Website Design.. Value for Money?

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Cantona7

Registered User
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I have an offer from a start up IT company to develop a website as follows..

8 web pages
newsletter
online booking form
contact form
free domain name
1 yr hosting
free web maintenance for 2 mth after the launch..
for €1,000
they have some sites for referencing and one looks similiar to what id need..

Am i missing something. my company is a service based in the food service/catering sector solely irish market drivem so the site is being used as a promo tool, nothing too elaborate required. Having read some threads on AAM on this subject, it looks a good deal.As a IT novice am i missing something?
thanks
 
Cantona7 said:
I have an offer from a start up IT company to develop a website as follows..

8 web pages
newsletter
online booking form
contact form
free domain name
1 yr hosting
free web maintenance for 2 mth after the launch..
for €1,000
they have some sites for referencing and one looks similiar to what id need..

Am i missing something. my company is a service based in the food service/catering sector solely irish market drivem so the site is being used as a promo tool, nothing too elaborate required. Having read some threads on AAM on this subject, it looks a good deal.As a IT novice am i missing something?
thanks
Click to expand...

You buy the domain name yourself.
Other wise they could register it in their name and rent it too you.
Use godaddy.com for most .? domains
Or letshost.ie for .ie domains

Have a look at templatemonster.com you can buy a top quality template for 60us and get it changed to your text for a couple of hundred

I would push them for 1 years maintenace because this will cost them nothing, and you are taking a gamble on a startup company
 
Breaking it down....

* 1 yr hosting: $47.88 (€38.27 www.godaddy.com)
* Free Domain Name: $4.95 (€3.94 www.netfirms.com)
* 8 Web Pages - Do they just contain text or what? Any student can slap up 8 web pages... is this vendor charging per page?
* Online Booking Form - for users to book your service online (is there options to choose between the various services you may offer) or is it more like a basic query form?
* 2 Months Support - What does this involve, is it just updating text, uploading new info etc?

If this is a promo tool for your business, would you not consider having a simple blog or do you just want your business to have a web presence?

For a more professional approach and depending on whether you want to become actively involved with your website, maybe you could possibly consider some of the following options/functions/features for your business online;

- Disclaimer
- Legal Terms & Privacy Policy
- Site Feedback
- Site Map
- Feedbuttons?
- Online shop??
- "Quote me" option for your potential customers
- "Featured Services"
- "Questions? Support? Comments? Suggestions? Feedback? Callbacks?"
- Downloadable "Brochures and Guides"
- "Hot Topics/News/Events"
- "Special Offers", "Vouchers", "Gift Code", "Incentives", "Comeptitions" etc
- "Free Gift Messaging"
- About Us
- Products
- Services
- FAQs
- Special Offers
- Gallery
- Portfolio
- Awards
- Testimonials
- Press Room
- Customers
- Partners
- Resources
- Downloads
- Advertise
- Competition
- Occassions
- Print Page
- Email Page
- Bookmark site
- Report a Bug!
- Link to Us
- Useful inks

Now I know some of the above options are not warranted in your case but it will give you food for thought.

I don't suppose you will have any accessibilty options included so I won't list any of them but what about a "Search" option for users to search your site, even though it doesn't look like it will be that big but just for handiness?

Anyway, bottom line is I think this price seems to be exessive for what you are getting in return but maybe that's the current going rate!
I have paid less than half the price for web development and received much more functionality by simply outsourcing it online ...elance.com, rentacoder.com etc!
 
Hi,
Check out Irish Company WebSteps [ [broken link removed] ]. 365 Euro per year all in:

  • A professionally designed website
  • Unlimited Pages
  • Unlimited updates to the site using the powerful online dashboard
  • Website hosting
  • Website Statistics
  • Your own domain name (www.yourdomain.com)
  • Email Hosting
  • User Management
  • Search Engine
no affiliation...just know of them through an Enterprise Ireland program.

