Websites

[iumcad]

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on websites. I am thinking of establishing one for my new design firm. I am very computer savvy but have never messed with creating or maintaining a site. How much does is usually cost to have one established and maintained? Or should I take this on myself? It needs to be effective and I have heard that you have to pay big bucks for it to even get noticed on a search. Any input would be appreciated!

 

[GregLocock]

"How much does is usually cost to have one established and maintained? Or should I take this on myself? It needs to be effective and I have heard that you have to pay big bucks for it to even get noticed on a search. "

1) make sure you get the rights to the code and all the passwords and so on. you don't want to have to go back to the original designer every time you need to make a change

2) If you are just hosting content and links, and using it as advertising, then you could probably write it and maintain it yourself. OTOH your time may be more valuable than that of a pimplyface basement dweller.

3) If you are setting up a store or something complex then I doubt it is worth doing yourself.






Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[GregLocock]

Oh, and I wouldn't get too hung up about search engine optimisation (SEO). Two obvious words (to me) from my website get me #1 in google. OK, there is a reason for that, they are not words that often appear together.




Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Theophilus]

I pay no more than $10/month for hosting (I use HostGator) and I create my own site using Dynamic HTML Editor (

http://www.dynamic-html-editor.com/en_home.asp

) from an Italian guy--excellent software. I also know a little HTML myself, so that made learning the software a bit simpler.

If you want a good site (as opposed to a flashy one), learn about web usability:

http://www.useit.com/jakob/webusability/

(Not that I've obtained the pinnacle of web usability, but I try not to waste people's time with wiki little Flash garbage either.)

For a domain name, I use our local GoDaddy.com--I don't pay more than $9/year/domain name (any kind) through them.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[zdas04]

I bought my domain name from Earthlink and used their tools to build the site. I've gotten about 200-500 hits/day for several years, and awful lot of them because of the link in my signature at eng-tips.com. I was really surprised the other day when a friend called and told me that my web page was the #1 answer on Google for two different queries he had put in that day.

On the other hand, my web page has made fewer productive contacts than I expected going in--I've had a half dozen follow-up contacts, but none have turned into paying work.

The tools that Earthlink provided were pretty easy to use and I think I have about 5-6 days invested in building the page (it was mostly done in the weeks immediately prior to starting the business). I go in every few months to tweak some little thing (most often to add to my Samples page).

The hits are almost all on my sample page that includes some stuff I've written over the years. The other pages have virtually no hits. Maybe that is as it should be.

Going to a web-page developer assures one of two results, either: (1) the developer will pull a design off the shelf and shoehorn your content into someone else's layout; or (2) you'll spend way more money than you really should.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

The harder I work, the luckier I seem

 

[corus]

I paid a few quid ($10 USA) for a domain name for 1 year. I think the main money spent is in hosting the actual web-site. If the site is to be fairly simple then do it yourself. There is planty of free web site building software to download. You can always update it and improve it as time goes by. Of course you don't have to pay a host to keep the site on their server but host it yourself on your own pc. Apache provides the software for that. It means leaving your pc on all the time though, but these days of fixed price broadband access doesn't mean that's a problem.

corus

 

[iumcad]

This input is great! Looks like I should just host my own. If I host, should I run this on a stand alone machine rather than my workhorse (workstation?) Im going to check into the editors and getting a domain. I didnt realize it would be so cheap!! For the type of site that I want to set-up it, sounds as if I could handle it.

 

[greenone]

I disagree with zdas about web designers ripping you off. Yes, they use templates, but if you haven't developed marketing materials which can be used for your site, a good designer can make it look quite nice. We found a local who bases fees on number of pages to design-anywhere from $300-$600, which I find quite reasonable.
I use FTP Voyager to make minor changes to the site, but leave big changes (adding whole new pages, etc.) to my designer. She bills less than I do, so it makes sense to outsource.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I made my own, including setting up an e-cart (used AgoraCart, quite powerful). No, it's not the best in the world, but it brings in the orders and gives me an opportunity to work on more important things. The prices I've seen most web developers charge is outrageous, and it's difficult to find one who has a real vision for what the site should look like (rather than canned packages YOU have to work around), though good ones DO exist. At the time I designed the page, my money was severely limited, so doing it myself was a given. Basic HTML was all I needed for the main pages, and what little PERL I need for the e-cart comes directly from the AgoraCart support forums at zero cost to me, other than time to modify the code.

Figure around $25/yr or less to get your website name (I used Register.com), just make sure YOU own the name, not another company (which happens quite often on those cheaper deals, like $10/yr... after the first year, they jack up the price for you to renew it).

I prefer to let someone else host the site... depending upon traffic bandwidth and content size, $5-$10/month is to be expected, maybe in excess of $20+/month for heavy bandwidth requirements (like videos). It's just so worth my time to let someone else deal with the headaches of keeping the server running.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[zdas04]

greenone,
Good for you. It sounds like you've found a designer that carefully considered your needs and provided a result that you like for a price in the range you expected.

I talk to folks all the time that have not had that experience. One of my customers was considering using a design firm to redo their web page. I looked at the references the design firm provided and every page of every site looked identical to the others, and it was easy to tell which one was actually new work. The others had links to no where, page titles that made zero sense, and content that was from another industry. My customer used them in spite of my recommendation and are very unhappy with the result.

I don't say that all web-site designers are crooks, they're not. But to keep costs down they are very big on "not re-inventing the wheel" which frequently means hanging a bathtub on a spaceship because the guy that wrote the bathtub has left the company and no one else knows how to remove it. A new web page from scratch can be quite expensive.

David

 

[tygerdawg]

A few years ago I set up a site for my business. It's certainly very cheap to have a site hosted nowadays (I paid for 2 years @ $7/month with spam filtering, email, FTP, e-commerce, etc etc etc). Cheap cheap cheap, and it's amazing what it is that you can get for your money now. Websearch for hosting services, you'll find dozens who want your business.

I do my own site with MSFrontPage (which will soon be defunct I am told). I purchased a MSFrontPage 3rd-Party designed template from the web so I wouldn't have to do anything but add content.

I gave up the illusion that anybody would find my site by doing websearches (there are lebenty-leben kazillion site pages out there and Google is useless for anything but a scattergun approach). NOW I use my site as my "online advertising brochure". Seems to work well enough.

I thought about having something more professional with more pizzazz, so I asked my internet friend what I should expect to pay for a well-designed site with bells & whistles. He said $5K and up, depending on features and content. Sounds reasonable.

TygerDawg

 

[DonPhillips]

I use a host with e-mail for about $95 a year. I use Frontpage to edit the site.



Don Phillips

http://worthingtonengineering.com