The cost of a Web site depends on how many pages, how much text and graphics, and how much time is required to put it together.
After discussing your needs, I can give you a starting figure. Early on in the process, I can give you an estimate for the known project up to that point.
Approximate times for completing a brochure-type site are:
- 20-25 page site, 2-3 months
- 10 page site, 4-6 weeks
- Smaller sites, 3-4 weeks
The time it takes to develop a Web site is affected by the following:
- If you have existing content or you must develop it
- If you have an existing logo that may have to be adapted for the site or a new logo needs to be created
- How quickly you are able to hand over the content
- The number of pages
- The intricacy of the site
Sites with shopping carts, complicated forms, numerous photos or images, Flash or other animations, databases and/or special components will increase the development time.
ZagDesign Group can work as subcontractors or directly with:
- Small Businesses/Entrepreneurs
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Public Relations Companies
- Web Design Firms
There is no charge for the initial discussion about your Web site needs.
A defined project (such as a needs analysis) that includes an estimate would be billed at an hourly rate.
An estimate for a simple project that can be predefined is usually done at no cost. The components that would need to be known are:
- Fixed number of pages
- Logo design or redesign
- How graphics and photos would be used, how they would be obtained and how many are needed
- Text editing or creation
- The level of search engine optimizing
- Other features such as: shopping carts, forms, Flash or other animations, databases
An estimate is based on the information you provide. Subsequent add-ons or changes might go above an estimate.
I require 50% down and the balance at the end of the work on short term projects (less than two weeks).
On medium-length projects (2 weeks to one month), I require 1/3 down, 1/3 in 2 weeks, 1/3 at the end.
On longer projects (over a month), I require 1/3 down and payment for the work done every two weeks.
Domain names and site hosting services are two different charges. You can purchase a domain name for a year or longer. Usually a hosting company can bill you monthly or yearly.
You can usually buy a domain name and have your site hosted through the same hosting company. It is important to sign with the right hosting company for price, services offered, support, flexibility and ease of use.
I can help you choose a good domain name and put you in touch with the best hosting company for your site.
Once you have signed up with a hosting company, it will provide you with the information needed to FTP (File Transfer Protocol) your files (also known as pages and graphics) to the hosting company’s server.
In order to FTP to a server, you need a program that either is part of a Web site editing program (like DreamWeaver or GoLive) or a standalone FTP program (like Fetch or WS_FTP).
In developing a site, it is best to let us transfer your files to the server. Once the site is finished, I can train you to do the FTPing for future maintenance.
I have taught Web design at a junior college and I have learned how to communicate with people from all backgrounds and levels of expertise.
I can recommend books, articles and Web sites to help you learn the how-to of maintaining your site.
You do. I retain the right to use what I have created on ZagDesign and its partner sites as a portfolio example. You will receive a CD of the finished art and the completed site at the end of the project.
Any designs or parts of the site rejected by you, I retain the rights to.
The best way to start a Web site project is to get clear on the following things:
- What is your target market?
Some of you may know this answer if you have done marketing for your business. If you have not, we can talk about this during consultation time to help you figure it out.
- How do you know what the site should look like or what features to include?
Here’s how:
- Once your target market is identified, it can help determine what the site should look like.
- Researching sites of other companies like yours can also help pinpoint what could be included on your site. Write down what you like and dislike (color, navigation, features) and the URL (Web address) of the sites.
- Think about a ballpark budget for developing your site now and how much you would be willing to budget in the future. Your budget will tell us what features can be included now and which ones will be for the future.
- Gather all the content and graphic materials you have used to advertise your business. If it is a new business and you have none, we can develop them together.
After preliminary meetings, we would (not always in this order):
- Research similar sites
- Decide which content needs to be on the site and approximately the number of pages
- Sign our contract
- Gather keywords to be used on the site
- Pick a hosting company
- Register a domain name
- Create a storyboard
- Provide (or work on) the content to be used
- Create a logo (if needed)
- Present possible designs
- Sign off on a design
- Build the site
- Test site on various browsers, platforms and computers
- Proof for typos
Yes. A logo can be developed for the Web site from an existing logo or newly created for your business. Logos used on a Web site often are not the exact same ones you would use for your cards, letterhead, trade show banners, etc.
I can create a system of logos for your various needs. Often known as branding, your logo can vary for its different applications but still have a consistent look for all.
You can see examples of logos I designed throughout the Web portfolio.
All artists have a general style. Mine tends to be a clean, uncluttered look. However, I can imitate anything you show me.
I would interpret any other style in a way that makes graphical sense, doesn’t detract from the purpose of the site and allows your site visitors to find their way around easily.
There are HTML forms and dynamically generated forms. The costs depend on the complexity of the form.
Sometimes a simple, well-written form can be very useful on a site, helping to collect information for later use and marketing. A form allows site visitors to communicate with you in a more effective way.
HTML (+ CGI script) forms refer to the languages behind the form, making it operate. This form can be quite complicated, containing many rows of options and fields. The collected responses will then be emailed to you after the form is submitted online.
Dynamically generated forms can be defined as working from a database. There are several ways to make these forms, allowing more variety in the form and how it collects and stores the information.
Photography can be supplied by you, one of the ZagDesign Partners can do your photography or images can be purchased from an agency that specializes in stock photography.
When supplying your own photos, I can work with them to be effective, such as by applying color correction, good cropping and combining one or more images into one.
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Costs will increase if photos need special adjustments. Sometimes having a professional photographer take photos for you is more cost effective. If you need photos for products you are selling, a photo shoot of your products will help give your site a branded look.
