Posted by Alec on Tue, 01 Sep 2009, in Web Design
Time and time I have been asked the question, how much does a website cost and most of the time the response I got from them would be, "Wow, that's a bit too expensive, etc". Well, the truth is, since the .COM bubble era, web design industry has evolved and I have to say, one of the very important job as a web designer/ developer today is to educate clients the whole story of getting a professional website.
Building a website is as building a house or any construction. It started from the very basic brainstorming, planning to design, development and release. One of the most common statement I have heard today is "anyone could do a website" and I have to admit by saying: "Yes, everyone could do a website, as if everyone could build a house; but would you want to live in a house built by your cousin?". A website could be inspected easily by us if it is built properly and if great work has been done to it.
People need to understand that, web design has evolved to a stage where a website no longer works as name card. It has grown to become an ambassy of a company/ organisation, which it represents the business's image as well as a source of information, reflecting the company's products or services. Static website no longer capable of holding the dynamic needs and rapid growing demands online. When I look at a website, there are some quick elements I would quickly be looking at.
These are some of the very important elements a professional website should have:
Being able to keep up with the latest design trend is important. Website today should have a sharp, simple design with a high contrast of colors giving visitors a very impressive look the very first time. Careful selection of typography can be seen on some of the latest work done by high end design agencies.
As stated above, static website no longer serves enough purpose of a website. Today, a website should be dynamic with database/ xml driven technologies supporting its logic and architecture. It doesn't matter if the site is using an open source or in house content management system, but having a powerful and user-friendly back-end is one of the very important factor you would be looking at when looking for the service.
So, how much does a website cost? Generally, you can contract someone from building a website for you for hundreds or you could contract an agency to do it which is usually ranging from 3k up to 100k, depending on your requirements and functionalities wanted. Website that costs less than 1k would probably be static, or simple enough that displays only information of your company, without much interactive elements, which could be news, events, contact form, etc.