Website pricing

[Techman]

How much? Spend a grand and have it just sit there looking cute.
Spend 5 grand and have it sit there being cute and look like it was made to stroke your ego. Spend 8 grand and have it produce ten times that in billing in one year.
Any body can make a website. All it takes is time.. Sometimes lots of time. A few can make a good website. Fewer can make a great website.
It is very easy to make a decent website with all the templates and other out of the box code work available.

However,
A great website is one that appears at the top of the search page and creates leads and sold work. However getting that website to the top of the first search is not easy and have it produce leads is even more difficult. If it is not at the top then it is a waste of time and money. There is no price worth anything including FREE for a dead website that does not get you on the first search page and produce income. Getting the first page demands certain code and a number of links and that is what takes the money. Knowing how to manufacture those links and code is an art.

As much as your willing to pay. That is it. There are no expenses in making websites only time, knowledge, & skill.[\quote] is a useless answer.

It takes lots of time to write good ad copy, to collect good photos, and write good code and most of all to assemble the links to keep others from riding on your coat tails.
Yes there are techniques some use to block your searches. Ever wonder why you page is low on the search list?


And importantly. With mobile coming on strong one needs to have variable page size css code in place. Who knows how to do that?

 

[GypsyGraphics]

i heard of a medical insurance site that cost $600,000,000.00

:big laugh

 

[visual800]

Even though I used wix (I aint ashamed) it took quicte a while to get the pics and the wording down for it. Mine is a portfolio only and it serves its purpose.

 

[Z SIGNS]

I think how much you pay for a website or anything else is moot.
It's what you get not how much you pay.

 

[boxerbay]

How much? Spend a grand and have it just sit there looking cute.
Spend 5 grand and have it sit there being cute and look like it was made to stroke your ego. Spend 8 grand and have it produce ten times that in billing in one year.
Any body can make a website. All it takes is time.. Sometimes lots of time. A few can make a good website. Fewer can make a great website.
It is very easy to make a decent website with all the templates and other out of the box code work available.

However,
A great website is one that appears at the top of the search page and creates leads and sold work. However getting that website to the top of the first search is not easy and have it produce leads is even more difficult. If it is not at the top then it is a waste of time and money. There is no price worth anything including FREE for a dead website that does not get you on the first search page and produce income. Getting the first page demands certain code and a number of links and that is what takes the money. Knowing how to manufacture those links and code is an art.

As much as your willing to pay. That is it. There are no expenses in making websites only time, knowledge, & skill.[\quote] is a useless answer.

It takes lots of time to write good ad copy, to collect good photos, and write good code and most of all to assemble the links to keep others from riding on your coat tails.
Yes there are techniques some use to block your searches. Ever wonder why you page is low on the search list?


And importantly. With mobile coming on strong one needs to have variable page size css code in place. Who knows how to do that?

Nailed it. If it's not SEO and ranking well it is worthless as people will not find you. But if it is SEO and ranking well but looks like crap from 1987 you will not produce the confidence for them to contact you.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lar...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

 

[TyrantDesigner]

Isn't SEO compliancy and setup the second most important part of designing a website in today's market? (clean code with good design work is most important) Even a static page should be error free of code which is the primary reason most sites fail seo. I mean heck there are free tools to check your code http://chkme.com/ without the proper code, all the rest can suck it. next is just proper meta data ... and even a 5 minute discussion with your client can provide you with basic meta to get them ranked on google, fine tweaks and adjustments should be done 3 months out so that is an add on service if they want it. then it's all about content and how much they do to drive traffic to their site to generate the searches through google. You set them up with analytics on the site to monitor where things are coming from, you give them a little training on good content vs bad content for their website and you push them off and running ... and if need be I will get them in touch with a good copy editor who knows SEO ranking in content to make sure all the internal content gets indexed to match the meta data. All of this is basic stuff and doesn't require more than doing your job correctly the first time and devoting maybe an hour of your time to check and correct the code on a site.

