How can a website possibly cost £3000?
Well firstly here’s the good news. We do not charge £3000 for any of our brochure website packages! But some agencies will only work on projects worth upwards of 3k. And the websites that they build might look very similar to ours.
So why do prices vary so much?
Websites take time, the amount of time will depend on a number of variables. The website might well be the final product that you are investing in, but the journey and your experience along the way (the service) is also considered in your website price.
Let’s take a look at the perfect website project.
I am going to assume that this perfect project is a 20 page brochure website with no database backend and no SEO at all. In my experience this would pan out a bit like this (I have included the average expected time taken for each step in brackets so that we can add it all up later)
- Qualification. This is the initial contact with the client and exchange of details, it might be via the phone, in person or via email. The client lets us know what they would like and we let them know if we can do it. (15 minutes)
- Initial consultation. Client indicates interest and we arrange a face to face meeting. (2 hours including travelling time and preparation.)
- Brief. Post meeting we need to write up a list of the items that the client requires and ask the client to review that these reflect their needs. This brief is used internally as a guide throughout the project. (1 hour)
- Feedback. Chase the client for approval of the brief and allow them to provide feedback (30 minutes)
- Adjust the brief and provide the client with a formal written quote. (15 minutes)
- Final go ahead. We might need to contact the client for final approval and again answer any questions, provide examples to help the client with decision making. (15 minutes)
- Designing the Framework. The first step in the website design process involves: revising the brief, analyzing the website content and completing competitor research in order to design the website framework. The framework shows how the content will be set out on the page. Often for larger websites the layout will be different on each page. (3 hours)
- Graphic design. The layout now goes to the graphic designer who adds: colors, shades, textures, images, logos, branding, look and feel and adds life to an otherwise very boring layout. We mock up the home page. (6 hours)
- Internal review and adjusting the design with any changes. (2 hours)
- Client proposal. In an ideal world we would arrange a meeting with the client to go through the proposal face to face. We omit this step and instead complete this via phone and email. I am going to add this to my list because this is meant to be illustration of my perfect project. (3 hours)
- Revision. Based on the client feedback we will revise the graphic design and layout before obtaining final sign off to build. (2 hours)
- Build the website. A straight forward 20 page website could easily take around 20 hours to code by hand. (20 hours)
- Client review and implement suggested changes. (2 hours – if we are lucky !!)
- Testing. The website needs to be tested internally on different browsers and monitors, we do try to test as we go but a final test is always a good idea!! (1 hour)
- Go live
That’s a whooping 43 hours and 15 minutes and at least 3 different people working on your website project. At £65/hour this project would cost £2795
However some agencies set their prices even higher because they need to factor in the following
- The 4 hours spent on this job before the client even paid a deposit will have been wasted if the client decides to work with a different agency
- Perhaps instead of offering one design proposal they offer two or three. This could easily add 10 – 20 hours worth of extra work and each design would utilize a different graphic designer
- Perhaps several face to face feedback and progress meetings are included in the price
- Mock ups of all 20 pages are provided. 20 different mock ups = 20 times the work
- Your content might be proof read, formatted or re-written for you
- They might even sell you some extra bells and whistles that you do not need on the website
I can easily see how the 43 hours and 15 minutes can be doubled, or tripled; can’t you?
The final website might not be any better for it, but more time will have been invested (or wasted if you are not careful) in the project.
We pride ourselves on being able to create great websites for our clients on a fixed budget. We do not use design templates and each website is considered individually from scratch. Our 20 page website would only cost £1175 so how do we do it?
- We try very hard not to do all the extra face to face meetings. Where possible all decision are made by email and phone – and we’re rather good at it!
- We don’t mock up all the pages for the client to review, I am afraid its just the one design of the home page. However the good news is that 90% of the time the only feedback we get is minor, on the occasions that we are *off* then we are happy to try again for no extra fee. Our thoughts are that “you win some, you lose some!”
- Instead of proof reading our clients content and providing comments, we provide a copywriting guide which provides useful tips and hints. Of course we are happy to provide further assistance if required.
- We always qualify our leads before travelling to meet them. We talk on the phone and because we are open and honest about our website prices and have a great portfolio, most clients understand what they are getting and what they will be paying before we have even met them.
- We use a talented team of home workers which enables us to keep our overheads down. We have no offices to pay for and the team are happy not to have to pay for extra travel and childcare.
- We have invested in systems, procedures and tools and are constantly striving to be more efficient without stifling creativity.
So now how much do you think a website should cost?
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