Cost for website

[onlineharvest]

Hello
Trying to gauge what is a reasonable cost for designing a website. I know there are numerous variables, so I will try to explain as many to get a 'rough' idea of what to expect.

- logos are already created (me)
- website WILL NOT be a merchant website (nothing being sold, etc).

More information of services provided, form to fill out to contact for appt, maybe some resource pages (e.g., information on the industry).
Professionally made, not merely a cookie cutter.

Also, if someone designs the site, does the owner of the site (me) generally have access to edit pages, add pages, etc or is this still handled through the website designer?
Let me know if more info is needed to get a general idea.
Thanks

[xserverfd]

There isn't much of a difference between a professionally made website and a cookie cutter (to the non web developer eye) these days. With a couple slight style modifications and a logo, anything can look great.

In terms of being able to maintain/edit it yourself it would depend if your designer is using a CMS (content management system). However, the fact you've been on a forum for 4 years leads me to believe you would be competent enough to use an FTP and notepad to straight up edit the pages or even create a new one.

But to simplify I would recommend having your website made through Wordpress which is the most popular CMS right now and will be very easy for you to manage. So what I suggest you do:

Premium Wordpress theme + slight modifications + setup, could be done for a couple hundred. Domain name 10$ a year, hosting $120~ a year if someone else is dealing with that but if you do it yourself you can get by with $12-20/year. Can just get the same guy who's making your website to help setup your hosting with a cheap provider in your name.

Otherwise you're probably looking at low $xxxx for something that's actually custom and not what you consider "cookie cutter". But it will hardly look anymore unique. If you do go this route careful who you choose because web designers, some, are basically selling bottled air.


You could also attempt the Wordpress route on your own, if that's an option to you then feel free to pmme and I'll point you in the right direction.

[PianoGuy]

Good question, and thanks for the information.

You can expect to pay a skilled designer in the ballpark of $100/hr. Depending on how complex your design requirements are, I suspect a designer may spend 5-15 hours building a custom design for you.

You may be interested to know that there are some website template sites that will allow you to buy the rights to a template. In this case they will not sell the template to anyone else. This way you would have the simplicity of a template, but you would be the only one to use it. I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the one I have in mind, but if I find it, I will post it. I'm sure this is not a unique feature and many sites that sell templates would do the same.

As for whether you or the designer would perform updates, you're paying the bill, so that's up to you. I agree with the other poster that WordPress is an excellent option if you don't know or don't wish to learn HTML...or even if you do. I've been a professional web developer since high school and use WordPress for my personal blog. (I don't do design work so unfortunately would not be able to help you.) I do know that WordPress is relatively simple for a designer to build templates for.

I recommend you register your domain name by yourself so that you own it and your designer doesn't have control over it. There are plenty of places to do this: Name.com, Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc. It's fine if your designer handles your web hosting for you, but in this case I recommend you ask for a backup of the designer's work so that you may restore it on a different web host if the web host has an issue and you can't contact your designer. If you update your site, be sure to update the backup! It's very common that web hosts don't keep backups for you, and I've seen all too often a web server's hard drive crash, with the only copy in the world of a website on it.

In order to keep your costs low, try to know as much as reasonably possible what you want before you meet with your designer. You may wish to find some examples on other websites of elements that you like - obviously not for the designer to copy directly, but to give them a visual representation of the "feel" of the finished product you have in mind. If you're providing text to your designer, have this done as soon as possible and be sure you've proofread it so you're not paying their hourly rate to fix spelling after the site is live.

[silicontraveler]

"website WILL NOT be a merchant website (nothing being sold, etc)."

In that case you don't need a web page, try a blog, face book page, twitter etc.

[xserverfd]

"website WILL NOT be a merchant website (nothing being sold, etc)."

In that case you don't need a web page, try a blog, face book page, twitter etc.

Disagree.

[onlineharvest]

"website WILL NOT be a merchant website (nothing being sold, etc)."

In that case you don't need a web page, try a blog, face book page, twitter etc.

Meaning I won't be selling items on the website. It's called a corporate presence, and you NEED a webpage in this day and age. Think of the millions of companies that don't sell anything on their website, but still have that corporate presence.

[baz5]

Just use wordpress, spend an hour learning the basics, find a template you like. Outsource someone for $10 to put your logs in the right places and any other changes you need. There you go, almost no cost. Now we wait for the programmers here to say you have to pay several thousand dollars to get it done properly.

