Web sites don’t roll off an assembly line, nor should they. After all, the purpose of a web site is to reflect the uniqueness of the individual business or profession presenting it.

Different audiences. Different messages. Different looks. Different . . . well, different everything—including the time and level of effort involved in putting all of those web site components together. That kind of customization means it’s impossible to offer a “one size fits all” fee for clients.

But that doesn’t mean there can’t be starting points, so . . .

Let’s talk price. Let’s talk process.

PRICE

For a basic web site that does its job, and does it well:

Home Page: $300
Inside Pages: $80 each

If you’re after a basic 5-page web site—one page shy of the one you’re viewing right now—then you’re looking at a $620 web site customized with your own text, photos or other graphics, and rollover links to inside pages.

Many businesses begin with a 5-page web site because a 5-page site typically allows them to present an overview of their business on the home page, with links to an inside page that details the services or products they offer, an inside page about their company’s histories and values, an inside page for contact information and perhaps directions to their physical location, and an inside page for announcements or news or upcoming events. Your inside pages can showcase whatever you’d like, and they are, of course, linked to each other and always back to the home page – the welcoming star of the show.

So why is the home page so much pricier than inside pages? Because the home page takes the most work. It has to; it’s what visitors see first. It’s also the heart of the design and underlying technology from which the other pages take their cue. That doesn’t mean that the inside pages have to be mirror images of the home page, of course. Indeed, inside pages often carry a great deal more information than the home page itself. But it means that for a consistent appearance they follow the theme of the home page in terms of a basic color scheme, overall typeface, navigation, and so on. Since those elements were already decided in constructing the home page, the inside pages are less demanding to do. Thus, they are less expensive.

Most clients prefer a flat-fee web site payment structure, because it’s often easier to fit into a budget. But if you’d prefer that we work on an hourly rate, let me know. Assuming your interest is in a relatively basic site without dynamic complexity, my rate is $50 an hour.

No matter what kind of payment option you prefer, elements beyond design that are included in all web sites at no additional charge are:

• Basic search engine submission
  Submission through various web agents allows search engines such as Google to get you into their catalog of web sites.
   
• “Meta-tag” keywords and descriptors added
  Those don’t show in browser windows when visitors come to your site, but search engines “see” those coded words and rely on them to help produce searchable terms that visitors most likely would use to locate your company. It’s an automatic process and it doesn’t happen overnight, but without meta tags web sites fare far more poorly in search engine indexes.
   
• Optimization of your graphics
  Put simply, web site graphics need to be tweaked in a way that allows them to load as fast as possible in your visitors’ browsers. That’s especially critical for visitors who don’t have high-speed Internet connections through cable or DSL, for instance. Some web site designers don’t bother with this step. They take the photos or other graphics they’re given by clients, and let ‘em rip. I won’t do that to you.
   
• Essential spelling and grammar clean up
  If you already read my profile, then you know I have a background heavy in editorial skills. I’ll use them to make sure your text is as professionally accurate as the rest of your web site. However, if you need text written from scratch or text that requires heavy rewriting, we’d have to negotiate that separately.
   
• An initial consultation
  Before anything happens, we have to talk. We have to get a sense of what you want in your web site, what kind of navigation is required, what kind of color scheme you think would lend itself best to your message, and what kind of timeframe would allow us to make it all happen. Face to face is best, but if your location doesn’t allow for that, we can make it happen with our low-tech telephones and high-tech Internet.
   

ARE THERE HIDDEN COSTS?

No. But you should be aware that all web sites require two “outside” costs that are independent of web design. One is registration of your web site name. You pick a name, and if it hasn’t already been taken, a “domain registrar” issues the name to you for a fee. (My domain name, for instance, is laurabelgrave.com.) Most fees are roughly $20 a year. You also need a web host that will physically hold the pages of your web site and make them available for viewing. There are hundreds of web hosts, or servers, and they offer a dizzying array of price structures. Most of those prices depend on how “fat” your web site is, how often it’s accessed, whether it requires database integration, and so on. To give you an idea of price, though, the web host service I’m using for my own site is charging me about $10 a month. Most of the time you can go with a monthly or annual payment plan. If you don’t already have these things on board, I can help you figure them out.

Also, if your web site requires database integration, significant correction of photographs, sophisticated Flash movies, or logo design, well, we’d have to discuss separate pricing for those elements. Some of those items I can accomplish on my own. Others might have to be farmed out. All of them take additional time and resources.

PROCESS

• Step 1: Consultation
  We get together, as previously mentioned, and hammer out the specifics of what you’d like to see on your web site. But the consultation is more than that. It’s the critical phase in which you express your overall goal for having a web site in the first place, and where you describe your market. I can help you define goals and explain some of the dynamics that make the web a very different kind of medium from avenues with which you’re already familiar, such as printed brochures. We’ll lay the groundwork for deadlines, logistical procedures, and of course, price. If you’re ready to move forward, I generally require a 50 percent desposit of our agreed-upon price.
   
• Step 2: Design Conception
  This is the stage in which I put together a mock-up of your home page. Obviously, the mock-up wouldn’t be a final design, though it might be close. Its primary purpose is to ensure that what I’m creating is in keeping with the goals we discussed. We’ll talk about the mock-up, I’ll tweak it, and nothing beyond it will be created until you’re satisfied with the result.
   
• Step 3: Web Site Completion
  All pages will be completed for your web site, based on the mock-up design we reviewed together and which you approved. Active links will be created. Photos will be optimized for fast loading. Basic spelling and grammar editing on the text you supplied will be done. Keywords and other essential information that search engines rely on will be added to the code. This will be your last chance to make changes.
   
• Step 4: Moving Your Site to the Web!
  Your new web site is uploaded to the host server you decided on, thereby making it live for your audience. Everything on that site is burned to a CD-ROM so that you’ll have a back-up. At this point, final payment is due.

I invite you to take a look at my FAQ page to learn a little more about what’s involved in making a web site happen. And if you’re ready to get going, just drop me an email with your name and number, any questions you might have, and we’ll get going!

Thank you!  

—Laura Belgrave

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