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

yeah, i think these look really cheesy.. no offence

Not sure what you think is cheesy about them but I have to completely disagree.
I'm surprised someone in this industry would say they are cheesy when they are nicely done and highly functional.
And that's not just because I'm a client of theirs. They also do custom designs. ie. www.kywraps.com

 

[SignShopWebsites]

Here's an idea....

The company I work for has a website but not a great one. It's kind of on the to do list but not actively looking for one. A local company that we have been getting emails from called and said they had someone in the area could they stop in. He comes in gives us his pitch, seems like a lot of money for what I would consider a simple site. I know this is like someone coming in and asking me how much is a sign, but what is the price range for a nice web site? I'm sure there are tons of variables we just don't have anything to compare to.

I read your post about a website, I have an offer for you. I will build your website and I won't charge you until it's finished and you're happy with it. When I get done and you see your photos in your gallery, a quote request page up and able to take quote requests, fully editable flash animated message areas in the footer and header to bring the site to life, a featured content slider (looping banner ads) on the home page showcasing your various specials and products, a payment page to receive payments from customers, a blog to brag about your latest jobs and some cool eye candy elements to wow your visitor, you can pay me in installments. I honestly don't worry about getting paid because I know how much my customers love working with me and how easy my system is to use on a daily basis that I don't need to stress about them paying, they end up becoming a reseller and offering websites to their customers and making 10 times what they paid me for their site because I give my resellers FREE websites to give away to their customers as an incentive to pull the trigger on that estimate they've been kicking around. Some just sell it to them outright for $400-$2500 and blow their competition away by offering way more services that businesses need now a days.

I will even throw in a mobile version of your website.

We do the per-designed templates for people that don't have or want to spend $5000 on a site, but here's a few custom sites if you want to see some custom work...
tachycardiaoutdoors.com shelbysigns.com dismalswamphunters.com KYwraps.com silverstatebarricadeandsign.com villagesignworks.com the-sign-source.com walkerevansracing.com cstsuspension.com ahmotorsports.com gorditowear.com bradleycustomcalls.com

John
Sign Shop Websites
Modern Web Studios

 

[SignManiac]

Don't overlook sites from India, they do an outstanding job with knockoff sites, and quite reasonable.

 

[Mike001]

I use ZenCart. Its free... open GL, and easy to install and use. Great forum if you have problems.
Having said that... I REALLY need to update my site. Been a bit neglected this past year...

 

[peavey123]

I've always done my own websites so I can't help regarding pricing, but I can say if someone is quoting you lots of money to build a site and it doesn't look something like diazsignart.com I wouldn't bother. Why? Well, because you could just use squarespace.com to easily make your own professional looking site, or if you have some HTML, CSS knowledge you can make something like diazsignart's site by getting yourself a $15 theme and make it yours. There's no reason any professional web designer shouldn't have something really nice looking and modern these days. ahem ^^

 

[HulkSmash]

I read your post about a website, I have an offer for you. I will build your website and I won't charge you until it's finished and you're happy with it. When I get done and you see your photos in your gallery, a quote request page up and able to take quote requests, fully editable flash animated message areas in the footer and header to bring the site to life, a featured content slider (looping banner ads) on the home page showcasing your various specials and products, a payment page to receive payments from customers, a blog to brag about your latest jobs and some cool eye candy elements to wow your visitor, you can pay me in installments. I honestly don't worry about getting paid because I know how much my customers love working with me and how easy my system is to use on a daily basis that I don't need to stress about them paying, they end up becoming a reseller and offering websites to their customers and making 10 times what they paid me for their site because I give my resellers FREE websites to give away to their customers as an incentive to pull the trigger on that estimate they've been kicking around. Some just sell it to them outright for $400-$2500 and blow their competition away by offering way more services that businesses need now a days.

I will even throw in a mobile version of your website.

We do the per-designed templates for people that don't have or want to spend $5000 on a site, but here's a few custom sites if you want to see some custom work...
tachycardiaoutdoors.com shelbysigns.com dismalswamphunters.com KYwraps.com silverstatebarricadeandsign.com villagesignworks.com the-sign-source.com walkerevansracing.com cstsuspension.com ahmotorsports.com gorditowear.com bradleycustomcalls.com

John
Sign Shop Websites
Modern Web Studios

Seems like you're awesome to work with. Huge Plus. But your websites aren't on the level of the multithousand dollar websites. There's a reason their price is their price, and yours is yours.

