Need a website

D

D1983

Registered User
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150
Hi,

Im fairly useless with computers and don't know where to look to find the best deals on getting a website designed and up/running.
How much should it cost for a sole trader providing a service?
Nothing too complicated,something simple but professional,any advice?
Thanks :)
 
Unless you need the website to have fancy graphics etc, you can probably "design" your own for next to nothing. E.g. DIYwebkit uses templates and is very user friendly - it provides simple, quick, results. Think it costs around €50?

Hosters will often provide perfectly adequate software as part of their package too. But a lot depends on what features you want your site to have.
 
If you want to try and put an example site together to get an idea of what you want I hear Google sites is not bad. No real technical knowledge required. At least you could see what looks good before you commision anyone to do a full blown site for you. It might even meet your needs for a while.

http://sites.google.com/

Price wise its hard to say unless you know what you're actually looking for and what kind of features. You could be looking at hundreds of euro to thousands if you are dealing with some of the web design outfits. It would probably depend on how much work and time they need to spend on it.

I had a quick look for something and came across this. Give you some idea on prices that might be charged.

http://www.joomlaireland.com/index.php/blog
"We now offer website packages starting at just €450, Content Management Systems (CMS) from €750 and E-Commerce Web Sites starting at €950."
 
Last edited:
Am currently getting a website constructed, I am using Compuweb.ie They are really helpfull. Price depends on size etc. Advice is free, give them a call.

I have no connection with compuweb, only a happy customer.
 
D1983 said:
Hi,

Im fairly useless with computers and don't know where to look to find the best deals on getting a website designed and up/running.
How much should it cost for a sole trader providing a service?
Nothing too complicated,something simple but professional,any advice?
Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Can highly recommend Avantec http://www.avantec.ie/. No connection other than got the details through this site last year - had a website designed - very professional and reasonable! - Great back up service as well.
 
Thanks i will check those sites out.
To be honest i probably wouldn't have the patients to put something good together myself,knowing me and computers id make a mess of it :)
 
You can pay from as little as a couple of hundred euro to several thousand euro to get a site designed.

It will cost you less if you have a clear idea of what you want and what you don't want ie. example sites that you like
 
Im not clued into what it takes to put a website together,not even 100% sure what i need on it,i just know i want to to be simple,professional and easy to navigate as i think a good website will be very important.Seeing lots of different figures as regards cost.Say about 5 pages....

Home
About Company
Services
Prices
Links
Faq
 
D1983 said:
Im not clued into what it takes to put a website together,not even 100% sure what i need on it,i just know i want to to be simple,professional and easy to navigate as i think a good website will be very important.Seeing lots of different figures as regards cost.Say about 5 pages....

Home
About Company
Services
Prices
Links
Faq
Click to expand...

Website
* Find a few websites you like the look of, and see content for ideas
* Get a designer say I want something like this site.
* Tell them to buy a template from http://www.templatemonster.com/
* Get them to update the template with the text you write for each page
Cost should be no more than € 50 per page + € 60 for the template
So 6 pages = 300 + 60 = 360

Hosting
* Hosting costs about € 40- € 50 per year using an Irish company
* Get developer to upload site and set-up email addresses
Cost buy hosting your self € 40 - € 50
Developer to upload site and set-up €100

Domain Name
* About € 10 for a .com €20-€40 for a .ie
Buy this yourself from one of teh companies.

So set-up costs
Site + Upload & Configuration € 460

Annual Costs
Hosting account + Domain name € 60 - € 90
 
Guys 'n gals, a lot of this information has already been posted here more than once, so maybe directing OP to use the search facility would be more helpful, rather tha just repeating it.
 
I feel I need to offer a balance to h's post as I believe his advice to the OP's
request is misleading. From the outset I will say I am in the industry and by de
facto have a vested interest, however I am not fishing for this particular business.

Hosting & Domains
Sure you can buy hosting yourself direct from the Hosting company at the best
rate. However bear in mind that you are now the administrator for the website,
the hosting, your email, dealing with nameservers etc. Good luck ringing the
hosting company every time you have an email problem or lost password or trying
to determine if when the site is down whether the problem is to do with the
hosting, your broadband the website.
By going with a package from a webdesign company you give them the
responsibility of taking on this function for you and certainly they will charge
you to do so. Now terrible as that may seem they are actually in it to make
money and are not a charity. That is the nature of enterprise. Having said that
expect to pay approx 120-150 for a hosting with a .ie for this service as
opposed to your 60-90. Not significantly different for what you get in return.

Web design (For the type of website the OP wants)

The free software & DIY route ...
I won't say too much on this other then don't go this route if you need a
website for your business no matter how basic.

The template route ...
This is a good option for a tight budget scenario. However I would point out that
the budget is more then h's estimate. All templates need some form of adjustment
and in some cases can end up being more time consuming to work with, then if it
was designed from scratch.
I can categorically tell you that even this route will take a minimum of 16
hours of work. Between making phone calls, meetings, integrating a logo,
agreeing design, back and forth with content and final handover not to mention
the implemention and testing standards which a good business should apply:
- Building to the latest development and accessability standards.
- Testing with a large variety of screen sizes and resolutions.
- Testing with different web browsers.
- Testing for dial-up and broadband.
If someone would do that for 300 euro and expect to stay in business good luck to them.
With a minimum employee base cost of approx €30 for web designer then on top of that
a business has to put on a profit margin, it doesn't add up.

The custom designed route ...
Obviously the premium option and not for everyone's budget. There is
considerably more time involved in creating the design and then breaking it down
into CSS for example. However this could still only cost in the region of 1100
to 1500 including the first year's domain and hosting.

