How much to pay for Professional Web Site Design?

[GoodKarmaKid]

My ultimate goal is to have a professional, clean, well organized website which is useful and provides the resources the user is looking for. I can usually tell within abut 5 seconds of viewing a web site if it has been done professionally or by someone who is knowledgeable in web design. It's easy to spot the cheesy sites.

I have a pretty clear vision of what I want. I have spent the last two months researching the features I want to implement, design, style, colors, seo techniques, etc.

The document that I have sent to a couple of web design companies is 11 pages long and thoroughly explains my vision, expectations, examples of design layouts, etc.

The problem is: They send me an 11 page price! I have got 3 estimates and they have all been in the $4,000 to $6,000 range. Is that really what it costs for a professionally designed website?? I was thinking more like $1500. I did get one quote in that range but it was from a company in India. In principle I don't have a problem outsourcing especially if I can get the same work for about a 1/3 of the price but after researching some of the web designs in their gallery I found lots of typo's, grammar errors, etc and almost none of the sites that were in the gallery were anywhere to be found on googles search engines.

Can, I just pay for a shell from some of these companies? ie they create the css style sheets, table layouts, etc, and structure and I can fill in the content and add new pages as needed. I won't have any problems with the technical side of updating to my server via ftp, or changing some code, adding affiliate links, & graphics, etc. What I'm really looking for is someone to create the creative shell which I can add to, etc.

Any ideas, suggestions, or Companies that you would recommend?

Thanks,

Jason

[PPP]

Most web designers know nothing about Internet marketing. Regardless of proposal or price, you need to focus on the examples of their work. For example if they use flash, they are worthless. Move on.

At the same time, you could spend $6000 and get a great site, or you could spend $6000 and get a pile of useless trash that looks okay.

Without knowing your vision, it is hard to say if you can get a functional, practical site for the money you want to spend. If your vision includes pixies doing cartwheels, that is going to cost...

[GoodKarmaKid]

Thanks for the reply

So "reading between the lines" 4k-6k isn't totally out of line for a nice website if it is done correctly? I have 22 pages listed in my directory structure.

RE: Flash

I've read on many well respected SEO sites that the limited use of flash for effect is fine, but as you pointed out it would be bad to do the whole site in flash. Would you agree with the statement "that limited flash for effect is ok"???


I've pretty much settled on the following standards:

Professional Design - i.e. visually appealing, great graphics & Photo's, clear, concise, & highly focused web pages which are multi-browser compatible (Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, etc

W3css Compliant & W3C XHTML Compliant

Highly optimized for top Search Engine Rankings

Easy on the eyes, not busy or cluttered, I would much rather have multiple layers, and sub layers of the site rather than have information overload.

Use embedded flash for effect where needed.


I'm certainly open for suggestions and ideas on best practices.

One other question, I plan on managing and updating the site myself after it is created. What's the best way to update the site: a content management system? Dreamweaver? or is it completely dependent on how the site is created?

Thanks for your ideas,

Jason

[Four2Eight Feet]

Jason,

Take a look at www.basictexasholdem.com It was designed by a company called Enhanced Office at a whole lot less than your current pricing.

Go to www.enhancedoffice.com or contact 888-814-0008 and ask for Alex.

The other thing you may want to do is put it out for bid on www.guru.com The place is crawling with good web designers all at pretty reasonable pricing.


F2E
BasicTexasHoldem.com

[hoursurfing]

My new website that is being created costs 8k.

Thats just how much it costs if you dont want crap. Just use the money you're making right now and put it towards it.

Please dont build another poker room review site. Those make me sick to even look at anymore.

Later,
R

I have used TopQmedia.com and they are reasonable and can build you a nice site that will have a backend where you can update your own content or add sections. I think if your looking for a truly proffesional site you need to be thinking about PHP or ASP.

[GregK]

Hey Jason, I'd like to see that outline, seems pretty steep unless theres an awful lot of custom programming.

a couple quick tips...

Go xhtml1.0 "strict" not "transitional, theres quite a difference.

A CMS is great for article management.


I might be interested in developing your "shell" & could probably save you quite a bit by customizing an existing opensource app. (PHP/MySQL)
No use reinventing the wheel for the backend!

cheers

P.S. I have a few extra days planned in Vegas after CAC, if you'd like to talk shop in person? Could use some advice on where to play some NL too

[kreutz]

I paid $300 to get a CMS (Mambo) set up and a template created for it. Looks really nice, if I must say so myself.

I had the template made by a guy from Slovenia on Rent-a-coder and he performed quite well. If I were you I'd put up a bid request and see if there are any people with reasonable prices and good references. You can see all of the coders' previous projects in their profile. For example, see My Own Profile (I'm a coder as well as a buyer on the site).

If you would like to see what I got for my $300, contact me on MSN at . I don't want to post the link here yet because there is no content on the site.

[PPP]

"Would you agree with the statement "that limited flash for effect is ok"???"

No.

For a 22 page site you don't need content management system for sure. If 22 is the beginning and it might be 1000 in two months, that is different.

[adioking]

Is the limited flash on my mac site okay PPP?

dan