Who to make a website for me?

white_falcon

Hi lads,
Hope this is the right forum. I'm looking for someone to make a website for me. I basically write music for films, computer etc. (or at least I want to get into it) and need to have a classy looking website for it.

Is there anybody on here that would be willing to do it, or can anyway recommend anyone good and cheap (i know both dont usually go hand in hand)

How much would I be looking at for something like this?

The type of site I am looking at would be something like this:
http://musicformedia.com/

but a bit more kinda...snazzy and not so...blue all over. Sorry its kind of hard to describe but basically all I need is something that looks nice, is easy to move around and I can upload some samples to and update now and again

Adam

The site design itself is very simple, and wouldn't cost much if it were to be done on its own. If you want something snazzy you'll pay more though obviously.

The music player adds to the cost unless you were to use an opensource one and simply embed it, which is perfectly viable for your needs in my opinion.

And the real cost of a build would be your need to update anything, and would vary depending on how much control you want.

Basically my guess would be you could get someone for maybe 300, a student or some such, but from a company you'll be looking at more like twice that I reckon. Though it's really a tough question, and I forsee many taking issue with my guess!

PM me if you want to discuss anything in more detail, to make sure you don't get screwed over in the end.

white_falcon

yea cool. that was pretty much how much i was thinking. im not too sure that i could pay about 600 yoyos for a website right now as I'm only starting to get into my market, and I'll be doing any work I get from it for free lol..so there wouldnt be much return.

I think maybe my best bet might be to put up a few posters in the college and see if anyone doing computers will do one for me for 100 - 200 squid..

Liam Byrne

You're seriously balking at €600 ?? €600 would be very basic and would be pretty cheap if you were to get anything decent.

Remember that aside from the look-and-feel of a website, a proper site will require at least some level of search-engine friendly stuff, whether it's semantic markup, validation, or whatever.

If you can't be found *at all* then there's no point having a site. Plus you said you want it more snazzy/classy looking than an existing professional website.

How much would you charge for a snazzy-sounding film score ??

A €100 / €200 site (IMHO) wouldn't be worth the hosting space.....that's barely the price of a night out, for crying out loud!!!!!

Adam

Agreed Liam, I wouldn't touch it for €100 - €200 either.

Basically OP, unless you have planned precisely how you want your website to look and work in advance of the work (which I would advise anyway), it's going to take the guts of a week minimum. Would you be willing to do a decent weeks work for €100 in this day and age?

However, that said, personally I would probably take it on at the circa €600 mark, with the aforementioned write up of the site from look to functionality. That way I would do it with a view to completion in about a week, making it a fair job for the market IMO.

I suggest you don't bother trying to get it done for €200 straight away, and instead put some money aside each week for a couple of months depending on how much you can afford to save each week, and then get it done right.

white_falcon

Liam Byrne wrote: »

You're seriously balking at €600 ?? €600 would be very basic and would be pretty cheap if you were to get anything decent.

Remember that aside from the look-and-feel of a website, a proper site will require at least some level of search-engine friendly stuff, whether it's semantic markup, validation, or whatever.

If you can't be found *at all* then there's no point having a site. Plus you said you want it more snazzy/classy looking than an existing professional website.

How much would you charge for a snazzy-sounding film score ??

A €100 / €200 site (IMHO) wouldn't be worth the hosting space.....that's barely the price of a night out, for crying out loud!!!!!

lol...im currently spending 2/3rds of my income on music equipment having just finished college a few months ago. i dont see the point in spending over 600 euros on a website when I am just getting into the business. I want amateur student films, and amateur computer games as projects. I'm not looking at impressing massive companies right at this moment. Once things did start to take off, I would then have no problem spending far more on a website, but what is the point right now like?

Maybe I'm wrong, but thats just my opinion. I have tried messing around with Dream weaver, but I havent a clue how to use it or anything, so I'm not exactly the best at it.

I take your point on board completely, but I do feel right now, that something that costs that much money would be a waste

white_falcon

Mirror wrote: »

Agreed Liam, I wouldn't touch it for €100 - €200 either.

Basically OP, unless you have planned precisely how you want your website to look and work in advance of the work (which I would advise anyway), it's going to take the guts of a week minimum. Would you be willing to do a decent weeks work for €100 in this day and age?

However, that said, personally I would probably take it on at the circa €600 mark, with the aforementioned write up of the site from look to functionality. That way I would do it with a view to completion in about a week, making it a fair job for the market IMO.

I suggest you don't bother trying to get it done for €200 straight away, and instead put some money aside each week for a couple of months depending on how much you can afford to save each week, and then get it done right.

I see your point, and I know you are all disgusted at how little I want to spend. I apologise, as I really didnt think about how much it would cost. You made a good point tho - "Would you be willing to do a decent weeks work for €100 in this day and age?" lol...no I would not. I didnt really think about how much work goes into it at all. Thanks for all this info so far guys, as really I havent a clue about any of this

aidan_walsh

white_falcon, please read the charter. All work related and recruitment ads are for adverts.ie.

Liam Byrne

Didn't mean to have a qo at ya, white_falcon; it's just that spending €200 would be complete waste of money (bad impression, site can't be found, etc) while €600 would get you a basic functional site (but nothing "snazzy", and probably not the ability to update it yourself either, coz something's gotta give at that "price" (of €200).

I'll put it to you this way instead; if you needed a car for your start-up business, then would you spend €1,000 on an old banger that might possibly be unreliable, or would you spend €4,000 on something that, while more expensive, would definitely do the job ?