 

[Kaiser]

1 word.

Joomla.

save your money

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

Seems like you're awesome to work with. Huge Plus. But your websites aren't on the level of the multithousand dollar websites. There's a reason their price is their price, and yours is yours.

Who claimed they were on the level of "multithousand dollar" range???
The point is they are well under a thousand dollars and you get good design and high functionality with the ability to self edit and resell...for affordable pricing.
Sheesh

 

[SignShopWebsites]

Seems like you're awesome to work with. Huge Plus. But your websites aren't on the level of the multithousand dollar websites. There's a reason their price is their price, and yours is yours.

Thanks, and I am easy to work with. I actually prefer not to do websites for Multi-thousands of dollars because the end result is just a bunch of hard to work with... fluff (for my customer to edit). My customer is the sign guy that has very little time or interest in learning html or css and just wants to pay someone 500 bucks to get a nice looking and functional website up and running NOW. Not in a few months, not for a few thousand, and certainly not after countless hours of learning css or html only to never get it done because that guy's going to be in any minute to pick up all those banners he ordered last week and he's got Jimmy farting around with the scrap vinyl in the back making funny words out of extra letters again. (yeah, I ran my shop for 10 years and had my share of interesting employees and deadlines).

Side note, I appreciate this forum because I love how everyone comes together to help each other out. Everybody's giving their advice and recommending the way they did their website and that works for some people and not for others, so it's really cool to stand back and kind of look past opinions and see the bigger picture... Everybody's helping achieve this goal for the person in need and that's SO COOL!

 

[artbot]

just spent three days researching this very very thoroughly. so many options out there. then it comes to disecting who has the best SEO, client approval sections, cross platform (ipad, phone, desktop, etc). in the end i sprang for aphotopholio (it has an amazing pdf downloader for your galleries/client approvals). each page can have an "email" to option so that your would be clients can send on the fly something to a partner. also you can add video, text, and photos in a continuous slide show. great for presentations and explaining product options.

it was the most self promoting option. no sales. do that somewhere else. but for looking amazing and being able to get clients to interact (not just look) with the site it was unbeatable. also the most expensive up front $1000, plus a small monthly fee. but it works out as cheaper than the weebly's and wix and such over a few years.

i'm sure it won't work for certain business models. but for high end signage, it's great. i'm making three separate APF site over the next several months.

 

[SignShopWebsites]

just spent three days researching this very very thoroughly. so many options out there. then it comes to disecting who has the best SEO, client approval sections, cross platform (ipad, phone, desktop, etc). in the end i sprang for aphotopholio (it has an amazing pdf downloader for your galleries/client approvals). each page can have an "email" to option so that your would be clients can send on the fly something to a partner. also you can add video, text, and photos in a continuous slide show. great for presentations and explaining product options.

it was the most self promoting option. no sales. do that somewhere else. but for looking amazing and being able to get clients to interact (not just look) with the site it was unbeatable. also the most expensive up front $1000, plus a small monthly fee. but it works out as cheaper than the weebly's and wix and such over a few years.

i'm sure it won't work for certain business models. but for high end signage, it's great. i'm making three separate APF site over the next several months.

Here's a comparison to the system you're currently using...

Down - Their price: $1000 (We charge $690) So pay me $1000 and I will throw in an iPad mini because that's the price difference! LOL!
Monthly hosting fee Their price: $17 ($19.95, but we have a Free Reseller plan that can make your hosting TOTALLY FREE)


What’s included in their price (with my notes about us next to it):