Using photos on a site is a specialty of mine. I am a published photographer. As a graphic artist, I have designed many photo essays on paper and on sites. I have expertise in Photoshop, a program that can enhance and manipulate photographs.
Photos are often an essential ingredient in making Web sites interesting. If they are used right and not at the sacrifice of long download times. Choosing the right photos for your site is part of the art of Web designing.
Yes. To be able to have these features on your site it may require a database. Special programming is needed for this to work and is more costly than a brochure-type site.
Site Search Feature
There are some inexpensive ways to include a search engine like Google as part of a site search tool that would not require you to have your own database.
We would discuss how you want this to work for your site and see the best way to handle it.
Shopping Cart
There are many kinds of shopping carts on the market that are ready to use for small and large sites. Some could be purchased by your company and you would maintain it. Others would be handled by a third party.
The issues that come up the most for shopping carts are:
- Monthly costs
- Overall maintenance
- Flexibility
- Shopper’s ease of use
- Backdoor usability (for editing content)
Examining this list and deciding what are must-have options and what are can-live-with features will determine which shopping cart will work for you.
Automatically Changing Content
This feature does not always mean the need for a database in its simplest form. However, if you want a more sophisticated option a database would be necessary to generate the changes.
Often sites are done in phases, with the end product in mind. You may want to develop a non-database site to start, gather some information about your visitors and then add a database in the next phase.
A Web site is never really finished. There will always be some changes in text, prices, email addresses, photos, etc., down the line. It is good to consider maintenance in your overall budget.
You can hire me or I can train you or someone from your company to make changes on the site.
After some sites are completed, there are only occasional periods when changes need to be made. In this case, you are usually better off to hire me to make those changes.
Site Maintenance Fees
My fees for maintenance can be based on an hourly rate or buying in hour groups. Hour groups might be, for example, 15 hours to be used in a week’s time at a reduced hourly rate.
Training
There are several options for doing in-house maintenance that run the gamut from inexpensive software to expensive programming.
An inexpensive piece of software, however, might end up costing you more than expected due to hands-on training costs. To determine the best way to approach this, you need to consider:
- Level of skill of the person being trained
- How long the person being trained is liable to stay with the company
- Person’s ability to invest time to learn how to maintain a site
If in-house training is an option you want to consider to maintain your site, this needs to be known before designing the site since it could significantly effect the site’s structure.
An often-asked question, but not an easy one to answer. There are many companies that claim to list you on thousands of search engines for a flat fee. Most of the search engines they list you on are worthless.
To get listed on the main search engines (of which there are only a handful), you simply need to have your site on the Internet. The search engines will pick you up after a short period of time.
However, being ranked on search engines in a way that can make a difference is not so simple.
Many clients have said to me “I have typed my domain name into Google and my site came right up at the top.”
This is like saying, “Someone gave me the address and directions to their house and I found it.”
What you want is to search on a product type or service (for instance, widgets or music appraiser) and have your site appear at or near the top of the first page.
Site ranking is also known as site optimization. Robert Charlton, one of the ZagDesign Group Partners who is a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) says:
Search engine marketing has become the fastest growing area in the advertising business, and it is widely recognized that natural, organic onsite search optimization is one of the most cost effective ways of reaching a targeted consumer or business audience.
Organic onsite search optimization means putting the right content (words) and coding on the site in the right way. It also needs to include having numerous links coming from certain sites. These are the main ingredients to give a site a higher ranking,
You are asking now, “How much does this cost?” The answer depends on how much is on your site you want to sell (such as number of products) and how much competition you have in these areas.
There are a number of strategies that can be used to market a site. If you are already in business online, looking at your current income from online sales can help determine how much to budget for improvements.
If you are a new business and your budget does not allow for a large expenditure to fully optimize a site, then I would set up your site in a way that does minimal optimization that potentially can be used when more money is available and you have collected some data from stats on your site.
Question 17 covers marketing through search engine optimization.
There are many other ways to market a Web site, on and offline. Here are some key areas:
Online marketing
- Getting your site linked from other larger, well-marketed sites in your same industry as a referral
- Send out bulk emails with an offer or as a newsletter. (Use a company that specializes in sending out bulk emails that you can manage.)
- Check out Google AdWords, a Pay-Per-Click plan you can administer yourself. (Go to: adwords.google.com)
Traditional Marketing
- Advertise in newspapers, magazines and radio
- Network at organizations in your industry
- Network at organizations in your industries likely to need your products or services
- Donate your services or product for raffles for organizations that attract people likely to need what you offer
Always mention your Web site address in your advertising and when networking. Short, easy to spell and say domain names are important.
My partners and I care about doing a good job. We love the work we are doing and like giving good service to our clients.
Our group can cover any aspect of the Internet you need to know.
Each of us is constantly keeping abreast with the latest technologies through involvement in industry organizations and ongoing research.
We all have years of professional experience in the areas we are considered experts in with cross over experience in many other related fields.
Our collective mission is to:
- Give clear, honest explanations to your questions
- Create good solutions to your individual needs
- Give you a site you can be proud to show, is easy to navigate and works on the various browsers, platforms and computers
- Be available to support your growing needs in the future
Consultation, Design and Production:
- Logos/letterhead/brochures/Websites — new and redos
- Use of your art and photography on printed products and Web sites
- Web site marketing for your target audience
- Web site maintenance
- Preparation and production of your marketing materials
- Content development
- Development of materials and sites for any level business
- Real estimates to fit real budgets
- Projects to completed in a reasonable time
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