So, here’s the $50,000 question.....

How much does a professional Web site system and plan cost?
 

There are two levels of expenses you can expect:

A. Web Site Build Fee - The initial fee to design/build the site.
B. Monthly hosting/maintenance/support costs - The ongoing cost to host it on a server, submit it to the search engines on a regular basis, keep any software it uses updated, and for making changes to it or providing a platform for you or someone in your company to do it yourselves.

If you are given a quote of $500 or less for a professional, online presence, and they tell you that hosting is your responsibility hang up the phone and move on. You’ll be sorry.

The salaries required and infrastructure (data storage and bandwidth, etc) to keep a legitimate Web site services business functional are not cheap. If you’re getting a quote like that from a designer/company, you are not dealing with a legitimate operation that has a well grounded business model and bright future.

You’ll be lucky to get the project completed as promised and on time, yet alone whether or not they’ll be in business next year, next month, or even next week!


I’ll say it again…cheap Web sites get cheap results. You’ll regret it.


You only get what you pay for…

It’s true and we all know it. If you can find a company that you’re comfortable working with, meets the criteria we discussed previously, and is priced within these guidelines, your chances of success are very high.

Industry averages:

Basic brochure site with 25 pages or less, search engine submission and optimization, email accounts, hosting, support, online site editing, the works….

Build fee – Prices range from $1000-$4000, generally.
Reoccurring monthly fees - $40-$100 per month.

Ecommerce enabled site with all of the above plus a store with potentially unlimited items, encrypted shopping cart, search engine submission and optimization, email accounts, hosting, support, online site and store editing, the works….

Build fee – Prices range from $1500-$5000, generally. More items, more expensive to build because of the extensive labor involved loading items into the store with accurate descriptions, pricing, etc. (Note: some providers may have an easy, do it yourself system that you can use to load your store once the main site is up and running. This can save big $$$)
Reoccurring monthly fees - $80-150 per month.

Information Portal site with all of the above functionality, plus whatever dynamic capabilities/data manipulation is required, written in an Open Source language or .NET platform.

Build fee – Prices range from $2500-$25000, generally (prices vary due to the variety of different needs for projects like these)
Reoccurring monthly fees - $80-500 per month.


**You’ll notice the costs vary significantly here because of the wide array of what can be done and what might be required.


So, what do you do now?

Try to keep your agenda simple:

A. Shop around, but don’t always choose the cheapest vendor. Remember, this is a 24/7 version of your company for the world to see and evaluate.
B. Ask for references and portfolio
C. Get it in writing
D. Communicate regularly with calls, emails, feedback, etc.
E. Promote your Web site with everything your company does including brochures, direct mail, business cards, letterhead, email signatures….EVERYTHING.
F. GROW YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL!