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How much does a website cost?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

howmuch Well this is a difficult question to answer and to coin a well-known phrase it’s very much ‘how long is a piece of string?’ Rather than start with ‘how much’ we need to identify things such as what is the the website for? Who will use it? What are the goals and objectives of the site? And lots of other questions so that we have a firm platform to start the quotation process.

Websites can be as simple or as complicated as you like and that goes for design as well but when it comes to business you only get one chance to make the first impression and a naff website will blow that for you.

So pricing, what to expect?
Lets look at a marketing brochure website that displays info about a business and invites a person to make contact. Well a good graphic designer will charge £300-£400 for a layout and ancillaries such as extra buttons etc. Then to turn that into a website that is coded to standards and looks the same in all browsers and is search engine ready (ie it’s been specially optimised to maximise its effect in search engines when people are searching for a service or product that you offer) then you’re looking at around £500 upwards depending on many variances. So for the website itself then budget for something in the region of £800-£1000.

Wait, it doesn’t end there…
Don’t forget you need great copy for your website that engages people and calls them to do something and makes them want to get in touch. There’s no point having a great looking website if the text on it lets it down, and it’s not the job of the web designer to write this! Hiring a professional copywriter might cost you around £100-£300 depending on how much text is required for the full website. And last but by no means least, what about a logo? You need great looking branding that will make you stand out from your competitors, a logo will cost from £150 up to say £400 to design, however a logo designer will supply with all the files you need for a website or printing of business cards and other marketing materials in the future.

If you’re needing something more complicated such as E-commerce or a database driven website then this will cost more and can go up into the thousands depending on your exact requirements

The DIY Route
OK so building a website is something that can be done yourself but when it comes to presenting your business is the DIY route really going to save money in the long run? I mean would you pull your own teeth out to save a bill from the expert dentist? How much damage would pulling your own teeth out do without the proper tools and expertise? The same goes for web design. Not using professionals will save you money but at what price?

Using cheap professionals
WARNING: There’s plenty of folk out there who are offering websites for £100 or less even but if you are serious about your business is a £100 primary marketing tool really going to make you the next big thing and a success? People are fickle, you get just a few seconds to capture them and keep them on your website rather than them clicking away and spending their money elsewhere.

So, if you buy cheap then you will pay dearly; that’s the best advice you can get. If you pay too much for something then all you loose is that extra you’ve paid, if you pay too less than you risk loosing the lot and your reputation at the same time!

Posted in Company Information, Graphic Design, Web Design, Web Marketing, e-commerce | No Comments »

Exhibiting at the All About Business Expo Photos

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

webdesign We had a great day yesterday exhibiting at the All About Business expo in Norwich. It was our first time exhibiting and we managed to get ourselves together with about 2 weeks notice.

We had a great day it has to be said. We spoke to lots of people about all of our services, got some good leads and of course put some names to faces from the twitterverse.

Here’s a few pictures from the expo:

Our stand:

Our stand with visitors:

A view down one side:

A view down the other (our) side:

Head Honcho aka Gary Dickenson manning the stand:

You can follow the show tweet action using the #aab09 hash code. Look forward speaking to all the new contacts we made and to seeing everyone there next year.

Posted in Company Information, Norfolk | 1 Comment »

How (not) to win clients or ‘a tale of 2 banner printing companies’

Friday, October 16th, 2009

So we’re exhibiting at the All About Business expo in Norwich next Thursday. Now normally we’re ahead of the game and totally organised but we were offered the stand at the last minute and so needed to organise our banner and media at the last minute. Fortunately we’re in the right business design wise to get things going but reliant on others to get things printed.

This blog is the story of one supplier that messed up, was given the chance to rectify but decided they didn’t want to play ball and one supplier who knows about customer service and has potentially won more than a one banner order. When everything goes right it’s fine, it’s not until things go wrong do you really get to know how good someone’s customer service is.

