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A good rule of thumb is that a
basic website setup, with a basic structure, general informational content, and
generic graphics will take about 4-8 hours.
At our current rate, that is about
$300 - $600 just to set up a basic site's structure (approx 4-8 pages).
If the site is to be very
customized or contain special features such as a stylized interface, animated
elements, special or custom morphing
buttons (buttons that change when you hover over or click them), hyper-linked
hotspot images (images that contain multiple hyper-links), Flash, etc, you
should expect the cost to increase accordingly.
Most attractive sites you see on
the internet have cost tens of thousands of dollars!
Several factors come into play when estimating the cost of a web site design.
(Just the site design and content. This does
not include Domain or ISP Hosting costs or Search Engine subscription(s).)
Even a single page without any images and a small paragraph of text can cost
between $50 and $150+.
Every photo must be converted to a size and format which will work best in a
web format and download in the optimal time.
Sometimes photos need to be cropped, lightened, darkened, enhanced or
otherwise "retouched". You may want to add someone to the image, or
take someone out. Change the background or "make me look thinner".
Images also need to be optimized and resized provide a streamlined online
viewing experience and to properly fit within the design of the page, the site,
and the content of the page.
Screen resolution. Not every visitor has the same size monitor, nor do they
all use the same screen resolution. If an image is not sized with that in mind,
it can negatively affect the viewing experience, the flow of information, and
the general perception of the website. What may look great at one resolution may
look terrible on another.
This can be a big factor. Logo design or other original artwork will require
a separate estimate and may be bound by contract, copyright issues, both to the
client and to the artist. (See "Ninth Edition of the Graphic Artists Guild
Pricing
and Ethical Guidelines Handbook" or refer to the Graphic Artists Guild
guidelines http://www.gag.org/contracts/glossary.html
).
The client, YOU, should have a pretty good idea of what kind of site you are
looking for. You should have a pretty clear opinion as to the style, the feeling
one might get from your site (i.e. classy, fun, serious and firm, loud and
obnoxious, quiet and pretty), what images you'd like to see. Things of that
sort.
Air'n Art Design can and will work with you to develop your concept and
direction. however, the clearer and more thought out and the more planning
you do BEFORE starting a web project (or ANY project for that matter) the less
it will cost you in the long run.
If you don't quite know what you want, that's o.k. We can help. That is one
of the things we are here for.
If you have all the content already written, GREAT. That's super. I just hope
it is in an electronic form because otherwise it will have to be scanned and
re-created through Optical Character Recognition. (OCR is a process whereby a
page of text can be reconstituted into text in the computer. When an image,
whether it is a picture or text, is scanned it is a bitmap or raster image. This
means that just because you scan a page of text does not mean it will be text
when you get it into the computer. It must be massaged one step further by OCR
to become editable text again.)
We will be happy to prepare a separate estimate
for copywriting.
Existing Site Makeovers
When some companies first create a web presence, they sometimes will get a
quick and dirty web site. Sometimes their host provides a simplistic website
creation tool or utility. As they grow, the site needs to be redone to reflect
the company's vision. A cheap site generally looks cheap and can have an adverse
effect on your potential customers and their impression of your competency and
value. This is even more important if your company is technically oriented.
Visitors will get their first impression of you or your company from the
appearance of the site.
If you have one of those sites that have been created with one of those nifty
website creation utilities, it is not always possible to use the sites existing
structure, and it is often more cost-effective to more or less start from
scratch. Some images and content can be salvaged, but the overall structure
should be re-developed.
Some common reasons to do a site makeover;
- Reconstruct the site flow if it is not directing visitors to the desired
locations or if it is difficult to navigate
- Overhauling the site image to reflect the client's new or existing image
- Recreate unclear graphics
- Adding new graphics
- Adding new sections or features, products, FAQ, service, blog, or forum
- Updating content
- Adding new links
- Site registration with free and paid search engines
- Link exchange
- Keywords
Please note that Air'n Art
Designs is not responsible for obtaining copyright permissions for any textual
or graphic content submitted to us for use in your site. It is your
responsibility to have all rights secured before submitting the content
to us for inclusion.
The number of pages, naturally, has a bearing on cost. Besides the obvious,
there are the links and overall structure that have to be considered and designed.
