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You can spend a lot or a little . . .
it's your choice!
Believe it or not, you will have a great deal of control
on how much your site costs. I've set up large sites for a
very low final cost per page, and I've set up sites that were
tremendously expensive. My hourly rate was the same in both
instances. It may surprise you to learn that I preferred the
projects that went quickly and inexpensively. My target market
is the small business owner, and I understand that my clientele
must be very cost conscious. That's why I'd rather make less
on a site and see you put more into marketing it. You'll be
happier and more successful . . . and you'll be more inclined
to refer more business to me!
Follow these recommended steps to keep your costs as low
as possible:
- Make decisions early and stick with them. After
we discuss your site, I will create one or more sample pages
for your review. The sample pages will show you the site's
intended structure, form and overall "look." When
I send you a link to the sample page, look it over very
carefully. This is the time to be very specific in
what you want. Does it look the way you want? Does it include
buttons or links for all the information you want included?
Here's why this is so important: Once we hammer out all
the revisions to the sample page, I will use it as a template
for the rest of the site. If you decide you want to reorganize
the site's navigation, use a different logo, change the
style of the page, or make some other modification to the
sample page, I only have to make those changes once. If
you ask for these changes after I've created 15 or 20 pages,
I may have to make do them 15 or 20 times. You can easily
see how that would add dramatically to your costs.
Be demanding when you're looking at the sample page. Be
picky about every last detail. Pay particular attention
to the structure of the site to ensure we have all the sections
that you'd like. You won't hurt my feelings; I'd rather
hash out all the details up front. That way I can roll out
the rest of your site quickly and inexpensively. Taking
this suggestion to heart could easily save you hundreds
of dollars of unnecessary expense.
- Remember that websites are easy to grow. You can
start with a smaller site and add to it as your business
grows. The natural impulse is to wait until you have all
the features and sections in your site before you put it
out for people to see. If your budget is tight, start with
a basic site and add to it periodically. This reduces your
start-up cost and gets your site on the web and working
for you more quickly.
- Write draft content. You can save a lot of money
by putting your thoughts on paper as to what you would like
to see on each page. It doesn't have to be well written,
or even grammatically correct. I can edit what you've written
faster than write something from scratch - Even a summary
of what you want to say on each page will help me to put
together content the way you want it, quickly. If you have
other sources of information that you want on the site (brochures,
reports, newspaper articles, etc.) give them to me. That
will save a lot of research time.
-
Logos. If you had a graphic designer create your
company's logo, see if the designer can provide a copy of
the logo on disk. I'll be happy to talk with your designer
for you. If I have to scan your logo and clean it up, that
can be time consuming.
- It may be cheaper to buy programming than to have me
create it. If you want specific functions on your site,
it may be cheaper to buy an existing application than to
have me develop it. For example, if you wanted to run an
auction on your site, it would cost several thousand dollars
to have me create the necessary programming. It would be
much cheaper to pay $400 and purchase an existing auction
application, which I could incorporate into your site in
a few hours. I will tell you if this opportunity exists.
If you ask for a specific capability, I will look for an
existing program to meet that need before I start trying
to program it myself. I'd make more money by doing it myself,
but it would cost you more. Please understand, I'm not being
lazy, I'm just keeping an eye on your budget.
- Do-it-yourself updates. If you're fairly comfortable
with computers, you may well be able to do updates to the
site yourself. Changing the text on pages isn't that hard.
If you expect the content on your site to change frequently,
you can save money by making the changes yourself or having
one of your employees do the updates. I can train you or
one of your employees on the basics of web page modification
in an hour or two, so the training isn't all that expensive.
Also, we can create your site with a database back-end,
so you can change information on the site by filling out
standard web page forms. If you're interested in this, ask
me about it when we meet.
- Trust your web designer. I am EXTREMELY conscious
of controlling your costs. If you ask for changes or features,
I will let you know what the cost impact of those requests
will be. If I can, I will offer alternate suggestions to
achieve what you want at a lower price. If you ask for structural
changes when the project is almost complete, I will probably
suggest holding off on that change until we do a major revision
on the site in the future. If I see the project growing
beyond the original plans to the point where it will cost
more than originally estimated, I will tell you. Again,
I'm not being lazy or argumentative, I'm just trying to
control costs.
The key to all these tips is for us to communicate effectively.
Remember that I will look for ways to bring your costs down
rather than drive them up.
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