12th October
So we enquired with our regular banner supplier about the price of a vinyl roller banner (see email) it’s quite clear what we wanted. We got an invoice to pay by bacs and duly paid for it the invoice said ‘vinyl banner’ and it went unnoticed that this is in fact not a vinyl roller banner. Maybe presumptuous on our part but when you ask for something then you kind of expect that you are buying what you what you ordered, no?

14th October 10.00
Knock on the door and it’s the courier with a banner – wow that was quick. Opens tube to discover a rolled up vinyl banner with eyelets in the corner. It’s the sort of thing you string up between 2 trees outdoors. I open it anyway and the thing has streaks & scratches down it and is patchy to say the least. It’s not fit for purpose.

12:45
After talking to our graphic designer to confirm we ordered correctly I email the printers to tell them what has happened and give them opportunity to correct the mistake, still got plenty of time to get sorted for next Thursday.

15th October 10:00
No reply or call or anything. I phone the printers roughly 10am and the phone rings and rings and rings and rings then a guy picks up the phone and says they have 100’s of emails to go through and anyway he’s the printer it’s not his problem I need to speak to admin. I ask to be put through to admin but they are on the phone so I ask for a call back. I remind the printer that it’s time critical so could they call back asap so we can get it all sorted.

13:30
Still no call back so I call them back. Phone rings and rings and rings and guess what… it rings and rings and no one answers

14:10
Email arrives form printers basically saying we ordered wrong it’s our problem and no reference to the shoddy goods is mentioned. Unbelievable, talk about not interested in solving or proving that they can deal with the problem. Not very happy!

14:13
I reply to their email with something a little stronger making it quite clear they need to get this sorted or we’ll go elsewhere:

I start looking for an alternative supplier and put a post out on twitter for a Norfolk based banner printer who prints on-site so I can collect. Within minutes I have 5 replies with local recommended suppliers of what I need and start looking at who’s nearest to me. I call one and get an immediate response and an offer to email me the technical sheet and all information. Email arrives within seconds. Now this seems more like it.

After exchanging a few more emails we talk abotu trade accounts and prices and confirmations I can collect in time for the expo next thursday no problem. The day ends and no reply from the original printers (Image Makers Ltd in Essex).

16th October 9:48
Our Graphic designer (Colin, he was off the day before so had to catch up) also emails Image makers to ask what’s going on. In this time he has the artwork to the new printers and they exchange a couple of emails all replied to within minutes I may add.

11:08
We get an email back from Image Makers as follows:

The staff member keen to get the last word in and still no mention about the bad quality banner that was produced. By now of course it’s too late we’ve gone elsewhere and have been looked after well with our new banner printing people.

As it turns out we have 3 more banners to order of which that order will be going to our new found printing company OTW Imaging not far down the road because they seem to understand good professional customer service. I am thankful the banner was coming to us and not to a client

Posted in Company Information, Creospace Friends, Graphic Design, Norfolk, Social Media, Social Networking | No Comments »

Choose a User Friendly Website Designer who can communicate

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

choosingdesigner Finding the right website designer who will be come up with the goods that you are looking for is quite a tricky business. The interpretation of your website dream, the way in which you business will be fronted, is quite an intricate undertaking, and you need to make sure that you select a user friendly website designer who you will work comfortably with.

Even where you may be given a personal recommendation for a supposedly good website designer, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you, personally, will be able to communicate with them. Excellent communication of course is absolutely vital to any project, but in terms of designing a new website, it is imperative that you choose a website designer who can turn your ideas into a user friendly site to move your business forward.

Most projects that we undertake in our working lives are actually more about people than anything else. Whether you are buying, selling, designing, or whatever you are interfacing with other people, and being able to communicate with them effectively is key. Design and concept are probably the most difficult things to be able to communicate. Concept is more about thoughts, ideals and aspirations than say, a set of figures for example. Choosing a communicative website designer to whom you can convey your ideas to, and one which understands each business has individual requirements, is hugely important.

Ideally you need a website designer who has empathy. You want someone who is good at listening; someone who can grasp the nettle of your idea and your concept and run with it. However, they must instinctively be able to run in the right direction. It’s no good your design company haring off at one hundred miles per hour in the wrong direction. That just wastes time and money, and will result in frustration and disappointment for all parties. You want a user friendly website designer who will pick up on your needs and goals and who will translate them into reality.

