How much would I expect to pay...on average for a knock-em-dead hosting site design?

I have a signup script already (may need tweaking on the design side) and for support desk..

Im therefor looking for easily manageable home page. TOS page. Network design Page etc...with maybe MySQL back-end? I dont know..Something that will say to people..."this company has what I want". The site will exude professionalism!!!!. Is this even possible in a site design? I will offer 4 simple plans...each one will be well priced but my main features are: service/support/and a lengthy list of features for each plan..

Please let me know what I can expect to pay..and also if you are interested in offering your services.

Simon

For a full site with scripting and a 'WOW' look, you'd be expecting to pay about $4k+ from a proper design firm.

Could probably find people willing to whip you up something for $250, though it's not generally the same calibur.

I can understand a "proper" design firm charging more because of overheads that go with running a "proper" design firm. What I don't understand is why the design would be less WOW from somebody here. Surely you are a good designer or you are not...does it make a difference if you do it for yourself or a big design company?...I don't know what differenciates a 4k website from a $250 website in the way of design....?

If I have $500 to spend.....what could I expect for this...seeing as the chasm is so wide.

Thanks
Simon

Originally posted by SimonMc
I can understand a "proper" design firm charging more because of overheads that go with running a "proper" design firm. What I don't understand is why the design would be less WOW from somebody here. Surely you are a good designer or you are not...does it make a difference if you do it for yourself or a big design company?...I don't know what differenciates a 4k website from a $250 website in the way of design....?

If I have $500 to spend.....what could I expect for this...seeing as the chasm is so wide.

Thanks
Simon

Generally designers from big firms are more experienced, producing better work. Don't get me wrong, there are some great designers here, but I doubt you'd get a design like www.hostrocket.com www.rackspace.com for just $250.

I can see what you mean by Hostrocket being appealing...but Rackspace feels bland. It certainly does'nt WOW me. I would want a better looking site than Rackspace for $500.

It seems to me that like most things in life...beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That one company can provide a design for 4k and another for $250 is truely astounding considering that to me the $250 might look better. Is there anyway of quantifying this skill. This webdesign business seems like a minefield. How do I know that if I pay $4k I don't get a $250 website? (Not that I have 4K to spend). And on the other hand..are there guys out there offering $4K worth of site for $250.

Whats the opinion of the WebDesign Community here!

Simon

Originally posted by SimonMc
I can see what you mean by Hostrocket being appealing...but Rackspace feels bland. It certainly does'nt WOW me. I would want a better looking site than Rackspace for $500.

It seems to me that like most things in life...beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That one company can provide a design for 4k and another for $250 is truely astounding considering that to me the $250 might look better. Is there anyway of quantifying this skill. This webdesign business seems like a minefield. How do I know that if I pay $4k I don't get a $250 website? (Not that I have 4K to spend). And on the other hand..are there guys out there offering $4K worth of site for $250.

Whats the opinion of the WebDesign Community here!

Simon

I'm a designer.

I made a pretty general statement before. There are good designers here that will give you a site thats worth a lot more than they charge. I think some are just a little stuck and aren't getting high paying jobs because they aren't working for a firm with a huge portfolio that has big names on it. Hey, you have to start somewhere though, right?

Sorry, i'm tired :) Took about 10 minutes to structure that so that it made sense.

The 250$ designer is just starting out and has very little experience, the $4k designer has a proven record and you have more insurance that they will come out with something good.

To the point:
A $4K average sale Design firm will know (or should) something about usability, site flow, order story boards, bread crumb trails, marketing, color branding, etc...

Chances are a $250 designer won't know what the above mean.
:D

Your best bet is to find one in between if $4K is above your budget.


Regards

i have seen some sites that was design by guys who are good and only charge 800.00 for a complete site -- it does not matter but if you want to throw some money away i will take 4k for a design lol i will learn

Usually the difference between a $4k site and $250 site is that the people doing the $4k site will be skilled in extracting the required information for the site from you and presenting it to the user in a way that makes them think you are the only one for them. It's alright having a nice design (Nice designs are 10 a penny) but if your text reads like a 5 year old wrote it, or it's imcomplete etc. then you aren't going to sell much. One of the other things is that generally the $4k designer will know a fair bit about colour theory - so what you may say, but theres a lot more to colour then you may think, just because a design looks good it doesn't mean it will do a good job of selling, yet with a couple of subtle tweaks it could turn into a sales machine, colour can have a big effect on what people think.

Also I doubt the $250 designer will knock out a site of any quality that has a back-end management system on it.