Anyone involved with web design would have heard that question thousands millions of times. My answer, how long is a piece of string?
When you go to buy a car you usually have an idea of what you are after and a budget. When it comes to websites these simple pre-requisites seem to go out the window.
I can understand it in some ways. Anyone with a computer, a few programs and an internet connection can say they are a web designer. It’s not quite so easy to get into the car building market. This low entry barrier means there are a wide range of people and prices offering web design services.
I find this makes people reluctant to discuss budgets fearing that whatever they say will be what they are quoted. “Our budget is $5,000”. “Perfect”, says the web designer, “the website is $4995”. Most professionals would not do this, but that’s for another post.
Things You Can Do to Help
If you are reluctant to give a budget or are still in the early planning stages with no clear budget in mind, you can help us web designers by giving us a clear idea of what you are after. This will help us give you an idea of how much you will be looking at. Things you should consider:
- Is it a design or a re-design?
- Have you a domain name and/or web hosting?
- Have you taken into account any online marketing, search engine optimisation etc etc.
- What do you want your website to say? What information/content do you want to include?
- Are you providing copy and images are or are these required?
As a starting point the structure of a basic website would most likely include the following:
Homepage
- Products/Services
- About
- Contact
- Site Map
- Privacy Policy
Additional considerations would be separate product/services pages and how many, case studies, staff profiles, news etc.
Even a rough, initial outline of your requirements, based on the above, would go a long way in giving both you and your prospective web designer a clear idea of your online goals and requirements. This in turn makes it much easier for us to give you an idea of costs.
One final comment on budgets: I strongly suggest you discuss this with your prospective web designer. Even a ballpark figure helps us make sure you get the most bang for your buck. If we don’t know what you’re willing to spend we don’t know whether to recommend a second hand VW or a brand new Porsche.
Hi Sophie
Nice informative blog.
At least people are exactly the same the world over! 🙂
They are wary of saying my budget is X for fear you’ll up your prices to match their budget.
My usual way is to ask for a budget knowing they will be reluctant to give one. In that moment I then say a far higher figure than I would ever quote for the job and the client then usually replies “No, I was thinking more like XXXX”.
We can then work from there and negotiate.
Sure I read that technique on Cre8asite a while back and its worked well when I have applied this technique.
Only downside is asking them about what they want is because they don’t really know and want guidance from the designer (in other words they want the designer to take care of everything at an unrealistically low price…)
Daz
Darren
Hi Daz, great to you you here.
It sure is a fine balancing act isn’t it.