What goes into a website?: How much does a website cost?

 

What goes into a website?

This is the first question many people ask when contact is made initially with a Web Designer. From our previous articles we have stated that it all depends and it is the same as saying “how long is a piece of string?”. If you went to a motor dealer would you ask them, “How much is a car?”. It depends what car doesn’t it? With a website, there are many ingredients in a website and many other extras that can be added on at extra cost to make it go faster, smoother and cost less.  

Each website element or ingredient will be covered in some detail to give the reader a more in depth overview of what is involved and at what cost. This article is a general overview of what is involved and is designed to make the whole process transparent to shine a light on what exactly it is web designers get up to.

Who are these so called Web Designers?

There are many forms of web designer from freelance to large agencies, from good to bad. Some freelance designers do a better job than the larger agencies and vice versa. It is by doing the research from the outset that will determine which web designer you feel comfortable with and end up choosing.

There is always a risk involved and people are scared they will get ripped off and abandoned as has been done in so many cases. That is why price is the overall factor for many as they are instinctively ensuring that they limit their exposure when things go awry.

What is involved in Web Design

Putting a website together involves a number of aspects that all come together in the end. Depending on the requirements set out initially, there could be a number of different skill sets involved in the process to producing a finished web site. Large agencies may have separate departments involved carrying out different steps along the way. These may include;

Web Agency

• IT/Hosting Department
• Web Design and Development – UI Design, Mobile Compatibility, Testing
• Graphic Design – Logo & Graphics
• Content – Editorial, Photography, Video and Audio, Copyrighting
• SEO – Editorial, Link Building, Keyword analysis, Adwords, Analytics.

Freelance

Freelance web designers on the other hand are unlikely to have the same resources or skill sets as a Web Agency would. This is very rarely the case as it would require a super talented person to be able to achieve the desired high standards for each skill set to apply to the whole project. Freelance developers are generally there to put it all together for you. The customer would be required to provide all the content (Graphics, Photos, Video & Audio) to the web designer so that they can piece it all together using a template.

This is generally at the lower price scale of the market (€400 – €600).

If logo’s, graphic design, photography, video, animation, custom design sites or SEO campaigns enter the mix, the price goes up significantly. Original content creation takes time.

* Tip: In order to lower the cost of getting your site built, have content (text, logo, graphics, photos, video etc) all ready to go. Make sure the content is yours or you have specific permission to use as part of your site.

Generally speaking however, any of the following set of ingredients form part of the process that is involved in the creation of a website;

Process

• Information Gathering –
• Planning –
• Design –
• Content Creation –
• Development –
• Testing and Delivery –
• Training –
• Management –

Ingredients included in those tasks include;

• Hosting
• Domain registration
• Complete bespoke site design or template purchase
• Photography or stock image purchase
• Graphic Design or graphic purchase
• Textual Content creation, editorial
• Promotional video creation
• Copyrighting and Legal
• E-Commerce functionality
• Mobile responsiveness
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Google Adwords

Each one of these ingredients and tasks are all potential elements of the web design process. Some would be regarded as specialist areas such as SEO, Video promotion, Copyright and legal responsibilities or graphic design.

 

As discussed, the freelance developer would rarely have all the skillset listed above particularly when it comes to specialist areas. Web Design Agencies would however try to employ a diverse range of skills in order to provide the full package when it comes to delivering a product.

In next weeks article, we will discuss costs, in particular, hosting.

How much does a website cost? Hosting