Costs for Web design / set up

Acc72

Hi all,

My wife has a small business and is considering having a website - she is looking at a relatively simple 5 page brochure website.

Although technically simple, she wants the actual design, layout and wording etc. to be very sharp and professional.

Could anybody give me an idea of a ball-park cost fur such a website ? (just so we know what to budget)

We are also thinking of using a copywriter to get the most of SEO etc. without expecting the earth.

Do designers/copywiters charge a fixed fee ? - as this is only a small business, we don't want to go down this road only to see costs spiral.

Also, any tips of how to find somebody would be appreciated - I was looking earlier today at a copy writers site that looked good until I spotted a typo ......

Thanks for any any help.

gazfocus

Hi,
I've sent you a PM offering some advice so do get back to me if you need to know anything.

Whether you need a copywriter or not is dependent on the business really. A good copywriter will cost a few hundred pounds so it may be worth trying to write the content yourself first and then asking a copywriter to edit it. This is normally what we suggest to clients and it works out much cheaper for them.

As for web design, there are companies that offer fixed prices so be wary of those that charge by the hour as that's when costs will spiral.

Have you thought about domain names yet? That would be my first port of call to make sure you get the domain you want.

steve1980

Acc72 wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife has a small business and is considering having a website - she is looking at a relatively simple 5 page brochure website.

Although technically simple, she wants the actual design, layout and wording etc. to be very sharp and professional.

Could anybody give me an idea of a ball-park cost fur such a website ? (just so we know what to budget)

Have you got a budget at all? It could be as cheap as £100 or as much as £1500 depending on who you go with and exactly what you want.

Acc72 wrote: »

We are also thinking of using a copywriter to get the most of SEO etc. without expecting the earth.

Do designers/copywiters charge a fixed fee ? - as this is only a small business, we don't want to go down this road only to see costs spiral.

Also, any tips of how to find somebody would be appreciated - I was looking earlier today at a copy writers site that looked good until I spotted a typo ......

Thanks for any any help.

SEO is where the money will sky rocket. For a complete SEO site you are looking at a figure in excess of £2000.

For the copyrighting, this really should come from you, as it's your business!

InsideInsurance

Copyrighting is something different to copy writing

A reasonable company will charge £500-£750, in my opinion, based on the assumption you have decided on your target keywords/ phrases, will be providing the copy and either have a logo or are happy with a basic logo design.

You certainly can get people that will use templates and just add your logo to it for £25 or less. The most I have seen a small brochureware site priced up at was £350,000 of which £200,000 was to be spent on brand design. SEO and CMS setup was to be additional.

paulwf

My advice would be to keep it simple at first, even DIY if possible. No point in paying for top notch designers and SEO until you know exactly what you want, the beauty with websites is you can constantly be tweaking them. Start small - even if just for a few weeks - before bringing in the big guns.

MJM10

I suggest you try to find a local web design company so that you can meet them and discuss your requirements. My Daughter used Carlsco to prepare her site and is delighted with the result.

texranger

Acc72 wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife has a small business and is considering having a website - she is looking at a relatively simple 5 page brochure website.

Although technically simple, she wants the actual design, layout and wording etc. to be very sharp and professional.

Could anybody give me an idea of a ball-park cost fur such a website ? (just so we know what to budget)

We are also thinking of using a copywriter to get the most of SEO etc. without expecting the earth.

Do designers/copywiters charge a fixed fee ? - as this is only a small business, we don't want to go down this road only to see costs spiral.

Also, any tips of how to find somebody would be appreciated - I was looking earlier today at a copy writers site that looked good until I spotted a typo ......

Thanks for any any help.

you could give http://www.totalcreation.co.uk/ a go

DACooper

I built my own using 123-reg's Site Fusion package which costs me £5/month plus VAT and I'm tied into it for a year. It's took a while to get my head around using the various widgets and it is not entirely what I would like but I am happy with it overall. I designed the header myself but used a template and then made changes such as colours etc to suit my design. I too wanted a professional looking website but didn't have any budget, not even a few hundred pounds and I knew people who could do it for me. I wrote all the copy and bought in images. Good luck!

VSC

Some good advice in the previous posts, and also a consensus regarding beware of pricing! (and promises, esp with SEO - No one can guarantee page one results)

Have you considered using Wordpress as the platform for your site (does not have to look like a blog. Many ecommerce sites use Wordpress as their platform).
The benefits would include easy site building, lots of "plug-ins" to help SEO yourself, easy to set up from web hosting CPanels.

For people who want a DIY way in, this is a good option.

As has been said, get a good domain name, if available using keywords that people would use to find your product/service. 123-reg are cheap and offer a good service.
Hosting recommendations would be ezpzhosting.co.uk; innohosting.com; hosting-unlimited.net.
For a UK specific service/product, get hosting that uses servers in the UK. This helps with SEO.

All those hosts, and most others have the facility to install Wordpress with the click of a few buttons.

Design. I've had custom Wordpress designs made up for $50 - $200 USD.
There are many templates (free and paid) that you can use with Wordpress (search on Google), but going custom if you can afford it will help you stand out.
Search for "wordpress designers" or have a look on http://forums.digitalpoint.com

With this kind of CMS (Content Management System), it's really easy to add new pages. For SEO purposes, I'd suggest writing a short 350 -500 word article every week and adding it to your site. Google especially will boost your ranking if it sees your site regularly updated, with fresh original content.

Copywriting ... Look at SEO first. Get the site optimized, using keywords in your text, headings, page names etc. My feeling is that more and more people want a personal touch - are getting scik of slick, so keep it personal while professional.

Hope this helps,

irnbru_2

InsideInsurance wrote: »

A reasonable company will charge £500-£750, in my opinion, based on the assumption you have decided on your target keywords/ phrases, will be providing the copy and either have a logo or are happy with a basic logo design.

OP the above is correct, the business model for someone whom I've done bespoke work for runs on the above premise.

VSC

You might also want to consider http://www.99designs.com

You set the brief, and designers submit designs to your brief.
You can comment on the designs, ask designers to make alterations etc.

You then choose a winner.

I've used this site in the past to get logos designed, and never been disappointed.