Think of building a website like building a house. You do your research, find a builder, and say, "Hey, I want a four-bedroom house, how much will that cost?" The price of that house could be anywhere from $20,000 to millions of dollars, depending on different specifications like location, age, materials, surroundings, school districts, etc.
A website is very similar; you could have a one-page website with two paragraphs of text and it may only cost a few hundred dollars, or you could have a one-page website that builds into an interactive map that shows every Twinkie factory in the United States that then tracks how much inventory these factories have in real time (this is important information to know for the Zombie Apocalypse) — something this complex could cost you $100,000.
It's important to remember custom designed and developed websites will vary from customer to customer. Because every business or organization has different needs and a different audience you need to understand that a good website needs to be customized to reach these audiences and capture the message of the business.
Blind Prices: Beware
A "Blind Price" is when an agency already has a preconceived price for your website before you have even told them what you want your website to do or say.
When someone tells you a set price for a website, it likely means you are not getting a website that is customized specifically to your business's needs. As a developer, I can tell you with certainty that it is impossible to quote a price for a website without knowing what the customer actually needs.
Be Prepared: Your Idea & Your Budget
There is a difference between wanting a website and knowing what you want from your website. Your website is the most important piece of your online presence, and you will know your business better than we will. The process of giving you a quote and executing your idea will be much easier if you come to a web agency with a clear plan.
If a company came to us and said, "Here is a list of exactly what we want our website to do," our next question would be if they have a budget they are trying to stay within. This may sound off-putting, but we ask this question because as we quote the project, we can help you prioritize the features that you want versus the features you need and then try to find ways to get everything you want without going over your budget. Many times a web agency will be able to work with you over a long period of time to reach your goals, so that you aren't presented with one huge bill up front.
The best approach to this is to have the list of features that you want prioritized in the following way:
- Requirements: must have features
- Novelty Features: features you want that aren't absolutely required
- Bucket List: extra features you want if the budget didn't matter
Jargon & Doubletalk
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” - Albert Einstein
I'm not saying you should run away as soon as you hear a word you do not understand. I use technical terms all the time that might confuse people. However, you should be wary of anyone who uses 'big' words but cannot explain what they mean to you. You should always ask for clarification when you get lost. It is our job as web agencies to help you through this process.
For example, this is the same thing happens to me when I take my car in for a simple repair and then they tell me my fluids need to be flushed, my battery is getting old and the flux capacitor is out of jiggawatts. A jiggawhat?!
Never feel bad for asking for clarification. Depending upon the response the web agency gives, you can guess how well communication will be in the future. Those of us who love building websites will be more than happy to tell you more about what we do. Just ask us!
What's with all these fees?
Monthly hosting fees and email costs are legitimate fees that many web agencies do charge. This is to keep up with the servers your website is hosted on, maintain security and other technical stuff that goes on behind the scenes of your website. However, there are some agencies out there who will charge you monthly fees that are not valid, so be sure you understand what your monthly invoice means and what you are getting from these monthly services. Maintenance fees may be legitimate. Be sure to find out if the agency is doing updates or changes for your website. Are they covering small updates and text changes to the site for you? Again, don't be afraid to ask questions.
Know all costs up-front, understand hourly rates and know what constitutes a paid change versus free or included changes. Learning all this in the beginning will help with communication down the road.
Words You Should Know
CMS: Content Management System - this is what your website is built on. A CMS allows you to update your website without knowing code or having the agency do the updates for you.
Open / Closed Source: This is typically in reference to the CMS. Be wary of closed source content management systems, as you won't be able to move the website to another hosting company or agency in the future. A closed source CMS isn't always bad, but you need to make sure you have a solid relationship with your web agency when entering into this type of development project.
Domain: This is what you type in to go to a website (for example, google.com, yahoo.com, amazon.com).
URL: The full web address that takes you to a specific page on a specific site. For example, http://www.pleth.com/contact-us.htm is the URL to a page hosted on the pleth.com domain.
Flash: Flash is something you should probably avoid altogether. Technology and web development have evolved and Flash is not supported on some mobile devices which limits how a visitor to your website can view and use it. Flash is also much more difficult to manage and can be costly to update.
Resolution: A resolution is the "size" of your computer screen. 1024 x 768 pixels is a common resolution.