Web Design Prices
Often times I get emails and phone calls from people in the Raleigh-Durham area asking for a web design quote. I have some of the best prices around for the quality I provide, and still, some of them say “your quote is over our budget”.
For small business owners in the Raleigh-Durham area who want a professional website and actually want visitors, here are some good tips and information about web design stages and the time involved.
Hourly Rate
My hourly rate is $50. Does it seem too much? Not really. Almost 30% of it goes to taxes, 20% will be spent on running the business, vacation time, computers, software, etc. So how much will be the net pay for the designer? Usually $25 per hour.
Design Drafts in Photoshop
For a usual type of small business website, this design stage should take 20 to 30 hours, depending on the client revisions. This means anywhere form $1000 to $1500.
Optimized, Valid CSS/XHTML Templates
This phase should take anywhere from 10 to 15 hours. What you’ll get is top-of-the-line optimized code following the W3C Standards. This means $500 to $750.
Integrating Templates with a CMS
This phase should take 20 hours for Wordpress CMS and 40 hours for Expression Engine – depending on the functionality desired. This means between $1000 and $2000.
So, the total price for a website on a CMS should be from $2500 to $4250. You’ll get a great looking, professional website that will rank great on search engines, have visitors, and most importantly, will be easy to update in the future. There are no ongoing fees.
How Can Someone Quote a Smaller Price?
- They offer low-quality web design
- They have a smaller hourly rate
- They will slightly modify a previous design
- They will use old web design technologies
- They will not optimize for Search Engines
- They will not use a modern CMS
How Can Someone Quote a Bigger Price?
Explanations are many but here are the usual ones:
- They have a big hourly rate
- They will offer what you don’t need
- They are a big company
- You will pay for extra staff
- They spend time in endless meetings
If you want results for your website, you need a professional. After you get the quote, check the company portfolio to know what quality you might expect.
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