Your web design bill demystified

Last week’s blog may well have blown the whistle on some unfair billing practices, but may also have left many other questions unanswered.

Such as ‘what am I actually paying my web provider for anyway?’

In the days of totally custom-built websites, it was arguably simpler because the total paid was simply a matter of hours multiplied by hourly rate (or rates if more than one person).

So a website of 10 pages with a search facility and a bit of animation may have taken 40 hours at $100 per hour, equalling $4,000, plus of course GST.

Pretty much a standard services arrangement.

But since the introduction of either complete website systems or parts thereof, much of the cost of a website has become more of a ‘parts and labour’ scenario, as providers charge for hourly rate, plus digital ‘parts’.

Then of course there is hosting and varying degrees of support. If the site includes a content management or other system, you will need training, manuals and so on.

So what was once a fairly straightforward equation now looks more like this:

But getting the web industry to talk to one another to come up with a standard framework for estimating costs is about as likely as getting the Liberal Party to agree on emissions trading. Or in the name of balanced reporting, the NSW Labor Party to unite. And if it does happen, it won’t be overnight.

So here’s a well-meaning but ultimately arbitrary stab at identifying the main components of a good website estimate.

Note that these components aren’t necessarily done in chronological fashion. To save time some elements are done concurrently so as to make the most of the available development time.

1. Project Management and coordination
Even the smallest web project means time spent coordinating the various design, technology and content requirements and the myriad of emails and phone calls to deliver and clarify requirements. So a good estimate should contain a number of hours dedicated to this component.

2. Technology and/or development
Website development refers to the ‘building’ and/or assembly of the technical functionality to create a complete website or website system. So at its most basic level it is the html code that web browsers read to construct your website. At a more complex level its the content management systems, email marketing systems, search engines and other pieces of software that make up your website.

If your website needs to be ‘hand-coded’ by a developer (not recommended for smaller business as it’s expensive) it will simply be a number of hours at the hourly rate. But if its either of a proprietary system or Open Source system, it will be predominantly an ‘establishment cost’ to make some minor alterations for your particular requirement and/or a license fee. This is usual a monthly charge bundled with hosting (more on that later).

It’s a bit like a custom designed home versus a kit home. The kit home will save you a bomb but someone still needs to put it up.

3. Graphic design
This is one of the most confusing parts of the process, because the term ‘web design’ gets bandied about indiscriminately. In fact ‘web design’ has nothing to do with the aesthetic appearance of the website. It actually refers to the layout and navigation of the site, ie. which bits go where.

In this case graphic design refers to the aesthetic appearance of the site as distinct from the layout and navigation. This is because with the advent of content management systems, much of the layout and navigation is done during a separate process (see below).

Graphic design is usually a standard hourly rate times hours scenario. However, for smaller businesses on a budget, its now quite possible to start with a design template in the short-term with a custom design able to be added later. So in this case the graphic design cost will be nothing at all.

But it’s important that your template is capable of being customised later otherwise you will have to move to another provider, which can be both costly and time consuming.

4. Content development and population
Your ‘content’ refers to the words, pictures, documents and other functionality that ‘populates’ your website. In other words, it’s the fundamental reason why people visit your website – to find out more about your business.

Typically you will need to come up with some initial content which may well need considerable re-working to achieve a professional result. At this point the web professional will also look for opportunities to ‘optimise’ your content for search engines via the clever formatting of your text and images so as to give Google et al more bites at the keyword cherry.

Once the content is finalised, it’s ready to ‘populate’ the site – essentially an advanced ‘cut and paste’ exercise. If you have a CMS that you are familiar with, you can save money by doing this part yourself. However if you are new to the CMS you may well be better off having a professional establish the website for you (particularly the search engine optimisation bit) for you to then take over and maintain.

Depending on the complexity and budget of your site, you may need some content to be specially prepared. Such as special graphics, animation, photography, video or any number of software ‘widgets’ like calculators or countdown clocks etc. The good news is that many of these are available as either ‘clip’ content or freeware. But if you want it totally customised, it can get expensive.

5. Layout and navigation
Unlike a brochure or video, websites are not ‘linear’ in nature. They can be moved around at the pace and whim of the visitor. Therefore, careful planning is needed to ensure that they can not only make their way around the site easily, but you can also bring related information to their attention as they make their way through the site. For business websites, it’s important to ‘close the sale’ or enquiry as soon as possible so as to ensure the fish isn’t “let off the hook”.

Therefore, your content needs to be organised in a way that will achieve these objectives. A web professional may provide wireframe diagrams, rough layouts and ‘siteplans’ to communicate this to you well before any html is touched.

6. Maintenance, training and support
Where a website also differs from its communications predecessors is the need for you to be trained in maintaining the website and where you can’t, adequate, convenient support is provided. This is an area where many providers fall down because of undue concentration on the ‘build’ phase rather than the ongoing phase. But failure to provide such will mean a website that either remains dull, static and repellent or worse still, doesn’t work at all.

Of course, a website needs to be ‘stored’ somewhere so as web visitors can access it quickly and easily. Such storage or hosting also needs to be able to stand up in the event of multiple simultaneous visits, for example to coincide with a promotional campaign.

As outlined above, hosting is often bundled with a technology license and/or support so it’s important to understand exactly what you are getting for your monthly fee.

If any website estimate fails to outline these six areas, its a cue to either ask some serious questions or seek an alternative.

Of course, unless you are going via an independent provider who is essentially representing your interests anyway, you should be getting at least three quotes on your website – just to be keep ’em honest.

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Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.