Connect to Gmail for businesses (SAME, Free any way)
Virtually unlimited bandwidth (SAME)
Unlimited pages, images, galleries and categories (SAME)
Deep Linking (SAME)
HTML Mirror Site for SEO (already all html so this is a waste!)
iPad App (Mobile site is free, they are just fluffing it up with the same items)
Mobile Mirror Site (Mobile site is free, they are just fluffing it up with the same items)
Custom logo, color and font support (SAME, Free any way)
a Blog (Included in the price listed above)
17 Gb of storage (25GB with us, no one EVER uses this much though)
Video (SAME, Free any way)
Google Analytics (SAME, Free any way)
iPad Mirror Site (Mobile site is free, they are just fluffing it up with the same items)
iPhone/Android Mirror Site (Mobile site is free, they are just fluffing it up with the same items)
Image Captions (SAME, Free any way)
FTP access (Built in web-based File Manager so there's no need for an FTP program which most people don't know how work anyway AND it's was slower than a web-based file manager)

Just took a look at all the design options they have and they all look exactly the same with the exception of the images used and that's something you have to put in yourself. In fact, if you want to go with that process, I'll charge you less! Because there's no work there, just a logo and some vertical text links to different galleries.



There's so much more you get too. Just to name a few...
1. We have built-in PhotoFX to add drop shadows and glows to your photos with a single click... http://sitetechsupport.com/component/qbblog/entry/cubit-tutorials-and-articles/79-photofx.html
2. Shadows and glows to text without losing the SEO value of that text by having to use jpegs... http://sitetechsupport.com/componen...gs-and-adding-shadows-glows-to-your-text.html
3. Flash Animated EDITABLE Message Areas where you can change the font style, font size, font color and of course the message itself, all without having to learn flash or html.
4. You can't edit photos, crop, rotate, resize all in the browser, so don't worry about having to re-upload a new image after you've adjusted it in your design program)
5. Instantly make a large photo into a "Click to Enlarge" button without having to make both versions and setting the complicated Pop-up code.
6. Social Media Links and Live Streaming Facebook or Twitter Posts Module
7. REAL American, toll free tech support
8. A Built in Search Tool for your visitors to quickly find the information they are looking for (potentially in their system too, I just didn't see it in their features list)
9. The ability to hide pages for private use with certain customers.
10. PayPal Payment page to receive payments right there on your website. (no more getting stuck with that rush banner nobody ever picked up, make them PRE-PAY right there on your site!)

There's more, but just watch some tutorials and see how easy the system is to use... http://sitetechsupport.com/39-getting-started-with-cubit.html
Best part is, you can sell websites to YOUR customers and make 100% of the profit not only on the initial website sale but also on the updates!

 

[Stanton]

(yeah, I ran my shop for 10 years and had my share of interesting employees and deadlines).

Employees always believe the boss is some rich butt hole making his boat payment off the back of their labor.

They never see the week when we have to call our banker to get a 60 day loan to make payroll
because the crew dumped a $12,000 sign off the truck while they were playing grab-*** while loading up.

And that job you bid 8 months ago, based on 8 month ago material cost, nets you -$4000.

And the air brakes on one of your boom trucks took a powder that cost you $2500 to have fixed
in a rush.

Then they come to you, interrupting your phone call with your banker,
wanting an advance on next week's paycheck.

And they want next Monday off because they are going to be really hungover
from watching foot ball on Sunday.

Yep, interesting employees and deadlines.


I am basing this on Channel Letters and Pylon signs...

Sales people with relationships in the commercial lease business
and good old fashioned gumption is what brings sales.


I could be wrong. :Big Laugh

 

[HulkSmash]

Who claimed they were on the level of "multithousand dollar" range???
The point is they are well under a thousand dollars and you get good design and high functionality with the ability to self edit and resell...for affordable pricing.
Sheesh

um.. We?

anyways, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the "cheaper sites". There's just levels of sites in my opinion. And there's higher tiers then others, obviously.

As for them being just "fluff" I strongly disagree with that. You have cheesy and functional, and then you have Professional, and more functional.

 

[SignShopWebsites]

As for them being just "fluff" I strongly disagree with that. You have cheesy and functional, and then you have Professional, and more functional.

When I say "fluff (for my customer to edit)" I mean the average sign guy that doesn't know or want to learn html. It's all fluff to him because he will never use it.

You ARE right though. It's awesome when you know what you're doing with html, css, php, javascript and jquery but if the only acronyms you're comfortable with are jpeg, tiff, eps, and ASAP or WTF then you see all that stuff as fluff.