When you meet someone for the first time, you engage in small talk like where they live and what they do for work. When I tell people my 30-second elevator speech which boils down to “I’m a web designer and developer”, the next question I am asked is nearly always, “How much does a website cost?” I then ask the person if they know anything about cars. Everyone can tell the difference between cars,trucks and SUVs, so I like to use them as an example when explaining how much a website costs.
The magento development services are the best one for the business. The charging of the costs is according to the requirement of the people. You should collect complete details for stability in the online presence of business. The paying of the costs is according to the needs.
I ask the person how much a car costs. They usually reply with something along the lines of, “Well, it depends on what sort of car you want. Do you want a hatchback or SUV?” I say I would like the SUV with the camping package, no sunroof and built-in headrest DVD players for the kids in the back seat. Then they ask the make of SUV I would like. I ask them the difference between the Dodge and Chevy and they usually stop there with a bit of a confused look on their face because they don’t know the answer to it. I can now use similar questions and answers to relate the new car conversation to websites.
There are many different options for websites, just like there are for new vehicles. Satellite radio, GPS and the size of wheels are all possible options you can add to a new car. Product catalog, Content Management System and responsive design are all possible options you can add to a website.
There is no set price for a website. What one web designer charges for a website with a shopping cart, rotating slider on the home page and an image gallery is most likely going to be different to how much another web designer charges. Is either designer right or wrong in what they charge? Not at all. There could be many factors which go into why the web designers charge a different amount for the same website. For example, one web designer might have more experience than the other or one web designer might charge per hour and the other per project.
I also like to explain to people, especially potential clients, the breakdown of my time so they understand what it actually takes to create a website. From there, when you put an hourly rate on the amount of hours it takes, you can work out how much it will cost to get a website designed. Not all web designers charge the same hourly rate so, again, you’re going to get a different price for the same website designed by different web designers.
My time breakdown looks something like this for a website with 5 standard pages (Home, About, Services/Products, photo gallery and Contact):
- 4 hours in meetings
- 4 hours planning the website
- 16 hours designing the website
- 24 hours developing the website
- 8 hours testing the website
- 4 implementing the website
Right there, you’re looking at 60 hours of work. If you want extra features like a shopping cart or responsive design, add more hours to that total. The more time it takes, the more it costs. Fairly simple stuff.
Personally, I like to charge clients per project. Both of us know the amount of actual work time it will take to create the website and the cost involved. If something changes from the original plan, the time will go up or down and so will the cost. For smaller, quicker work, I charge per hour.
So, now you know the big secret us web people have been keeping. I’ll probably get my membership to the web designers union revoked now.
If you’ve got any other questions about websites, ask away! Leave a comment or ask on the Wildfire Creative Facebook page.
