Websites - don't get shafted pt 1

I see lots of peeps get stung by sketchy designers, developers and 'web marketers' - soft targets with no street-smarts on what they need and what's involved. So here's part 1 of my survivor's guide.

It shouldn't cost that much

Some jobs require complex solutions and heavy, expensive development. But often when consultants quote lots of money for stuff it's because they a) don't know what they're doing b) are overestimating their self worth or c) are paying too many levels of admin / management.

I recently went to a web consultant for a small site with a customer login and shopping cart - their quote was almost $20k. I ended up getting an exceptional result for $3k.

Design: $1,000 - $2,000

$1k - $1.5k should get you a sweet homepage design and 1 inner template design. Though this might be all you'll need, it all depends on how many 'unique' page designs there are.

You only need extra templates for the unique pages that can't be created from your standard inner one. Common examples are complex contact us and image-rich splash pages.

Site build: $1,000 - $2,500

Depending on your spec, this can be anything from simply cutting up Photoshop files and writing some HTML, to implementing a Content Management System (CMS), linking to a database, adding client logins, a shopping cart etc.

Web development isn't a black box that you just throw money into. Get an itemised quote and show it to someone you know who writes code.

Populating the site with content: $0

This takes a while, so getting someone else to do it can become stupidly expensive. Have a CMS implemented during the site build phase so you can do it yourself (I really like Drupal), and avoid buyer lock-in for ongoing updates.

Use your noodle

In most cases you do get what you pay for. But if you're smart you can dodge the used car salesmen, and get it done for a lot closer to what its worth.