Ideally you should go through a tendering process when you search for any sort of supplier though you can only go so far by measuring certain criteria such as quality, timescale, and price. Then when it comes down to choosing somebody that you feel you can work with in a productive way, you need to have a face to face meeting. So, if you are going “cold calling” to find website designers the ideal is to start by going out to tender with the same loose specification to a number of potentials; say up to three as an example. Once you have received their “ball park” quotations, you can then narrow your field down to your two best hopefuls, and then arrange that face to face meeting to try and find the most user friendly website designer amongst them.

When you arrange your meeting, you must ensure that it will be with the people that you will work with if you chose that designer. It’s no good meeting up with some sales guy whose sole job it is to get your order and then pass the brief on. The whole object of the exercise is to locate the people that you feel you will be best able to communicate with, and that you will work with to see the project through to its successful completion. Make sure this is clearly understood when you arrange your meetings to find the best user friendly website designer.

Posted in Company Information, Internet, Web Design, Web Development, Web Marketing | No Comments »

A Busy Website Design Company is a Company in Demand

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

choosingdesigner Whether your website designer is a local developer or part of a big national company, one of the important factors that you should take into consideration in your search for the right website design company is how busy they are; the size of their order book. This can actually be a double edged sword because on the one hand a busy website design company may have to quote longer lead-in times, but the activity does of course indicate that their services are in demand. If their services are in demand, the logic is that their product must be good. Based in Norfolk we know there are lots of super companies around but it should be easy to find the best developer for your site?

There are certain cases where a big order book or the long lead-time a busy website designer quotes can be misleading. If this apparently busy website design company is a relatively new start up for example, the clientele may not yet have had the time to evaluate the designer’s performance, so look out to make sure that there is a client list that you can follow up to interrogate. Any local developer, Norfolk or beyond should be happy to assist as they want your business.

A short order book, and a therefore rapid response time could be a sign that nobody wants to use them, or it could simply mean that they are very fast and efficient in keeping up with things, either way the presence of testimonials and following them up is again an invaluable process and one that perhaps should not be rushed but done methodically if you have the time.

Any local developer or designer would tell you that design is not something that should be hurried and a busy website design company will not only know this, but will stick firmly to their guns and refuse to be hurried. This is actually good brand marketing in progress and whilst at times this sort of attitude can be very frustrating, it speaks volumes for their integrity, and if they won’t allow other projects to get rushed along they will not permit yours to be rushed either.

A busy website design company that holds to this principle is worth their weight in gold. It should however be made very clear through the tendering process just exactly what their lead times are, and at that early stage you have the opportunity to question this and to perhaps seek permission to even talk to some of their current project owners for real-time feedback – see our testimonials article for assistance with this part.

Any sort of design work is a process where there will be discoveries along the way: new suggestions about the best way to lay a site out, or how to arrange the navigation etc. which is all part of developing the best product for your business. A busy website designer may even adopt a new technology in the process of fulfilling your design, to stay at the forefront of website design and to ensure that they offer state of the art product. It would actually be very annoying if your website were to just miss out on a new innovation simply because your chosen local developer couldn’t make time to incorporate it.

They do say that patience is a virtue, and in the case of good website design this is very true. Don’t lose sight of the fact that your website is your shop-front. Once it’s out there in cyberspace you need it to do an effective job for you. The “window dressing” is key and fashions change, as do new technologies, and in order to stay at the cutting edge you will want to incorporate these changes in your website. A busy website design company will be busy partly because clients return to them again and again for these state of art or fashion updates; another thing you can check out amongst their client list be it Norfolk, London or anywhere else.

In the majority of instances, a busy website design company is a good design company; it’s a local web design or graphic design company with integrity, with flair, and with dedication. If and when you find one, stick with them for the best site that works for your business.

Posted in Company Information, Web Design, Web Development, Web Marketing, e-commerce | No Comments »