That is a more realistic picture of costs if you want to listen to that advice or not.

A simple analogy with building, paints the picture. If you can't build a house
then don't, let a builder do it. Some people go direct labour armed with
knowledge and good advisors. They can order materials direct from suppliers and
likely save some money in the process, but generally they tend to know a bit
about what they are doing. At the end of the day if anything is wrong
with the house they are ultimately responsible as the pseudo main contractor.

As with all trades and professions you will always find the cash route, a
student or a designer working on his own from his house who can cut the cost.
Then it's a question of ethics, contribution to the black or white economy etc.

Also do yourself a favour and talk to your local enterprise board. They often
fund 50% of a professional web design project and so you get considerable
benefit from this.

By the way those prices also exclude VAT which h's didn't pointed out.
 
Thanks for all the info,id much rather pay for a package and be done with it.I see some sites in the USA offering decent prices,is it a bad idea,or should i use an irish company? considering you get good value against the dollar.
 
I see some sites in the USA offering decent prices,is it a bad idea,or should i use an irish company? considering you get good value against the dollar.
Click to expand...

Probably depends on your target market.
If your target is local, then I would recommend a local site designer, as they will understand the culture etc that you're targeting. In addition, you will be dealing with a difference in working hours of approx 5-6 hours if dealing with the states. If your target is the US, then perhaps a US-designed site may be beneficial, but you still have potential hassle of deaing with people who may not have the same appreciation of what you want due to cultural differences.

To highlight - I get virtually all of my back-end software development done in Asia, but when choosing to get a new site designed, I went with an Irish firm and I am so glad I did so.
 
Good point,i will probably try stick with an irish company,how much money should i put aside for this,going on what i said above.I won't be selling through the site its more for advertisement/services/prices etc.
 
D1983 said:
Good point,i will probably try stick with an irish company,how much money should i put aside for this,going on what i said above.I won't be selling through the site its more for advertisement/services/prices etc.
Click to expand...

You want a brochure site they are basic and cheap.
check out http://www.adverts.ie/showcat.php?cat=38
contact the guys there offering their services and get a price.

Note this is a website so the end product is something you can see and judge the quality for yourself.

100% make sure you buy the domain name yourself, so you are the owner and not at the mercy of some deisgner. use godaddy.com (.coms) or letshost.ie (.ies)

The enterprise boards will fund a half the costs of some websites development, they make you do this course first http://www.dceb.ie/training-courses-&-modules/training-courses/having-a-small-business-website
if you do that course it will enable you to understand just how basic website development is and not get douped by companies selling websites.


AndyH said:
"I can categorically tell you that even this route will take a minimum of 16
hours of work."

"If someone would do that for 300 euro and expect to stay in business good luck to them."

"With a minimum employee base cost of approx €30 for web designer then on top of that a business has to put on a profit margin, it doesn't add up."
Click to expand...
16 hours = 2 days
300 / 2 = 150 day
30,000 / 240 = 125 (assuming 240 business days in a year)

Brochures site website design is a race to the bottom interms of cost, you know when people are charging too much for something when they use terms like "Now terrible as that may seem they are actually in it to make money and are not a charity".
 
I really don't want to get into a tit for tat thing here. I have given some genuine advice previously and I stand by that.

H's just to point out that the rate mentioned €30 is a cost per hour not an annual salary. This is a representative cost of an employee on a business.
So your calculation is not correct.

Again I also think you are missing the OP's point.
He has clearly stated that he does not have indepth computer knowledge. By advising someone like this to be a domain administrator is bad advice. This is absolutely a function in which should someone should be comfortable with computers.
He will still be the registered owner of the domain and no one can take that away from him. In the same way that a bank admisisters your bank account but you own the account and it's contents.

As I also said there are cheaper ways certainly to go about things.

"if you do that course it will enable you to understand just how basic website development"
I guess if it is as easy to learn and do as you say, I guess the universities and software companies of the world have likely gotten it wrong then !!
 
Your going off topic here this has nothing to do with universities or software companies.

A basic website and domain is as simple as setting up an email account and password. If you can format a basic word document then you can do a "basic" website. If you can't manage the above, or don't want to, then get someone else to do it. End of story.

Who to get? Decide your budget. Find a few people/companies with examples of websites they've done, that you like. Give them a spec, even its as simple as a one line description of each page of the website you want. Get a quote from each. Then pick the one thats within the budget.

It might be a student for €200 or a company for €1000.
 
Yes going off topic.
Im getting a company to do it,havn't decided who yet,getting some quotes at the moment.I set aside 1K euro..ish.I got a quote of around 1500euro from an irish company,thought that was a bit steep.
Once you pay this once off fee,are there more maintenance costs through the year?
Also is it better to source my own hosting and domain or should i let the company do it too?

Thanks.
 
Do you intend to advertise online also? i.e. pay per click campaign with google? Or investing in site engine optimisation as your site is being built, this will giv eyou a better chance of ranking organically in search engines.

I am going through my third redesign of my site. I was the same as you, wanted to pay as little as possible but now realise how important it is to generate traffic, leads and business. As a result I will pay well over what I could have got away with initially, it is a lot more than 1,000 but I am sure it will be well worth it.

I am still clueless about the backend work but am learning fast and if you want to do business online, I reccommend investing in more than your site, invest in site engine optimisation and a managed pay per click campaign. I have done and am beginning to see business pour in.

Best of luck with it.

Brendan
 
Usually people want updates/changes on a regular basis to their site. Theres usually a cost to that. hosting and domain are annual charges.
 
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