Our best advice to all clients in the Central Florida Area is to meet with several designers to have a comparison. Although most of us offer similar services, there are specialties that are unique to each individual multi-media company. The cost of your website will vary between companies but you can count on spending around $85 per hour for design cost if you are looking for custom work. As you visit the companies, they will provide package arrangements which may be more cost effective for you. If you are requiring a large amount of custom programming however, the cost will rise.
Most of us base our design cost on how much functionality you require and if any custom programming is required. Many bells and whistles may be added “after” the original design is complete if you are cost conscience. After doing your research and meeting with several firms you will be better educated on the subject and will instinctively know (by the feeling you get) and by the pricing offered, who is your best fit for your project. We are never perfect for all clients and we realize each client is unique and wants to make the best decision based upon his very own specifics required.
We all use the following information to determine the cost of your new website.
We begin by asking you the “purpose” of the website:
• to build brand identification
• to give a favorable impression of your organization
• to develop a qualified list of potential customers
• to encourage visitors to contact you in person or by phone or email
• to make product information and price lists available or to sell products online
• other purpose
Next We Need To Know The Size of the website
How many pages do you envision your website having and what topics do you want to cover?
• Home page (of course) About your company / Contact you / Services you offer / Products you sell News about your organization or industry / FAQs / Resources / Appearance
Do you have a logo, organization-specific artwork, brand colors or other designs that you’d like to incorporate into your website?
Navigation: Your website will need some sort of navigation feature. Do you have a preference in mind? Down the side, across the top or a combination of both? Have you thought about buttons or popup or dropdown menus? Dropdowns do require additional programming.
Content: Content is often the most difficult thing to develop but it is really the life’s blood of a website. We do have a “freelance” writer available for those clients who would require this service. It is worth the money to have a professional develop the content for the main website pages.
Animations, audio, video: Your website will most likely have other elements too, like graphics and photos, and possibly even animations, audio, or video.
Forms: You might also want to allow visitors to interact with your website. This is typically done via online forms that have fields that web visitors fill out. Submitted information is often emailed to someone at your organization or stored in a database. Some functions that forms serve are:
• a visitor requests that you contact them
• a visitor requests that you answer a question through email
• you can have visitors fill out a survey
Domain name: Do you have a registered domain name or some ideas about what you’d like?
Budget: Do you have a budget in mind?
These are some of the criteria we take into account as we meet with you and as we put together a custom proposal. Have the answers to these questions as you call or meet with your website company and you will be able to get a quote in a more timely fashion. Good luck this year to all of you looking for your first website. Please keep us in mind as one of the potential companies you consider. We would be honored to meet with you and provide a proposal for your first project.
Hurry back …. Jean Holland-Rose, Chief Creative Officer
InsideDesignOrlando.com