[onlineharvest]

Just use wordpress, spend an hour learning the basics, find a template you like. Outsource someone for $10 to put your logs in the right places and any other changes you need. There you go, almost no cost. Now we wait for the programmers here to say you have to pay several thousand dollars to get it done properly.

Based on the suggestion above, I have been investigating this option. Just trying to find the appropriate non-blog template. Sooo many that are tailored for blogs, not that many that I've seen for the former (that look good and in line with my graphic taste, anyway).

Just need to find a cost effective yet reliable hosting service - or is that part of the wordpress package as well (sans advertisement of course).

[xserverfd]

Based on the suggestion above, I have been investigating this option. Just trying to find the appropriate non-blog template. Sooo many that are tailored for blogs, not that many that I've seen for the former (that look good and in line with my graphic taste, anyway).

Just need to find a cost effective yet reliable hosting service - or is that part of the wordpress package as well (sans advertisement of course).

Check out the wordpress section on themeforest.net or elegantthemes.com

There should definitely be something you can work with on one of those sites.

For hosting you would be fine with the bottom package from here https://ipxcore.com/services/web-hosting/ or if you want to spend more, say 5$~ a month then you may as well look for hosting from a company with servers in Toronto.

[silicontraveler]

"Meaning I won't be selling items on the website. It's called a corporate presence, and you NEED a webpage in this day and age. Think of the millions of companies that don't sell anything on their website, but still have that corporate presence. "

What corporate presence? For your fantasy business that makes no money?

[onlineharvest]

"Meaning I won't be selling items on the website. It's called a corporate presence, and you NEED a webpage in this day and age. Think of the millions of companies that don't sell anything on their website, but still have that corporate presence. "

What corporate presence? For your fantasy business that makes no money?

Why are you so antagonistic?
The only businesses that need a website are those selling actual merchandise/services via the acceptance of credit cards on an online portal?

*sigh, not worth the time*

Does CNN only operate an online website to sell hats that say CNN?

If the concept of having an ONLINE PRESENCE for an actual operating business, whether bricks and mortar, service based, etc...if that is foreign to you, you ought not to be on the small business forum offering advice.

[onlineharvest]

Check out the wordpress section on themeforest.net or elegantthemes.com

There should definitely be something you can work with on one of those sites.

For hosting you would be fine with the bottom package from here https://ipxcore.com/services/web-hosting/ or if you want to spend more, say 5$~ a month then you may as well look for hosting from a company with servers in Toronto.

I've been reading online that Wordpress is routinely under attack, there is a necessity to update it and all plugins/addons, etc to avoid being hacked. Also the themes themselves leave a site open to attack. I'm a little concerned about this, is it overblown? Is a dedicated local server setup by someone managing a website differ in the security offered than a shared web host with wordpress and wordpress themes?

[baz5]

Just update your site when the updates come out and you're fine. Backup your site once a week and you'll be okay. I literally have over 300 websites, and roughly half use wordpress.
The thing you want to do is, in options, you make the front page static. This way the front page is just a page you create, and not a blog look/feel. No date, author, any of that.
Check through the sites above somone gave, as well as the ones on the wordpress site. Wordpress.org not .com.

As for host, that's one of the easiest, there are thousands of hosts. Hostgator is a popular one. They have a ton of clients so support is pretty good. Stablehost.com is good as well and cheap.

[xserverfd]

I've been reading online that Wordpress is routinely under attack, there is a necessity to update it and all plugins/addons, etc to avoid being hacked. Also the themes themselves leave a site open to attack. I'm a little concerned about this, is it overblown? Is a dedicated local server setup by someone managing a website differ in the security offered than a shared web host with wordpress and wordpress themes?

Never had an issue nor do I first hand know anyone who has. Even if you get hacked you just use your backup. The hosting company will have to deal with any other infiltration on the server. I would say a dedicated local server is more likely to be hacked. You just have to understand that anything can be hacked, there's no way to be safe unless you have an 8 figure budget, even then though...

[silicontraveler]

"I'm a little concerned about this, is it overblown? Is a dedicated local server setup by someone managing a website differ in the security offered than a shared web host with wordpress and wordpress themes? "

The fantasy continues, the imaginary business that makes no money is now getting attacked by all angles!

What you saying is that you want to spend $5 on a brochure and not $500 and $1000 and these other posters are agreeing with you. Well why would you spend $5 on a brochure if it is going to thousands of people who potentially earn you money? With a web site you will still have PROMOTE it. I know in your little fantasy world your web site will take off to the moon all by it self! That why i say stick with facebook or google or what ever until you start to get some pay cheques. if...