Regards
 
so the site is being used as a promo tool, nothing too elaborate required
Click to expand...

Maybe, you should consider a simple one-page brochure site with contact form (reduces spam) and concentrate on search-engine-optimisation afterwards?

Everything you have on your site will need updating and editing at a time and admin cost. If you can, keep it simple.
 
Yip, whatever you have on your site will have to be maintained by someone so, as I stated previously, it's a matter of how activley involved you want to become with your website (or maybe get a student to update it on a monthly/bi-monthly basis if you don't have the time).

Just for clarification;
* A professionally designed site and unlimited updates (within reason) should be part and parcel of any offerring from any "professional" web developer.
* Website hosting is very cheap (relative to the size and traffic of your website) so as shown previously, it is neglible to the €1000 price tag you web developer has given you.
* Website Statistics are freely available on the web and relatively trivial to setup for your website (see www.google.com/analytics and www.statcounter.com for more info)
* Obtaining your own domain won't break the bank at just under €3 (as listed above)!
* Email and all email extra's usually come with domain names (see netfirms.com/domain-names for feature info)
* Updates and management of your site can be made through the vendor's hosting management panel and are included in the hosting price!
* Search Engine Optimisation of your website will be extra from most web developers and quality/price will vary wildly. Search Engine functions for your site will not cost any extra and are not difficult to implement.

So as long as you are aware of the above and recently posted facts, you may be in a better position to re-negotiate with your potential web development vendor... let him break it down exactly as to what he is providing you with and you will be left in no doubt as to whether he is providing you with value for money!!

Best of luck!
 
that sounds like a VERY bog standard website setup and you really should be charged no more than about €300-500 for that kind of work you outline, well as least thats i charge for such minimal work
 
How important is the website going to be for your business?

Will the designer / developer be around in 6 months time to make changes to it?

Who will retain copyright?

Will it have some form of content management or be purely static HTML?

€1000 for a professionally designed website is quite low, especially if you factor in all the other aspects of it from both sides.
 
€1000 for a professionally designed website maybe quite low in Irish terms (due to the high costs of operating in Ireland) but it's quite expensive internationally. That's just a simple fact of outsourcing.

Then what constitutes professional? Would a professionally designed site be certified to specific standards.... W3C: WAI - AA & CSS or W-Mark GLOBAL Website Certification?
 
It is very hard to respond to the value of it without seeing previous examples of work and getting a few more details.

8 web pages: What level of design do they produce?, How many initial concepts? How many revisions? Can you update it yourself?
For projects we normally produce 2-3 initial design concepts and up to 3 sets of revisions with a quoted cost.

Newsletter: How many initial concepts? How many revisions?, Do they manage it for you? How do you send it? Can you track it? Is it easy to do?

Online booking form: Is this an automated form which submits to a database? What data does it capture? Or is it simply a form to email script which will send you an email with the booking details?

Contact form: Is this an automated form which submits to a database? What data does it capture? Or is it simply a form to email script which will send you an email with the booking details?

Free domain name: This costs about €8. Will it be registered in your name or the developers?
1 yr hosting:


Free web maintenance for 2 mth after the launch.
What is covered under "Maintenance"?
 
Firstly thanks to all for your varied support and pointers.

Initially, i intend the site to be a reference point for potential new prospects who can drop by and see what we are doing/offering and also promote the calibre of clients we have on board thus far. Its easy to circulate printed marketing material but if i can ally this to an online suite then it will authenticate us as a genuine market contender. There's no online selling aspect to the business so its really a virtual brochure for us. There are some companies in the market providing a service in our sector but its more an add-on for these outfits and i want to differenciate our product in the market, hence the online idea. Target market is Ireland initially.. think i will review my wish list and pitch again to the developer.
 
ivorystraws said:
* A professionally designed site and unlimited updates (within reason) should be part and parcel of any offerring from any "professional" web developer.
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Absolutely not. Some people believe that unlimited updates allows them to phone three times a day, which is completely unacceptable for the price quoted above. Updates on a static site should be quoted inline with allowed frequencies, better yet quoted separately, or best of all a CMS should be provided.

