<< Business Website Cost (Part 7): Form vs. Function
Related Web Project Services:
by flickr.com/vizionquest
The “product” itself (your finished website) is a result of the web development project. And if you have the in-house skill and experience to plan and execute your project, you are among the fortunate few. Most small businesses do not have that luxury, and can sometimes be overwhelmed by the scope (size) of a web development project – causing them to put too many decisions in the hands of the technical service providers (web developers) – who are frequently unskilled in project risk management. As a project’s scope grows, risks increase, as does the need for a project manager and/or other specialist. When you find that you have significant requirements for specialty skills in any of these areas, it will often pay to hire a specialist (costs given are for middle- to middle-upper-tier providers):
- Planning / Management: An experienced project manager ($80 – $200/hr) should provide more than just planning and organizational skills. For more information visit our project manager role description page.
- Testing : $30 – $50/hr
- Training: $50 – $80/hr
- Marketing…
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Costs are usually project based, and vary widely based on the specific agreement. Be careful of small shops offering “too good to be true” deals offering “guaranteed first page search engine rankings” for $1,000.
- Direct and E-mail Marketing: A new e-mail or snail mail letter template design can cost between $150 and $400. This may or may not include writing fees, and probably does not include the actual execution or tracking of the e-mail blast.
- Press Releases: There are a number of websites which offer press release publication (from $30 to $200 and up, depending on the breadth of the distribution). Again, writing costs are not included. Check our blog post on PR Web Press Release Tips.
- Writing / Editing: $30 – $75/hr
- Support / Maintenance: Maintenance hourly costs should be in line with your original developer’s hourly rate. Maintenance may be covered under a separate contract, but you should at least have a 6 month to 1-year guarantee on any work completed as part of the original contract. If you or a third party does the maintenance on your site and “break” something, be prepared for your guarantee to be voided.
“Relatively” Fixed Costs:
- Domain name purchase / registration: $7 – $10/year from providers like GoDaddy.com, NameCheap.com, or NetworkSolutions.com)
- Hosting: There are thousands of hosting providers out there. Most provide economy (“shared server”) options starting around $8/month, on up to “virtual dedicated” servers ($100 – $200/month) and “dedicated servers” ($300 – $1,000/month). Unless your site will be heavy on video or high resolution images, or will require custom server settings (probably not), you’ll be fine starting with a “shared server.”Also See: Web Hosting Company Support
Re-use What You Already Have: If you have no marketing strategy or branding established, you should leverage what you can to reduce writing and design costs. Re-using existing marketing materials and logo on your website also help ensure consistent branding offline and online.
- Logo
- Other Website
- Marketing materials
Ask Multiple Providers to Tell You How Much The Project Will Cost: All the prices I’ve given above can be considered ball park estimates. As you’ve read in this series there are countless variables in pricing web development work. On top of that prices change to reflect what the market will bear. So, rather than speculate what something is going to cost, put your project out for bid. You can post your project on Elance.com (if you’re just looking for a single service provider) and have designers from all over the world bid for the job. You can also submit a Request for Proposal (RFP) to larger management or design shops to get proposals for the work (rules of fairness suggest limiting your RFP submissions to 10 providers). Make sure you are specific about your needs; otherwise the cost can change (sometimes dramatically). And no matter what you do – remember to check portfolios!
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