How much is a good website worth to your business?

Are you selling yourself short by putting up an unprofessional and/or copied template style site?

Or did you pay a lot of money to have your site designed and it paid for itself within a very short space of time? Or maybe it hasn't?

I was just wondering on everyone's experiences with going down the different avenues of website design...

I'm paying $200 to get a nice custom site done for me. It's a lot... but to many people, they wouldn't like to trust their busienss to an unprofessional company. or at least a company that uses unprofessional design...
Doubly so if you offer webdesign services XD

Originally posted by axe9
I'm paying $200 to get a nice custom site done for me. It's a lot... but to many people, they wouldn't like to trust their busienss to an unprofessional company. or at least a company that uses unprofessional design...
Doubly so if you offer webdesign services XD

while i certainly commend you for not using a template, i must say that $200.00 is NOT at all a lot of money for a truly professional website.

i say this not to argue, but rather because i think people reading this thread will think that professional webdesign is cheap.

ceonex charges 25,000.00 and in that neighborhood. my partner/bf charges upwards of 6,000.00 - 10,000.00 for a site while im on the low end with a $1,000.00 minimum.

It's a lot...

Nope! That's a very very cheap site, I would say that most companies would charge a minimum of $1000 for a site otherwise it's not worth their time. Unless it was a very small site of course. The prices Lauren gave above are more in the region of what is normally paid.

Yes, $1000 and up is more the range.

Designs get expensive!!

I'm talking about *just* a design. No dynamic type programming, not content integration, *just* design. Would someone seriously charge $1000 for that?

If it's just a Photoshop image that is cut up and then you add the rest it will be cheaper. But yes, for a decent design $1000 is nothing.

.....
So, if a school contracted me to get them a design for their site, and hosting, only charging $500 for the design would be a big mistake... seeing as we're doing all the content integration and all......

If a school contacted me, I would do it for a low rate and put "Designed and maintained by _______________" somewhere ont he page

You would be giving them a very good deal. I would expect to pay in the region of $2000 - $4000 for a well designed 6-7 page website.

I'm paying $200 to get a nice custom site done for me. It's a lot...

$200 is *not* a lot - expect to pay a design house £750 (1400$) upwards for a design/layout ...

I'm guessing this school site is going to be in the 10-20 page range >_<
The original bid was for $12,000/year for maintenance, design, and hosting.
Though, this is coming to me through a friend of mine who goes there, and i've not had any contact with the actual school....
Is $1000/month enough?

I've been making my site myself... That is definitely better than any template or hiring someone because if you hire someone who builds a site that looks like a template you won`t catch people's attention. You got to make it yourself and make it real interesting.

I am a fan of custom designs. I would say a cheap design is around $5,000, decent design around $25,000. My current design for Hostime I made myself, although I intend on utilising the services of Ceonex within 6-12 months.

Hi!
Wow! I here I am trying to find a deal on Adobe Creative Suite thinking that $1K is a lot to pay for this. Well...maybe it's not, eh? :)

Bryon
Currently listening to Van Halen

Originally posted by axe9
I'm paying $200 to get a nice custom site done for me. It's a lot... but to many people, they wouldn't like to trust their busienss to an unprofessional company. or at least a company that uses unprofessional design...
Doubly so if you offer webdesign services XD

Axe9
I would also suggest you invest in a good spell checker ( or use the one you have) ;)

guaranty
ammount
beleives
absolutally

Professionalism of a host is far more than the sum of the web page content and design though - in fact the vast majority of my customers probably have never even been to my site.

Bryonhost1
I thought I was the only person in the world with that spelling, never came across it before and I was convinced my father was drunk when he registered me and spelt it wrong - PS I like Van Halen as well
Bryon

$200 for a site is nowhere near cheap. There are people who charge in excess of like $60 000!

There is an online art site (I'll try and find the URL) that cost £56 000, but it's not even that good, I mean, I could do better. It is coz of the massive database programming that will be running it (which I CAN'T do, lol). But, thats a case where a website cost a lot.

Also, Amazon reportedly paid £5M for their website, but when you consider their revenue / profit, it's nothing to them.

So, there's two examples where websites cost a lot. Just pointing this out to you. You got a good deal if the site is decent.

Also, bear in mind that both the above examples were done by proper, well-known design companies, us poor ole' "small-town" folks couldn't get that much. Maybe we'll be "big-towns" one day though...

EDIT: Also, about the school thing. I made a site for my school and charged them £200 (about $400 - $500), and it was ONLY FOR the subject of Maths. It came to 325-pages and I am so annoyed that I made it for such a low price. But hopefully, I will get more leads from it. But just a warning, do not make sites for such low money, they can get into lots of work and large page numbers.

