There are two questions that I get asked during every consultation I do:
- “How much will this cost?”
- “How long will this take?”
Let’s look at these questions…
The big one, “How much will this cost?”
If you stop to think about it this question is like walking up to a stranger and asking how much it will cost to eat in a restaurant. There are countless factors that will determine whether your meal costs $3 or $300! Where you dine, what you order, what you drink, and how many people you’re feeding will all add to your final bill.
Just like a meal, designing and building a website also includes a series of needs and decisions that will ultimately effect the cost. Features such as the number of pages, the complexity of your pages and content, what you need your website to do for you and your visitors all affect your bottom line.
Each business and subsequently each website is as unique as you are. It’s important that you talk thoroughly with your designer to determine an accurate cost and also to ensure your designer can do what you need them to do.
And then, “How long will this take?”
We’re all in a hurry. I get it. If you’ve decided to jump in and finally hire someone to help you of course you want to know how long it will take. I’ve launched websites in under 3 weeks. But I’ve also had projects take over a year and a half! As I said above each project is different and each client starts their website in a different place.
Do you know what has the biggest impact on your beginning to end timeline? Planning.
Websites that move forward quickly have the following in common:
- Both the client and the designer understand the clear and definite purpose for the site
- Both parties know what pages will be on the site and how they will be organized
- Content written or mostly written
- Some images have been discussed or there is a general theme to the types of images that will be used on the site
But wait, what if you don’t have this yet? Does this mean you should just throw in the towel? No way! I work with people in all stages of development. You just need to understand that not having these items outlined ahead of time will mean the implementation of your site may take longer.
Interested in talking to me about your website? Click here!