How much does a website cost?

[jack_in_the_box]

I’m new to all this, and although I’ve been through google search results, I feel I’m none the wiser for it. What sort of price should I be looking to budget for a website? I’m an antiques dealer. What I really want is an online shop that can display all my products, but I want to be able to update them easily as and when I get new ones in. I also have a mailing list that I send fliers out to by good old fashioned snail mail, but it’s too expensive in the current economy (and slow due to all the postal strikes!) so a friend has suggested to me there are ways of doing it all on the internet using email. As I say, I’m new to this and felt out of my depth trawling through the google search results. One came up in the sponsored links (wysi.co.uk) which says it does lots of wonderful things. It’s £500 for setup and £40 per month. Is that good value? I’ve read elsewhere that it can cost thousands of pounds set these things up, so this looked like a reasonable option. I don’t want to spend more than I have to.

 

[davezzr]

www.officelive.com offers a free 500mb website loads of templates and other usefull stuff. free hosting and free .co.uk domain with 100 email accounts.it also has a good forum for advice and techie stuff as well as onsite analysis of your site performance,visitors,links etc
ive used mine for 2 years and dont need to change..really worth a good look

 

[VinceSamios]

IMHO if you're on a budget you're best to build a site based on Joomla, or even cheaper, WordPress. We do wordpress themes, pm for a quote.

 

[Ali-v-8]

you website is your presence on the internet
search engines are like high streets.

A website can cost £500-£80,0000
its what you get for your money that should determine the price.
Most important is that your website can look the best you could spend a million on its features buit unless its optimised and laid out properly it will just be a shop in the middle of a feild.




I am not sure but you want to sell your products online then it sounds like you need a form of ecommerce.

 

[officeruler1]

Hi there ,

Id recomend you get several diffrent quotes from reputable companies to price you up for a website ,costs can vary depending on what you are after and who is actually doing the work .A bigger company is going to charge more but this doesnt mean a freelance or small company does a rubbish job.Id go for peoples reccomendations etc and take your time over who you chose as there are a lot of rip off merchants out there

 

[gogul2k]

You often get what you pay for.

Also remember that simply putting the website out wont guarantee your ROI, it's only part of your marketing strategy.

 

[Carson Jones]

Office Live unfortunately stopped its store manager option in June so your ecommerce requirement makes it more difficult if you go this route. Otherwise this can work well as I use it to work with a number of my clients. I have spent thousands on ecommerce systems previously for other businesses and it really depends upon how you want it to work number of stock items and projected growth (but depending upon this no really need to break the bank particularly to start off with). Also a key consideration is ensuring you have the control to do the stock updating as this was an issue with one of the web designers I worked with in the early days. You sound like the sort of business that I am just launching an new service for (Paste into browser if you get chance. carsonjones.net/Yourmarketingdepartment.aspx) and your thoughts on the proposition would be welcome. On the direct emailing you can use services such as marketingfile.com to buy names for your target markets which is quite good for test marketing and then expanding it following your tweaks. Once you have your html flyer ready you can use these names to start your campaigns and measure the response (also saves you having to check email/tel opt out registers). In the meantime if I can be any further help to you please let me know.

 

[awebapart.com]

I'm an antiques dealer. What I really want is an online shop that can display all my products

This is where competitor research might be useful. Do you know of many antiques dealers like yourself, selling similarly priced products, who have online shops where people can buy antiques online. If not, then there is probably a good reason for this. For your situation, especially if you are selling one-off high-value products, you might be better off with a website that simply displays your products rather than allowing people to buy them online (in which case a fully-blown online shop might be overkill, but perhaps still useful if you have a lot of products and can switch off "add to basket" or "buy now" buttons).

I also have a mailing list that I send fliers out to by good old fashioned snail mail, but it's too expensive in the current economy (and slow due to all the postal strikes!) so a friend has suggested to me there are ways of doing it all on the internet using email.

That might work but it depends on whether your intended audience have email accounts - this might not always be the case, especially for some traditional business areas, and if your clients include other antiques dealers who aren't "on the net" yet.

 

[XanderMarketing]

This blog post I wrote recently may help you:

How much does a website cost?

 

[Shaun_Pearce]

Jack I need your advice please can you pm me or email me on [email protected]

 

[Watermill Accounting]

Jack,

You can get your website hosted for as little as £5 a month. Web design is what you actually pay for and other services provided. So better look for a good web designer first, look at his portfolio and previous work. As everyone said you get what you pay for but a good business man always likes to ensure good value for his money. Do some more research. Get quotes from the ones you like and off course look into your budget how much you are prepared to pay. All the best.

 

[tdl]

I’m new to all this, and although I’ve been through google search results, I feel I’m none the wiser for it. What sort of price should I be looking to budget for a website? I’m an antiques dealer. What I really want is an online shop that can display all my products, but I want to be able to update them easily as and when I get new ones in. I also have a mailing list that I send fliers out to by good old fashioned snail mail, but it’s too expensive in the current economy (and slow due to all the postal strikes!) so a friend has suggested to me there are ways of doing it all on the internet using email. As I say, I’m new to this and felt out of my depth trawling through the google search results. One came up in the sponsored links (wysi.co.uk) which says it does lots of wonderful things. It’s £500 for setup and £40 per month. Is that good value? I’ve read elsewhere that it can cost thousands of pounds set these things up, so this looked like a reasonable option. I don’t want to spend more than I have to.

