How Much Does It Cost to build a Web Site?

Well it all depends!

Do not be tempted to give an answer until the project is scoped with a degree of detail.

Break down the project into separate tasks.

Chris Jennings - PageToScreen

Project Expectations

• What are your goals?
  • Target Market
  • eCommerce
  • product shipment / customer communication, subscription
  • Marketing
  • Brand conformance
• Lifetime / Lifecycle?
  • Milestones
  • End Point
  • content management
  • ongoing maintenance
• Localisation

Web Site Functionionality

• Static Web pages
  • HTML authoring
• Dynamic
  • Database
  • content management
  • Search
• eCommerce
• User feedback - commenting / forum
  • community

Content?

• Sourcing Plan
  • responsibility
• Assets
  • ownership
  • rights clearance
  • digitisation
  • archiving
  • metadata / captioning
  • localisation
• Editorial
  • copy editing
  • version control
• Multimedia

Design

• Look and Feel
  • prototypes
  • mock-ups
• Information Architecture
  • wire-frames
  • flow diagrams
  • site maps
• Interface Design
  • usability trials
• Technology
  
  • appropriateness for the chosen market

Some Costs Include:

• Web site design - outsourced?
  
  • Fixed fee or daily rate 
    charge sheet, £40-£50 per hour
    charged per page possible
    charged per graphic
• Testing
  • use of Lab / target profile users
  • accessibilty
  • validation
• Hosting (included at Buckley Publishing)
  • Standard
  • mySQL/PHP -ASP/.NET
  • Dedicated Server, Co-Location
  • Domain Registration - annual fee (ownership)

Web Design Workflow

• Scoping and definition
  • beware scope and feature creep
  • expectations
• Site structure
  • Information Architecture
• Design
  • Look and Feel
  • Interface
  • prototype
• Production
  • Technical Implemenation / Engineering
  • backend coding
• Publishing / Marketing / Launch

Estimating the Costs

• Break down into as many separate tasks as possible. Example:
  • Project Definition - 40 hours @ £45
  • Architecture - 30 hours @ £45
  • Information Design - 30 hours @ £45
  • Graphical User Interface - 60 hours @ £45
  • Production - 70 hours @ £45
  • Programming - 8 hours @ £55
  • Usabilty Testing - 30 hours @ £35
  • Copywriting / Editing - 50 hours @ £35
  • Testing - 15 hours @ £35
• Add 50% overhead
  • Total=£19,240

Time and Tasks

This is a rough guide to the tasks involved:

• over an eight week period:
  • Week 1 | site structure, content sourcing, wireframes
  • Week 2 | Look and feel, User Interface
  • Week 3 | working examples / click throughs, something to show
  • Week 4 | Flash / animation graphic production, Coding
  • Week 5 | programming, more graphics
  • Week 6 | Transfer to staging server, Incorporate server side code
  • Week 7 | Cross platform browser testing, validation / accessability analysis
  • Week 8 | usability testing, launch

Change Management

2 Methods of working:

• Full site specification
  • developed after negotiation with client
  • all parties agree to proceed on this specification
  • top down
    Project Management
    Milestones Fixed
  • Changes require amendments to definition / extra cost
• Creative approach
  • specification less defined
  • No milestones
    end point vague
  • Bottom-up
    good for creatives
    hard to give estimates
  • Risky!

Features that would Impact Cost

• Search function
• Multimedia
• Forms
  • Contact form
  • Enquiry Form
  • message Boards / Guest book
  • Commenting
• Advertising banners
• Client Login
• eCommerce
• Other platform versions - mobile phones etc.
• Community section

Links

• Web sites:
  • Previous Article on PageToScreen: Planning the Future
  • Useful Article by Jennifer Kyrnin on About.com Pricing Web Projects
  • Examples of Web applications: DropSend, BaseCamp,
  • Flickr
  • e-Consultancy has some useful material although not all free.

• Books:     

  • Kelly Goto’s Book - Web Redesign 2.0  / Workflow that works
  • Managing Multimedia - Elaine England and Andy Finney