I know that spending money when you're starting out is daunting, but my professional opinion is that if you're considering spending €200, don't; it would be a complete waste of money.

white_falcon

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Didn't mean to have a qo at ya, white_falcon; it's just that spending €200 would be complete waste of money (bad impression, site can't be found, etc) while €600 would get you a basic functional site (but nothing "snazzy", and probably not the ability to update it yourself either, coz something's gotta give at that "price" (of €200).

I'll put it to you this way instead; if you needed a car for your start-up business, then would you spend €1,000 on an old banger that might possibly be unreliable, or would you spend €4,000 on something that, while more expensive, would definitely do the job ?

I know that spending money when you're starting out is daunting, but my professional opinion is that if you're considering spending €200, don't; it would be a complete waste of money.

no yea i totally see your point. thanks for the info on this guys, as I've never had to do this before, so didnt really have much of an idea of costs or anything, so you have all shed some light on it for me thanks

would it be cheaper if I had the entire website designed completely on paper, so that the website creator only had to write the code for it?

Sully

Not really.. your artistic talent might not be as good as a designers. Plus, if you draw it on paper the designer still has to put it together correctly. Iv came across designs proposed that simply would not work or looked awful. Best leave it to someone who knows what they are doing.

axer

white_falcon wrote: »

would it be cheaper if I had the entire website designed completely on paper, so that the website creator only had to write the code for it?

Yes, it would save money if you drew out exactly what you wanted as time is your cost thus if you can save the designer/developer time by knowing exactly what you want - the layout etc then do it. How much it will save you money-wise all depends on the designer or developer. The designer will obviously still have to create the design but giving a good outline of the layout etc should may their job alot easier and thus it should be designed quicker.

The best way to know what exactly you want is to visit as many websites that are similiar to what you want to create - design, functionality and layout as you can.

Sully

axer wrote: »

Yes, it would save money if you drew out exactly what you wanted as time is your cost thus if you can save the designer/developer time by knowing exactly what you want - the layout etc then do it. How much it will save you money-wise all depends on the designer or developer. The designer will obviously still have to create the design but giving a good outline of the layout etc should may their job alot easier and thus it should be designed quicker.

The best way to know what exactly you want is to visit as many websites that are similiar to what you want to create - design, functionality and layout as you can.

I don't know of any company who will reduce the price because you have ideas of what the site should look like. It helps, a lot, but the designer charges for the work of putting the site together -- and he still has to either way. You have just given your detailed requirements to help him make a site that matches your exact requirements.

axer

Sully wrote: »

I don't know of any company who will reduce the price because you have ideas of what the site should look like. It helps, a lot, but the designer charges for the work of putting the site together -- and he still has to either way. You have just given your detailed requirements to help him make a site that matches your exact requirements.

If the customer knows what he/she wants then it will take less time for the developer/designer to create the webpage. Less time means less money.

If someone comes to me to ask me to build them a website and they do not have a clue what they want then I will naturally have to increase the price to include the extra hours it will take to help them decide what they want. I do not have a one set price for a website - it all the depends on the job and the customer knowing what he/she wants does save time thus saving them money.

Sully

axer wrote: »

If the customer knows what he/she wants then it will take less time for the developer/designer to create the webpage. Less time means less money.

Not really.. remember, clients idea and reality designs often dont "click". Iv had designs handed to me that would simply not work, or needed improvements. At the end of the day, the designer still needs to put it all together and that should be a standard price.

The only difference is, you might come up with your own proposal and the client might love it or hate it. That depends how talented you are, but you have to design a site to the clients requirements / wishes either way. They might not even like their design when they see it put together.

Thats my opinion from my experience in the market as a company, dealing with freelancers and dealing with other design companies.

axer

Sully wrote: »

Not really.. remember, clients idea and reality designs often dont "click". Iv had designs handed to me that would simply not work, or needed improvements. At the end of the day, the designer still needs to put it all together and that should be a standard price.

The only difference is, you might come up with your own proposal and the client might love it or hate it. That depends how talented you are, but you have to design a site to the clients requirements / wishes either way. They might not even like their design when they see it put together.

Thats my opinion from my experience in the market as a company, dealing with freelancers and dealing with other design companies.

I don't think you are understanding me.

For me as a freelance web developer I have to include the time it takes for me to get the information from the client e.g. explaining to the client what their different options are etc i.e. walking through with the client until they can decide what they want. That takes time. Time I have to charge for.

If a person comes to me and they know what they want then it will take less time for me to understand what they want and there is less chance that they will actually have expected something different then as the overall project would take less time, the overall cost is lower.

Maybe you have a different way of doing things but thats how I do things.

Bob the Builder

axer wrote: »

If a person comes to me and they know what they want then it will take less time for me to understand what they want and there is less chance that they will actually have expected something different then as the overall project would take less time, the overall cost is lower.

Maybe you have a different way of doing things but thats how I do things.

Agreed, but often times, when they have a design on paper ready, depending on the client, they may expect something excellent, which I can see either looks horrible, or is horrible to edit, etc. A good designer/developer knows the pitfalls before they begin, and can tell the client whats going on, otherwise, at the very end of the design, the client will look at it, and will be slightly umimpressed. Communication is key to any project.

aidan_walsh

Fred Brooks wrote:

I would go a step further and assert that it is really impossible for a client, even working with a software engineer, to specify completely, precisely, and correctly the exact requirements of a modern software product before trying some versions of the product.

True 20 years ago, true now. Going in with a predetermined design could be a good way to let the designer know what you're looking for, but chances are once it gets built you're going to want changes as you find out that things don't work quite the way you expected they might.