Website pricing & Project Methodology

‘The first question that most people ask when thinking about a website is: “How much will it cost?” There is no simple answer to this question, but here is some information that will help you to understand the cost of creating your website through Route22 Limited.

What do you require from your website?

At its simplest level, you may require nothing more than a simple advertisement on the web and an enhanced business card that people can go to in order to discover a little background about your company and some contact details.

It is likely that you will want to provide an easy means for visitors to your site to contact you, and you will probably want to retain information about these people so that you can get in contact with them in the future. For these purposes, you will need to add some forms for visitors to fill in, and perhaps a database to hold the information that has been gathered.

You may wish to be able to update the content of your website yourself. Perhaps you have events or special offers that need to be added frequently and at short notice, or maybe you would like to raise your profile by running an online diary (blog) that you can update whenever you wish. For these requirements it is likely that you will want a website built using a Content Management System (CMS).

You might be thinking about launching an online branch to your business, where you can sell your products or services directly to the public, taking payments through your website.

Where are we starting from?

Many clients already have a website. Some want to completely replace the site they have, others want to re-vamp the design or add to the existing content or functionality.

Regardless of whether clients already have a website, they may have plenty of material to populate the site. Some will have graphical elements such as logo’s already designed and these may or may not be in an electronic form that we can use for the website. Some clients will have strict corporate image guidelines in place defining colours, fonts, etc. Some clients will have plenty of written material about the company or its products, which can be used on the website. Clearly, the availability and suitability of this material will have an impact on the cost of creating the site.

How flexible are your requirements?

A factor that can greatly affect cost is the degree of flexibility from the client with regard to visual design. Minor tweaks and changes to the design can sometimes take a disproportionate amount of time to implement.

It is often the case that, as the client sees the site materialise, they are inspired to add or adjust features. This will often cause the size of the project to grow.

How will the project be organised?

We will ask you to fill in our online questionnaire. Then all of our web projects begin with a free consultation meeting. During this meeting we will discuss your requirements and agree a plan for the project, including an estimate of price.

Following our first meeting, for all but the smallest projects, we will provide a project definition document to include:-

• a project plan
• an outline of the overall structure of the website
• information about planned visual design – colours, logos, animation, etc.
• information about functionality – forms, databases, online payments, etc.
• a firmer estimate of price

There will normally be a charge of £100 at this phase of the project and its resulting documentation.

It is sometimes helpful to produce a selection (usually three) of sample prototype home pages at this point. These help the client to visualize the site and input ideas of their own. There will be a charge for this. This phase of the project is optional but will often save time and cost during the following phase.

On receipt of 50% of the total project fee, the main development phase of the project will now take place. This will include: detailed design of the layout, function and look of the site; site navigation design; writing html, css, Javascript, and any other required code; work on graphical elements, including optimisation for the web; completion of meta tags and other search engine optimisation. Once the site is completed, it will be reviewed from many different angles. From navigation to ease of contact to time loading, every possible angle is reviewed and tested to ensure maximum functionality of the site. This ensures the highest possible viewing rate. The size of this phase will vary, but the following examples provide a very rough guide to likely project costs:-

• Basic Website – A simple but stylish presence on the web – £500-£800
• Standard Website – A website to tell the world about your business, allowing customers and the public to interact with you. – £800-£1,500
• Enhanced Website – A website with a database and maybe a content management system allowing you to keep the site up to date yourself – £600-£3,000
• e-Commerce Website – Allowing you to put your catalogue online and enabling your customers to buy direct from the website – £900-£5,000

Throughout this phase, we will keep you informed of progress and allow you to view the site as it develops. The price ranges above reflect the varying degrees of involvement clients require. Some clients require frequent project meetings and the option to feed in changes as the project proceeds. Additional meetings and time to adjust the site’s development will be charged at £70/hour and this is reflected in the maximums in the ranges above. Where the client is happy to be kept informed via the Internet and take part in a final review meeting followed by “snagging”, the minimums above will be a more accurate indication.

How will you be charged?

After your initial free consultation, you will be charged £100-£500 depending upon whether or not a selection of prototypes is provided.

Following delivery of the project definition document, and before development starts, there will be a charge of 50% of the development quote.

The remainder of the project fee will be payable on completion of the snagging following the end of development review meeting.

Will there be any other related costs?

In order to make your website available for the world to see, you will need to register a domain name and find a host web server on which to install your site. You may also need to add a suitable database. Servers come in various shapes and sizes and you will need to ensure that the host you choose will provide the correct technology to run your site. We usually recommend using our supplied hosting from Siteground. This is high quality WordPress hosting for a very reasonable price. If you prefer to obtain your own hosting, we would still recommend Siteground and you can deal with them direct using this link.

If you don’t have an established brand or marketing strategy, you may want to employ specialists in these areas. If you do not already have prepared narrative to use on your website you may want to use the services of a professional copywriter and if you don’t have a logo or other graphical elements, you may wish to employ a graphic designer. The services of a professional photographer can also greatly enhance the look of your site.

Once your site is live you will need to ensure that the software is kept up to date and the site is regularly backed up. One of our “Care Plans” will take care of this.

With your WordPress website, you will be able to update the content yourself. Nonetheless, it would be wise to put aside a little budget so that the site can be updated reasonably frequently; even if this is merely budgeting for your own time.

Although we will optimise your site for the search engines from the outset, this is not a “set it and leave it” activity. Search engine optimisation should ideally be continually reviewed and managed. You may also wish to run pay-per-click advertising campaigns and social networking activities to ensure that plenty of visitors come to your site.