P.S: The site is NS Maths (www.nsmaths.co.uk).

it all depends on weather your helping someone get going or there a dentist or lawyer or foot doctor or a resort hotel or whatever the case may be

Wow, I was thinking of only charging people like $100 max for sites and stuff :) Looks like I can make a far greater ammount of money :)

Also, I'm talking *just* design no programming or anything (Besides the html). Like what TemplateMonster sells, only better :)

Also, I do have a spellchecker :) But my computer bogs big time when I have Mozilla, Foobar2000, AIM, MSN, YIM, and Macromedia flash player 6 XD
I do use it sometimes though :)

While admittedly we are not a company focused on selling design work, when we are approached for design work we will not accept anything less than a $1000 job. It's not worth the time spent on gathering customer requirements, refining them, doing drafts, making revisions, etc. for anything less than that.

I was fortunate in that I was a web designer for about 3-4 years before I started my hosting business. So I had the skills necessary to put together a decent website for my own web hosting company. Based on what I charge for design, if I were to place a price on the site I did for PiWeb, I'd put it at at least $1500.

A well designed website is an invaluable asset for any company (moreso a web-based business). Very often this will be the first point of contact between your company and the potential customer who stumbles onto your website, that may be your only only chance to make a good impression.

Think of your website as your storefront. If you don't have a retail store, consumers MUST order from your web site. Invest heavily in your image! I'm not a good example, as I designed my own web site (hostime.com), but I intend on hiring a decent firm this year.

Hi!
I can add more now that I've thought about it.

What makes a success site? Traffic? More traffic doesn't translate into more sales...if the people don't either need what you are offering or
any number of other reasons.

I created a website many years ago to offer free advice for about credit and avoilding scams. When my hosting business is ready..I'm just going to post there that this service is provided as a free service of blahblahblah.com hosting. No ads. Just a simple statement that this is and always will be free...but...if you should need hosting...feel free to....you get the picture. Even if people do not click thorugh...it will help my search engines rankings..because they take into consideration links from other websites in the ranking.

I'm not saying you need to give away something for free...but...look at Yahoo!. That's how they got started, eh? Homestead has been giving away frree hosting for years. They appear to be successful..although I've not seen their numbers. People are always looking for free stuff...so...why not give them some? Oh..and, of course, while you're doing that make sure that they realize who is footing the bill for it. :)

Good luck,

Bryon

Hi,

Having a good web site is very important. Speaking from a background in both the web design and web hosting business, I know that when a user visits a web site and sees a text-only page done up in MS Word and saved as HTML, as is the case too often these days, they instantly think "what a horrible web site, do I really want to spend my time looking through this when they can't even be bothered/afford a web site design?" Always make sure you have a good professional web site from the word go. It doesn't need to have flash or sounds or anything too fancy, it just needs to look clean and professional. You don't have to pay a lot, either. $50 here will get you a good design - if not for life, at least to get started - check out the Template Offers and Requests forum. I'm in the process of buying a design there now. It's not the best, but it's $49.99, and it'll get me going!

Hope this helps

- Ben

Originally posted by iHN-Ben
Having a good web site is very important. Speaking from a background in both the web design and web hosting business, I know that when a user visits a web site and sees a text-only page done up in MS Word and saved as HTML, as is the case too often these days, they instantly think "what a horrible web site, do I really want to spend my time looking through this when they can't even be bothered/afford a web site design?"
- Ben
Not important all, I have seen some extremely popular sites over time that were basically *text*. If you have a niche, you don't need a fancy design to promote it ;)

Yes, for a minute there anon-e-mouse, I thought you were saying a website is not important - I hope this is not the case.

But I agree that a site presented as just text can be as, if not more, popular than a "flashy" site. IMO, flashy sites are old now, people want modern, clean, stylish designs nowadays - at least, I think so - and it's worked for my clients so far!

Originally posted by will7
Yes, for a minute there anon-e-mouse, I thought you were saying a website is not important - I hope this is not the case.


I would in the majority of cases.
many think all they have to do is put up a website and they have a business.
A website should be an extension of a stable and working business a tool like a shop front or display cabinet, it is what is inside that matters not the glitzy showcase, and customers are getting wise to that.
Trying to do the converse, i.e. making a website into a business is an extremely difficult job

A website is nowhere near as important as a well structured business, long gone are the days of sticking up a few html pages and pulling in money.

Oh no! Don't get me wrong! A website should not be the only front for a business, but it can be a pretty key one.

For example, in the hosting industry, a website would probably come in higher than offices, because the site is where all orders are processed and where the bulk information about the company can be gathered.

Obviously, people need to RUN the site, but you get my meaning.

Not the same in all cases though ;)

Anyone know who designed Amazon by any chance?

Originally posted by CPR
Anyone know who designed Amazon by any chance? I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have their own in-house team of designers and developers to be honest.