Whoever you use make sure they are available for ongoing support and get them to finish a job before you pay them. Cant get hold of mine at the minute and Im trying to give him more work, Ill wait a few more weeks as he could be on holiday I suppose.

 

[Deleted member 53208]

I can only echo the advice to look at what ongoing support is offered. A friend of mine started a memorial website (paid £4,000 for it), then found as soon as it went wobbly the design company started to quibble and look for get out clauses in the contract. Try to check out the financial background of the company you use as much as possible as well as it's hard times and even webby companies are going to the wall.

One alternative would be to get a local independent (cheap) developer to do it, but make sure it is done with Dreamweaver or some popular bit of kit and you get the original files if they fold so you can get someone else to carry on with it.

 

[gogul2k]

make sure it is done with Dreamweaver or some popular bit of kit and you get the original files if they fold so you can get someone else to carry on with it.

I disagree on this point. There's more to design and programming then clicking on a GUI ...

 

[Toni Anicic]

It's really the same question as "How much does the house cost?" It depends! It depends on the size, material, quality, time needed to make it, experience needed to make it (more experienced architects will cost you more, and so will web developers).

 

[Ali-v-8]

I disagree on this point. There's more to design and programming then clicking on a GUI ...

No i agree with what Chapleman was trying to say.
Use software that doesnt tie you down.
Trying to find another company to take over a project is a nightmare if the site is written in an unpopular code.

And toni has it right. You get what you pay for

 

[Deleted member 53208]

I disagree on this point. There's more to design and programming then clicking on a GUI ...

I understand your point, and I kind of disagree with myself (proving I'll argue with anyone), but the advice is aimed at someone who has a small business and wants to keep costs to a minimum, at the same time avoiding becoming tied in to a particular web developer who may or may not be right for them.

I used Dreamweaver as an example, although I don't personally use it because it is a well known program and it is likely to be fairly easy to find someone locally to pick up the torch if the current web designer dissapears or is unsatisfactory.

And if you think Dreamweaver is skanky, We use Serif webplus for all of our websites including TeamGTF and Which Network, principally because it is cheap, easy to use, and allows us to update or change anything at any time, simply and without going back to the designer all the time.

 

[Toni Anicic]

And if you think Dreamweaver is skanky, We use Serif webplus for all of our websites including TeamGTF and Which Network, principally because it is cheap, easy to use, and allows us to update or change anything at any time, simply and without going back to the designer all the time.

You should use a CMS if you wish to edit things yourself. Also you should ge t a designer that knows how to DESIGN, you actually had a professional designer design these pages?

 

[Deleted member 53208]

You should use a CMS if you wish to edit things yourself. Also you should ge t a designer that knows how to DESIGN, you actually had a professional designer design these pages?

It really is the lowest form of wit you know. The answer is semi professional and with a lot of input (probably the crap bits) by me.

In my defense again I would say it's horses for courses, we work in a niche area of financial services and can't really have wizzy things, music and flashing breasts on the site as it wouldn't be appropriate. And bloody hell it's just been approved first time by validator.org

As for the charity site, it was made in 3 days "looks like it" (sorry I just thought I'd do my own criticism to save someone the hassle), and the team involved, and their sponsors are very happy with it.

Horses for courses!

 

[Toni Anicic]

In my defense again I would say it's horses for courses, we work in a niche area of financial services and can't really have wizzy things, music and flashing breasts on the site as it wouldn't be appropriate. And bloody hell it's just been approved first time by validator.org

It might have passed the validator but the code is still pretty bad. BTW. validator has nothing to do with the design.

I'm not suggesting flashy shiny things and music, I'm suggesting a good color scheme and clean graphics.

 

[Deleted member 53208]

It might have passed the validator but the code is still pretty bad. BTW. validator has nothing to do with the design.

I'm not suggesting flashy shiny things and music, I'm suggesting a good color scheme and clean graphics.

Sorry I'm just an ignorant Geordie, with no artistic skills at all, and a brain rotted through years of Brown Ale abuse.
It did pass validator though and a book I've got by Jon Smith, says Google likes this?

 

[Toni Anicic]

Yea, Google likes it so much that google.com doesn't pass the validator. As the matter of fact, I can't find a single website among the top 100 websites of the world that does pass the validator.

 

[Deleted member 53208]

Yea, Google likes it so much that google.com doesn't pass the validator. As the matter of fact, I can't find a single website among the top 100 websites of the world that does pass the validator.

Just shows you anbody can write a book on SEO/Google and sell it to us unsupecting public.

 

[gogul2k]

You should use a CMS if you wish to edit things yourself

It's interesting that I also agree with chapelman on one level - don't get locked in with someone that wouldn't let you reasonably go elsewhere whether you're using a system based online or offine.

An online CMS isn't the only and best route to go and vs a client based one there are obviously pros and cons.

BTW I wasn't gonna get personal about it, although professional vs DIY design makes a difference (or basically, cheap vs reasonably priced is what I'm trying to say).

 

[Cheaperwebsites4u]

It depends on what sort of website you need and how complicated it is. I charge 300 as a one off fee with no renewal fees.

I am aimed at small and start up business's.

The more you pay is not always going to get you the best site comparative web designers to myself usually charge up to 300 more than me.

I would definately shop around and look at their portfolios.

 

[edmondscommerce]

free -> £infinity