website value????

miju · 19-05-2005 4:27pm #1

was having a conversatino with my friend the other day about the value of a site I did for him as a freebie, he asked how much i woulda charged for normally and when i thought about it i really couldnt think of a value so im hoping you guys could (some changes still to be made with CSS from last time i know)

the sites www.jaded-sun.com so wud ya take into account the forum & newsletter when coming up with a figure and then could ya give me a second figure for a skinned osCommerce that i'll be adding as well so i know for future quotes thanks

miju · 20-05-2005 4:56pm

ah guys you fellas are usually full of opinions

tom-thebox · 20-05-2005 5:09pm

Doesnt seem to be many around today

I wanted help with my movie files.

MartMax · 20-05-2005 6:25pm

've never been in the biz, but i guess the following should be ok to charge :

- setup excluding outlay (ie. domain, hosting)... €500 ?
- annual outlay (ie. domain, hosting)... at cost ?
- monthly/annual maintenance... €75/€900 ?

well it depends on how many hrs u work on it and how complex the job is.

does it sound reasonable ?

miju · 21-05-2005 1:14am

yeah i suppose but what im looking for is more a price to design the site, setup/skin and skin forum and then osCommerce on top of all that its all just outta curiousity like i said they are some of my best mates

Webmonkey · 21-05-2005 3:31pm

Well it is a great design I must say, really attractive. (Though i bet many will hate the dark colors) but they suit that site.

I would guess that the value of this site to get done professionally ex setup,hosting costs etc would be: roughly in my opinion €3000

But everyone will give it a different value...

miju · 23-05-2005 1:48am

thanks for the comments on the design, people either love or hate the dark colors on the site, personally i always prefer to design with dark colors rather than the bright ones,

€3000 surely that would be too much would it not??????

astec123 · 23-05-2005 1:54am

If I was asked to do a site like that I would accept about 1500 to design it to their exact spec, otherwise I would let them select one of my templates and do it for 1300. Thats my opinion. Yes I do do webdesign, but only for the fun of it. the prices I state are less hosting and all that lark.

Goodshape · 23-05-2005 2:30am

heh. I just agreed to do a site for €300. And he wanted to it for less.

It's my first web-dev job in years though - I need to build up a bit of a portfollio again. Don't think I'd get many clients if I started looking for >1000 just yet.

The Corinthian · 23-05-2005 9:20am

Goodshape wrote:

Don't think I'd get many clients if I started looking for >1000 just yet.

Why not? One think I’ve learned over the years in the business of IT is that within reason, the more you charge, the more you’ll be taken seriously. And it is the very companies that will look for a job (be it a database or a Web site) done for a chocolate bar and some pocket money that will screw you around, indulge in rampant creeping featureitus and then stiff you for the money.

I recently specced out a site for a legacy translation company (a favour to an ex, as it happens). What I noted was their core business was writing some pretty simple screen scraping batch files that any idiot could do. Of course, these idiots were charging a four-figure daily consultancy fee.

So the rule that says that talented and experienced people should charge more than clueless newbies simply does not apply. The reality of pricing is based upon a combination of market forces, perceived professionalism and a brass neck. Market forces presently price a standard brochureware site at anything between €500 and €4,000 (although you’ll get prices both higher and lower). Perceived professionalism entails that you approach a project professionally - you produce a detailed written specification, you follow accepted business practices and project processes, and you appear to be a business rather than a someone doing nixer or a school kid. And a brass neck simply means you have the balls and enough of a poker face to ask for a high price.

So based upon this, Webmonkey and astec123 are probably getting fair prices, while Goodshape is getting raped by a tire kicker who’ll take 180 days credit - assuming he’ll pay at all.

Goodshape · 23-05-2005 9:44am

Yes, I am too much the nice guy. At the same time this isn't a corporate client, more of a favour for a friend who doesn't have much more to spend on it.

I'll work on my brass neck and poker face for the next bunch of clients

The Corinthian · 23-05-2005 10:05am

Goodshape wrote:

At the same time this isn't a corporate client, more of a favour for a friend who doesn't have much more to spend on it.

If you're getting paid it's not a favour. If you want to do someone a favour, do it for free (although by all means ask for expenses), otherwise just don’t call it a favour because it isn’t.

What you’re doing is a paid job at a discount price. Your friend will ultimately not feel in any way indebted to you for your ‘favour’ as you’ve been paid for it. I assure you of that.

rsynnott · 23-05-2005 3:53pm

Heh, I recently had the pleasure of fixing a web app written by a highly paid "professional" who'd evidently never heard of SQL injection.

Serbian · 23-05-2005 4:49pm

rsynnott wrote:

Heh, I recently had the pleasure of fixing a web app written by a highly paid "professional" who'd evidently never heard of SQL injection.

You'd be suprised by how many people forget to escape the quotes in their SQL statements. Actually, you probably wouldn't since you have the job cleaning up after them

.

rsynnott · 23-05-2005 5:13pm

No, no, I wouldn't. Funny, first time I played with a MySQL database about 5 years ago I noticed that it was choking on names with commas, looked it up and no more trouble. Some people seem to happily ignore this, or put up documentation like "for O'Reilly type O^Reilly" and never, ever think about what's actually going on. :mad:

The Corinthian · 23-05-2005 5:29pm

rsynnott wrote:

No, no, I wouldn't. Funny, first time I played with a MySQL database about 5 years ago I noticed that it was choking on names with commas, looked it up and no more trouble. Some people seem to happily ignore this, or put up documentation like "for O'Reilly type O^Reilly" and never, ever think about what's actually going on. :mad:

You have to bare in mind that from a client’s point of view they’ve generally no idea about technology. All they can see is the business they’re dealing with and if that looks like a real business, then they assume the rest must be real enough.

Of course, the flip side is hardly much better - an experienced or talented designer or developer who has no clue in how to sell or run a business (or project manage their own work). But in that scenario it is the client that gets the better deal at the expense of the professional.

Seanie M · 28-05-2005 12:15pm

If I can dd my two cents worth... I recently designed a couple of sites for some people. While my knowledge is limited in ways, I make up for it with colours, creativity, and customer confidence. They are "not sure" what they are looking for, so, helping them along no matter how long it takes and they will be more appreciative of the figure you quote them, even if its almost €2,000 for about 8-10 pages of a site.
I'm not courageous enough to post up here my homepage and sites built yet, I'm an MX 2004 user and so far, frames have worked for the customers I have built for, plus a template design for my own business site.
I am now using this to my advantage by "catering" for those who want a low cost, happy, colourful and straight to the point site. Some people (here) would probably say "gettouttahere you schmuck!", but different strokes for different folks.
In the end, if you meet and exceed the customers' needs, then your site would have more value than you think, and business will keep coming back no matter how much you charge.

Seanie.

website value????

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