that need complicated stuff that makes brains hurt. Even at that rate really high rate, there is no chance I would be charging £1500 for a brochure site if the client is providing the copy and the images.

Of course, if I need to spend hours on end chasing after the client to give me the copy or images then that may make it a bit more expensive. But really, more than £500 is a bit of a steal. And I am including customisation on that and basic consultancy of the type images are unsuitable, and this is how you write good web copy and do onsite SEO.

Of course, they could just be an agency whose minimum project budget is £1500 and they won't get out of bed for less than that. Which is fair enough to them!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

fisicx does many posts on this forum, answers many technical questions and challenges many other posts ,

I don't personally know him but from his obvious knowledge and thanks be other posters he would seem to be a expert in this area and someone I would use if needed

 

[Alexander Sadlier]

Except you won't. Just about everything on the site is wrong.

Everything with my website is wrong ? That's somewhat negative ... I have a basic shop that can accept sales. It's not fancy, it's not optimised but I can make sales through it.

 

[fisicx]

Everything with my website is wrong ? That's somewhat negative ... I have a basic shop that can accept sales. It's not fancy, it's not optimised but I can make sales through it.

Yes it is negative but it also correct. Join UKBF and you can get the site reviewed to discover what needs fixing. Like making the site legal - which is isn't.