Web site design for new business

David_Brent

Following on from my visit with the princes trust I am now in the process of setting up my business and now need a web site!

I was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of a good web site designer, im looking for a web page that can accept online payments and all the usual security which follows. The actual web site itself doesn't need to be anything amazing simply describing the service which we offer and costs but I do want it to be user friendly and leave an impression on the visitor.

I'm basically looking for a package to include the 'domain name' and the web site design together.

In terms of price my budget is upto £500 - £1,000 really maybe more if needed?

If you know of anyone that can give me a quote it would be much appreciated so I can list the cost/s in my business plan and get it setup! Many thanks.

lellie

There are lots of designers on these very boards, but advertising services is not allowed..

One way to look for a designer is to just google for "freelance web designer [your town]" - searching for designers in your area - however I can understand why you might not want to, because you haven't had personal recommendations.

You could ask your local business link, or the princes trust for recommendations.

Antoher approach is to try script lance - http://www.scriptlance.com/ or other similar sites - you write a specification for what you want, and a number of designers bid to get your work. This way many designers battle to undercut each other. Often you can get work done cheaply, but designers are a bit of an unknown quantity. Also you may have to work with someone that's abroad - this is pbviously relatively easy with the power of the internet, but be prepared to spend a little extra on the occasional phone call or to remember about time differences when trying to contact your designer. I've looked at some of the work produced by people on there and it varies IMMENSELY so it's worth really checking out their past work before you commit. Cheaper does not always mean better - A lot of them will be taking on many many jobs at once - as they're doing them a lot cheaper than a designer usually will - this may mean that service is poor.

Another way is to look for designers that are starting out - students in particular. Students need money to fund their studies, often have lots of spare time and are usually up to date with modern technologies and great designers. Many will try to offer a personal service and as they may only have one project on the go at once, they will be able to concentrate on the project in hand.

digp

try: http://www.networksolutions.com/products-services/design-products-services.jsp?tab=hpcrt0

lellie

*hint* you're not allowed to advertise by pm either

Torby

might be a bit late in suggesting this but have you had alook at mr site, its been mentioned on other threads in the mse forum and having had a look myself and spoken to people who have gone down that route....it seems pretty good!!

***.mrsite.co.uk

cheers

David_Brent

Hi thanks for the PM's about the web site design I will contact each of you with what I want within the next day or so and await a quote! Many Thanks!

donna

i have aready asked a similar question on another thread and not had much response. Basically i can buy a franchise with https://www.thebestof.co.uk for 10k or one with https://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk for 5k(both plus vat), but i would like to start my own community mag/notice board for a lot less as i don't have either of these sums of money

Would someone kindly take a look at these sites and give me an idea of how much it would cost me to get a similar looking website made?

Is there a tool that i could buy to build it myself, like a template that i could fill in and add pages and links as required?

What else do i need to consider?

How much would a .co.uk name cost?

Would i need/how much would web hosting be?

Could i use my free Virgin webspace to do this?

I really don't have a clue where to start.

CrustyMcMuffin

Rather than developing the site yourself and adding link, pages etc I'd advise you to get a professional company to do the basic page templates and also provide you with a content management system so you can keep the site updated yourself.

A .co.uk domain generally costs anything up to £10 pounds. You would need web hosting but if you go to a web design company, hosting should be provided for a set length of time for example we always give a years free hosting as well as one domain name included in the price.

You could use your virgin webspace to do this, but obviously this has the drawback that you wont have a unique url instead it'll be something like yoursite.virgin.co.uk which could put some folk off.

Those sites you're linking to could be done for around a thousand pounds.

If you need any more advice, just let me know.

MalcolmCooper

Have a good look around here
http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Content_Management/index.html

This looks very interesting for example:

http://www.izzywebsite.com/index.php

ali82

https://www.mrsite.co.uk, you can do a top quality one yourself for £35! no joke

donna

ali82 wrote:

https://www.mrsite.co.uk, you can do a top quality one yourself for £35! no joke

Wow thanks ali, this looks great. I could perhaps use this to begin with until i get more funds. At £35 you can't really lose. Do you have one?