M u l t i -
m e d i a V i d e o P h o t
o 3 D V i s u a l i z a t i o n
C A D
Things To Consider
Web Site Design
Determining The Cost of a Website Design
A good rule of thumb is that a basic website setup,
with a basic structure, general informational content, and generic graphics will
take about 4-8 hours.
At our current rate, that is about $200 - $375
If the site is to be very customized or contain special features such as a
stylized interface, animated elements, special or custom morphing buttons
(buttons that change when you hover over or click them), hyper-linked hotspot
images (images that contain multiple hyper-links), Flash, etc, you should
expect the cost to increase accordingly.
Several factors come into play when estimating the cost of a web site design.
(Just the site design and content. This does not include Domain or ISP
Hosting costs or Search Engine subscription(s).)
Number of photos and/or scanned images
Retouching of photos or images
Original artwork / design
Client concept and direction
Creation or re-creation of copy and written
content
Number of pages
Forms, Feedback Forms, FAQ's, Catalogs, Custom
Indexes, or Online buying
Number of hours required to develop layout and
upload to ISP
Establishing an account with an ISP
Troubleshooting with an ISP
Custom animations/GIF's, banners, videos, and
sounds
Maintenance
Even a single page without any images and a small
paragraph of text can cost between $50 and $150+.
Number of Photos
Every photo must be converted to a size and format
which will work best in a web format and download in the optimal time.
Retouching of Photos or Images
Sometimes photos need to be cropped, lightened,
darkened, enhanced or otherwise "retouched". You may want to add someone to the
image, or take someone out. Change the background or "make me look thinner".
Original Artwork / Design
This can be a big factor. Logo design or other
original artwork will require a separate estimate and may be bound by contract,
copyright issues, both to the client and to the artist. (See "Ninth Edition of
the Graphic Artists Guild Pricing and Ethical Guidelines Handbook" or refer to
the Graphic Artists Guild guidelines
http://www.gag.org/contracts/glossary.html ).
Client Concept and Direction
The client, YOU, should have a pretty
good idea of what kind of site you are looking for. You should have a pretty
clear opinion as to the style, the feeling one might get from your site (i.e.
classy, fun, serious and firm, loud and obnoxious, quiet and pretty), what
images you'd like to see. Things of that sort.
Zzyzx Works can and will work with you to develop your concept and
direction. however, the clearer and more thought out and the more planning you
do BEFORE starting a web project (or ANY project for that matter) the less it
will cost you in the long run.
If you don't quite know what you want, that's o.k. We can help. That is one of
the things we are here for.
Creation or Re-creation of Copy and Written
Content
If you have all the content already written, GREAT.
That's super. I just hope it is in an electronic form because otherwise it will
have to be scanned and re-created through Optical Character Recognition. (OCR
is a process whereby a page of text can be reconstituted into text in the
computer. When an image, whether it is a picture or text, is scanned it is a
bitmap or raster image. This means that just because you scan a page of text
does not mean it will be text when you get it into the computer. It must be
massaged one step further by OCR to become editable text again.)
We will be happy to prepare a separate estimate for copywritting.
Please note that Zzyzx Works is not responsible for obtaining copyright
permissions for any textual, musical, or graphic content submitted to us for use
in your site. It is your responsibility to have all rights secured before
submitting the content to us for inclusion.
Number of pages
The number of pages, naturally, has a bearing on
cost. Besides the obvious, there are the links and overall structure that have
to be designed.
Forms, Feedback Forms, FAQ's, Catalogs, Custom Indexes, or Online buying
If your site is a commercial site which will deal
with e-commerce you will most likely have one or more of these type of pages or
services. (Keep in mind that not all ISP subscriptions allow for forms or online
buying. We use Microsoft FrontPage and your ISP must support FrontPage server
extensions in order to use these forms. Most ISP's that offer a business service
do support FrontPage Server Extensions. If you are subscribing to an ISP for
hosting, ask them about such things before buying)
Online buying is a separate issue. Online buying requires Secure Socket Layering
(SSL) and unfortunately will require additional setup charges.
Number of hours required to develop layout and
upload to ISP
We charge a time-based fee to work on your project.
It also takes time (sometimes more, sometimes less) to upload to your Internet
Service Provider. Some providers do not have fast systems (i.e. AOL or
CompuServe, for instance, are notorious for slow uploads and frequent time-outs)
which can make the process of uploading extremely tedious. If you have a large
amount of information to upload... well...
Establishing Your Domain Name
Your domain name is the name, or address, by which
the public will reach you. Consider it part of your corporate logo. Your
corporate presence.
A domain name, such as "zzyzxworks.com", signifies your own address on the
Internet. As no two parties may ever hold identical domain names, it is truly a
unique identifier of you or your company. It is how your customers will remember
you and find you among the millions of other Web sites on the Internet.
With this in mind, it is very important to choose your name carefully.
First decide on a few names and a few variations of each. Keep it simple and
short. We will gladly help you to come up with a functional name.
There are several services which will allow you to search for and apply for a
domain name. We will be happy to help you with this part of the process if you
are not comfortable doing it yourself.
Domain name registration can cost anywhere from $20 to $70 per year. Multi-year
registrations can save you money. Just be sure you will still be using the
domain name that long.
Establishing an account with an ISP (HOSTING)
Your ISP will be the place where your web site
physically is stored and where people will access it from the internet. Also
known as HOSTING.
If you do not have an ISP account and would like for us to recommend one, we
can. We can provide you with all the information you will need to contact the
service provider and establish an account, or for a minimal fee, establish the
account for you. All we need is the credit card information you wish to use, any
personal information you wish to use such as a user name, password, challenge
question and answer, your name and address and phone.
Hosting can be free or be as much as $30 a month. Generally, the cost is around
$20 per month. Note: If you already have an ISP account for your internet access
you may have access to a personal web space that is included in your
subscription... however, you won't be able to use a domain name with it. It will
be the ISP's address with your user name.
Troubleshooting with an ISP
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, there is
difficulty with the ISP site which will require additional time on our part to
work with the ISP to resolve certain technical issues on your behalf.
Custom Animations/GIF's, FlashTM, Banners,
Videos, and Sounds
Bells and whistles. We all love a site that reaches
out and grabs us... as long as it's not obnoxious. Animations, sounds, scrolling
or flashing banners and even videos are sure ways to entice someone visiting
your site to come and stay awhile. However, all these things take time and
special talents to create.
Maintenance
Last, but certainly not least... Maintenance.
Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. Just about any site is going to require
maintenance. Maintenance can take the form of updating images to textual content
and information, calendars, news releases, links, to even adding or removing
pages. Maintenance is a separate issue and must be kept separate from your
initial costs and will appear as an on-going budgetary concern in the overall
functioning of your web site.
In Conclusion
With all that said, we hope we have not discouraged
you from putting yourself or your company out on the web.
We feel that being forewarned is forearmed. In your case, the more you know
going into a project like this, the less discouragement, disappointment, and
disillusionment you will experience and the more satisfaction with the end
result you will have.