If your site is a commercial site which will deal with e-commerce you will
most likely have one or more of these type of pages or services. (Keep in mind
that not all ISP subscriptions allow for forms or online buying. We use
Microsoft FrontPage and your ISP must support FrontPage server extensions in
order to use these forms. Most ISP's that offer a business service do support
FrontPage Server Extension. If you are subscribing to an ISP for hosting, ask
them about such things before buying)
Online buying is a separate issue. Online buying requires Secure Socket
Layering (SSL) and unfortunately will require additional setup charges.
We charge a time-based fee, based on the discipline, to work on your project.
It also takes time (sometimes more, sometimes less) to upload to your Internet
Service Provider. Some providers do not have fast systems (i.e. AOL or
CompuServe, for instance, are notorious
for slow uploads and frequent time-outs) which can make the process of uploading
extremely tedious. If you have a large amount of information to upload...
well...
Establishing Your Domain Name
Your domain name is the name, or address, by which the public will reach you.
Consider it part of your corporate logo. Your corporate presence.
A domain name, such as "aartdesigns.com", signifies your own address on the
Internet. As no two parties may ever hold identical domain names, it is truly a
unique identifier of you or your company. It is how your customers will remember
you and find you among the millions of other Web sites on the Internet.
With this in mind, it is very important to choose your name carefully. First
decide on a few names and a few variations of each. Keep it simple and short. We
will gladly help you to come up with a functional name.
There are several services which will allow you to search for and apply for a
domain name. We will be happy to help you with this part of the process if you
are not comfortable doing it yourself.
Domain name registration can cost anywhere from $20 to $70 per year.
Multi-year registrations can save you money. Just be sure you will still be
using the domain name that long.
If you already own a domain name, we may be able to help you renew it
inexpensively.
We can also help you transfer your domain to a different registrar should you
find one that you would rather use.
Your ISP will probably be the place where your web site
physically is stored and where people will access it from the internet. Also
known as HOSTING.
If you do not have an ISP account and would
like for us to recommend one, we can. We can provide you with all the
information you will need to contact the service provider and establish an
account, or for a minimal fee, establish the account for you. All we need is the
credit card information you wish to use, any personal information you wish to
use such as a user name, password, challenge question and answer, your name and
address and phone.
Hosting can be free or be as much as $30 a
month. Generally, the cost is around $20 per month. Note: If you already have an
ISP account for your internet access you may have access to a personal web space
that is included in your subscription... however, you won't be able to use a
domain name with it. It will be the ISP's address with your user name.
If you would like, we can host your domain ourselves. We will work out a fee
structure based on the size and requirements of your site.
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, there is difficulty with the ISP site
which will require additional time on our part to work with the ISP to resolve
certain technical issues on your behalf.
Bells and whistles. We all love a site that reaches out and grabs us.
Animations, sounds, scrolling or flashing banners and even videos are sure ways
to entice someone visiting your site to come and stay awhile... if it is done
tastefully. However, all these
things take time and special talents to create. Although we can provide you with
these enhancements, we tend to discourage going overboard with such things. They
tend to become obnoxious to most visitors. It is more important to focus on
content and simplicity.
Once a contract is signed,
one third of the design amount agreed upon will be due before the work begins,
and is non-refundable.
The second installment of 1/3 will be due when you sign off on the design.
It too, is non-refundable.
The final payment will be
due when the website is complete. At that time, your site content will be copied
to your host after receipt of your final payment.
If you would like us to host your site, which we can do for you, a separate
payment schedule will be generated based upon the sites size and the services
you may need (email, FTP, etc.)
Last, but certainly not least... Maintenance.
Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.
Just about any site is going to require maintenance. Maintenance can take the
form of updating images to textual content and information, calendars, news
releases, links, to even adding or removing pages. Maintenance is a separate
issue and must be kept separate from your initial costs and will appear as an
on-going budgetary concern in the overall
functioning of your web site.
With all that said, we hope we have not discouraged you from putting
yourself or your company out on the web. A very important step in introducing
yourself and your company to the world!
We feel that being forewarned is forearmed. In your case, the more you know
going into a project like this, the less discouragement, disappointment, and
disillusionment you will experience and the more satisfaction with the end
result you will have.
That's a good thing.
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