* Website hosting is very cheap (relative to the size and traffic of your website) so as shown previously, it is neglible to the €1000 price tag you web developer has given you.
Click to expand...
For a site like that, certainly, but price should never be the deciding factor as regards hosting. If price is going to be the deciding factor, going with the cheapest possible provider is generally a bad idea; midrange is probably where to aim for an unexperienced hoster.

* Obtaining your own domain won't break the bank at just under €3 (as listed above)!
Click to expand...
Ditto above. Any domain registration company that comes in below $6 is selling below cost, and inevitably will care very little about the customer as they're effectively pitching for other business. In many cases, you won't own the domain name at all, as they will list themselves as the registrant and will charge high fees to move elsewhere.

* Email and all email extra's usually come with domain names (see netfirms.com/domain-names for feature info)
Click to expand...
'Usually' is not accurate. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

* Updates and management of your site can be made through the vendor's hosting management panel and are included in the hosting price!
Click to expand...
Resellers often won't include access to a CP, simply because they can't. A good sign that you're at the bottom of the ladder.

adam
 
dahamsta said:
Resellers often won't include access to a CP, simply because they can't. A good sign that you're at the bottom of the ladder.
Click to expand...

These days if they can't give access to a CP it's because they're reselling a shared hosting account and not actually using a reseller account.
 
I was talking about reselling in general Michele. Old school reselling. :)
 
Unlimited updates within reason should be exactly that, as I stated previously. It's upto the developer and their customer to iron out this agreement. Developer's shouldn't advertise that fact if they don't clarify what they mean by it.

I agree that price should never be the deciding factor when choosing hosting which is why the hosting provider I mentioned, www.GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name registrar and has been ranked #8 on the 2004 Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growing privately held companies, #20 on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (growing 8,274 percent!)...etc etc.. so I'm sure you'll agree, it's not exactly a midrange provider.

Any domain name company that sells below €6 is selling below cost maybe correct and are obviously pitching for business but stating that they "inevitably will care very little about the customer" is wholly untrue and unfounded! I have bought a number of domains for $1.99 (during promotion periods or through other incentivised periods) and a after the settling period, transferred them back to GoDaddy with no problems, effectively obtaining 2 years domain registration for a much reduced cost. The domain name registrant I suggested, Netfirm, they have been in business since 01/01/1998, became a Better Business Bureau member in 09/27/2004 and are ICANN registered. Yahoo offerred domain names at one stage for €1.99 but it doesn't mean they care very little about their customer's does it?? If you register your domain name with an accredited registrar (GoDaddy or Netfirms), you'll own the domain name outright and this can be verified by using www.whois.com.

Any hosting and domain name provider worth it's salt (like the ones I listed) will provide email and extra's so yes, usually is accurate.... ""sometimes they do, sometimes they don't" is not accurate!

As Blacknight has confirmed, reseller's will include access to a management panel.
 
While GoDaddy et al maybe fast growing etc., etc. they don't offer locall tech support numbers .....
 
I definitely wouldn't base a decision on choosing a domain name/hosting vendor due to them not having a locall tech support number... surely in this day and age, if you did have a problem, you needed to contact their 24 x 7 tech support urgently, their online technical support center and knowledge base articles didn't answer your question, email wasn't sufficient, you don't have access VOIP products such as skype/blueface etc. (where call costs are minimal anyway) and your current landline provider is Eircom (!).... then yes, you may have to bite the bullet and make an international call but because of all the money that you'd save on Godaddy's products in comparison to others, it would more than cover a call to them ....and that's if you do encounter a problem. :)
 
It their previous work is ok. 1k for all that sounds like great value for money. You need to be careful if you are outsourcing to India, my experience is that while they are ok from a development perspective they are usually not great at design.
 
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